Amazon.co.uk Review
Nine years after its first publication, Tony Curtis has revised
1001 Antiques Worth a Fortune, to highlight the lottery-winning prices that collectables can demand.
Curtis, an antiques dealer and broadcaster, adopts the traditional Lyle Antiques Guides format: objects are listed alphabetically with illustrations, brief histories and identifying characteristics, as well as top auction prices--both in sterling and dollars. This emphasis on monetary value belies the true intention of the book: to inspire amateurs to scrabble in attics and scour car boot sales in the hope of finding a penny-bargain that turns out to be worth a fortune. One word of caution, however, these valuations are somewhat high, even for rare pickings. Curtis lists auction houses that have achieved sales including £29,000 for an original King Kong poster and £83,000 for a Delft tankard, but sky-high prices are dependent on condition, timing and demand. They will not necessarily be repeated.
Despite this, Curtis lists a regular Aladdin's Cave of unlikely valuables--from advertising signs to Titanic memorabilia to wastepaper baskets that will thrill amateur collectors of the unusual. He also pays respect to more serious furnishings including 18th- and 19th-century Shaker, Macintosh chairs and Tiffany lamps and it is this mixture of traditional and bizarre that is the book's greatest strength. It caters for all tastes and is carefully researched, offering a reference book that is accessible and informative. This book will appeal to the Antiques Roadshow junkie and dealer/collector alike. It is full of curiosities that will amuse and inspire and who can resist checking that long unopened trunk of junk? After all, It could be you! --Karen Homer
Synopsis
The revised edition of a popular guide to antiques and their prices, ranging from bus tickets to milk bottles. It aims to provide help in assessing an array of unexpectedly valuable articles. Each item is illustrated. Other works by the author include "The Lyle Price Guide to Collectables".
Amazon Home