Inside the Jewelry Box, Vol. 2: A Collector's Guide to Costume Jewelry: Identification and Values Paperback – Illustrated, May 1, 2007

An invaluable asset for any collector of vintage costume jewelry. The book is well written and well researched with hundreds of beautiful close-up photographs showing the detail of some really amazing works of art. Many of the pieces in the book have photos showing the reverse side and the designers mark.The book has chapters with the pieces grouped by designer, which is a real time saver if you want to look up a particular designer. There are also chapters where the jewelry is grouped by quality, showing only the more expensive pieces. Plus, there are several beautiful pictures of vintage ads.A really useful section is the one that list about thirty-five Internet Websites offering vintage costume jewelry for sale. If you are a dealer, like my wife, this is really helpful when pricing items for sale. She has an online shop where she sells vintage costume jewelry and artisan jewelry that she makes. She's starting to incorporate some vintage parts and pieces from broken costume jewelry in her artisan jewelry and it makes some really interesting designs. Her shop is called Funky Stones. She just opened it a few months ago and she already has over 85 pieces for sale. I do the buying for the costume jewelry that she offers for sale and Inside the Jewelry Box is one of my most used books when I need to identify or find the value of a piece of jewelry.Buy this book, you'll be glad you did!

A wonderful series, filled with invaluable information regarding vintage collectible jewelry. The author, Ann Pitman, is also renowned for her " Juliana Identification and Pricing Guide ". I was so happy to complete this 3 book series, for my library, while they are still available and affordable. Worth every penny.

great reference book, have the rest of the series also...nicely done. LOTS of photos. The prices may not reflect today's market but it gives lots of information and well worth the price.

I was trying to come up with a word to describe Mrs. Pitman's approach to collecting, and I guess "cheerful" says it. She is very enthusiastic and this shows through on each page. There are many clear and colorful photos and light-hearted stories about collecting jewelry. There is information too, but I would have liked to have seen more information on many more manufacturers, but what is there is easy to read and fun. This book is also inspiring and you will not hurt for ideas on what to add to your collection after you read it.As long as you don't try to compare this book to Julia C. Carroll's Collecting Costume Jewelry 101, you will not be disappointed.

This book is just what I needed as a beginning vintage jewelry collector. So much good information here on what to look for and how to judge vintage jewelry.

Great book, very informative

Research is what I do for my jewelry business and this was very informative for me. I only collect old jewelry.

I was disappointed in this book. It listed few names that I was interested in or commonly see and it didn't provide useful information. It was mostly and list of pictures, some of which weren't that good, and personal opinion.