Product Description

Chapter by colorful chapter of Coca-Cola calendars, serving trays, bottles, signs, vintage advertisements, toys, coolers, dispensers and countless other items representing the foremost name in soda pop collectibles await you, in this new edition of the superior Coca-Cola collectibles identification and values reference.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #131785 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 648 pages

About the Author
Allan Petretti is the leading expert on market trends and values of Coca-Cola collectibles. He’s been collecting, dealing and promoting this collecting arena since the early 1970s. He frequently conducts seminars around the nation, and is a noted appraiser whose expertise is called upon for special collector events at The World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, GA. He’s also been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, The Robb Report, Ladies Home Journal, and the London Times.

Customer Reviews

Great coverage - but shame-on Allan's pricing...
This book has excellent pictures and wide range of coverage - more than in any of the prior editions.

I did find some inconsistancies in item pricing (Litchfield bottle pg 398 - $70 and same item pg 400 - $55, pg 152 item pcs108.000 - $1300 and same item pcs108.000 pg 87 - $1000). Given that this book has become the "bible" for Coca-Cola collecting - these inconsistancies can cause some problems...

I could overlook some of the pricing errors - heck there's thousands and thousands of items and no one is perfect. But the real problem I have is how high the prices are for all of the items.

Let me get on my soapbox for a minute and conclude by saying that I've been collecting 1890's - 1930's Coca Cola items for the past 20 years and have acquired a pretty extensive collection. I have to say that in my humble opinion the prices that are in this book are dangerously overstated - perhaps in an attempt to help us older guys as we approach retirement. Afterall, we are the one's that acquired the vintage, quality items inexpensively in the early days... In the end I'm not sure its working -- in fact I think the prices have begun to fall!!! One only has to look at the prices being realized on auction sites like ebay to see what I mean - even the "near mint" items don't even come close to the prices in the 10th edition, let alone those in the 11th. Many desirable items have no activity because of greedy sellers that set minimum prices that are out of sync with demand.

I think the high pricing in guides like this actually harms the market, since most collectors can no longer afford the older, quality items. As the old-timers have seen, in the end - the winners are the manufacturers of the recent garbage made in CHINA as it becomes desireable since it's the only thing that's affordable. Vintage-item collectors die-out or begin to get frustrated since they can't find quality merchandise at affordable prices and move on to other hobbies, and there are no replacement collectors coming in.

At this stage, as an old-time collector, I shouldn't complain I guess. Because of Allan's books my items have appreciated substantially. But I still enjoy the hobby - yet I can hardly afford to stay with it. I'm fearful that the number of vintage-item collectors is wanning, and the interest in the hobby is really falling off. If that happens - we will soon find ourselves using Shelly and Helen's old 1970's four volume price guides to buy and sell.

Maybe that wouldn't be so bad afterall...

Fed Up With This One, Too
Right off the bat: I agree that the omission of blotters and assorted other collectibles from this guide is a gaping omission as big as a barn. I hardly use this guide anymore for several reasons:

1) The back index is as bad as they come. Totally incomplete.

2) You want to find a certain tray? Be prepared to bounce from one end of the book to the other looking for what you need. There is no apparent logic to the way this guide is arranged. I'm sure the author felt it was completely logical, but his logic escapes me.

3) The front index is just painful to figure out. There is a usability book out there called "Don't Make Me Think". The author of this Coke guide should study it.

4) Too much rhetoric and opinion about "fantasy" items. I find this section of the guide painful to sift through. Just the facts, please. And then there's the illogical order of everything .

The best that can be said about this guide is that it's big. It is poorly organized and has way too many omissions to be my primary guide. If a 12th edition ever comes out, I'm going to check it out before buying, to see if these problems have been fixed.

I much prefer Wilsons' guide over this one.

Great resource, but are the prices realistic?
I have owned most editions of this book, and as a resource for researching Coca Cola memorabilia, I would have to say it is unsurpassed. I haven't seen any other guides come close in the number of items shown.

I do question the pricing of these items, however. I don't see how everything can continually increase in price from one edition to another, especially when you consider internet sales activity (a very large part of Coca Cola memorabilia sales nowadays). As a collector, I never pay at price-levels shown in this edition, and I certainly do not obtain these prices when I occasionally sell an item off on an internet auction site. I just feel that the prices are a bit inflated. No one could keep track of the huge amounts of Coca Cola memorabilia sales in all venues around the country. I tend to take pricing in guidebooks with a grain of salt, especially, as in this case, when the author is also a major collector. Just a little too much potential for conflict of interest.