Product Description

You may be the owner of a valuable piece of porcelain or pottery, but the cryptic symbol on the underside of the piece may be your only clue to its value. Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks: 1850 to the Present will help you identify your pieces.

Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks provides the quickest and easiest way for professional and amateur collectors to identify more than 3,500 American, European, and Oriental marks. The perfect companion to the Kovels' original best-seller, Kovels' Dictionary of Marks--Pottery and Porcelain: 1650 to 1850 (still in print after more than 42 years and 41 printings), Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks is the most comprehensive reference for nineteenth- and twentieth-century marks. Together, the two volumes are an indispensable guide to porcelain and pottery marks of the last four centuries.

Also available from Three Rivers Press, Kovels' Dictionary of Marks--Pottery & Porcelain: 1650 to 1850

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119398 in Books
• Published on: 1986-12-13
• Released on: 1986-12-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780517559147
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"As millions already know, any book carrying the Kovel byline will be as reliable, informative, and fact-filled as any collector could wish."
--American Country Collectibles

"What the Kovels don't know about antiques isn't worth knowing."
--House Beautiful

"The Kovels are arguably the authorities on antiques and collectibles in this country."
--Los Angeles Times -- Review

Review
"As millions already know, any book carrying the Kovel byline will be as reliable, informative, and fact-filled as any collector could wish."
--American Country Collectibles

"What the Kovels don't know about antiques isn't worth knowing."
--House Beautiful

"The Kovels are arguably the authorities on antiques and collectibles in this country."
--Los Angeles Times

From the Inside Flap
You may be the owner of a valuable piece of porcelain or pottery, but the cryptic symbol on the underside of the piece may be your only clue to its value. Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks: 1850 to the Present will help you identify your pieces.

Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks provides the quickest and easiest way for professional and amateur collectors to identify more than 3,500 American, European, and Oriental marks. The perfect companion to the Kovels' original best-seller, Kovels' Dictionary of Marks -- Pottery and Porcelain: 1650 to 1850 (still in print after more than 42 years and 41 printings), Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks is the most comprehensive reference for nineteenth- and twentieth-century marks. Together, the two volumes are an indispensable guide to porcelain and pottery marks of the last four centuries.

Also available from Three Rivers Press, Kovels' Dictionary of Marks--Pottery & Porcelain: 1650 to 1850

Customer Reviews

Many marks dated incorrectly in Kovels' mark book!
While the layout, date code information, and index are very well done, many marks are dated incorrectly.... some off by decades. This is very misleading and frustrating. Due to the Kovels' apparent vast experience, collectors and dealers tend to believe whatever they write... right or wrong! As an author and china mark historian, I hope the Kovels remove any unverified mark usage dates in a future edition. To list a few examples, they say mark 195L is semiporcelain, 1886-1898. The correct information according to the manufacturer (now Syracuse China, then Onondaga Pottery) is vitrified china 1897-1946. Also they indicate mark 127J is a current mark, but this backstamp was actually used 1930s - early 1950s. Then there is mark 105N listed as faience 1891+, which should be porcelain 1959-1969 according to the company. Other knowledgeable and observant collectors and dealers have noticed similar discrepancies.

I Use It Constantly!
This is the book I refer to first when I get a new piece of porcelain. 90% of the time I find the mark in this book. U.S. Marks are not as well represented, however I do get some good information about the marks I do find.

I like the way the book is organized. You can look in the index if you know a name. This leads you to locations in the book where this name is listed. Or you can search by the shape, design, or letters used in the mark.

I am a beginner and I still found this book to be very helpful in my research.

My only request for an updated version is to include more U.S. Marks. The U.S. Pottery and Porcelain markets are getting very hot and it would be helpful to be able to quickly identify them.

A worthy extension of the first Kovels pottery book.
The authors of this book have been writing it for almost 50 years. It is not a replacement for their "Kovels' Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain", which was first published in 1953 and is still in print. This book is an addition to the first book, having about 10% of the marks shown in the first book because of new information or for completeness. The other marks are newer and not shown in the old book. There are two sections of marks, the first section is marks that look like objects and the second is alphabetical by initials and words. There is also a section called: "Some Additional Information". It has a glossary of terms, dating systems, foreign words commonly used in the marks, fakes and forgeries, a list of "Selected Reading", and an index. This book alone is not enough for accomplished collectors, but is excellent for beginners and used in combination with the first book (as the authors apparently intended) will cover a large percentage of the "Pottery and Porcelain" marks.