Antiques & Collectibles

The Watch Book Rolex has long been undisputedly one of the best coffee-table books when it comes to the luxury watch brand. In this superlative coffee-table book, Gisbert L. Brunner, known among experts as the "watch pope", illuminates the history of the chronometric legend Rolex. In his usual artistic style, he explains what makes this brand unique and to what extent it has contributed to the technical development of the wristwatch. 

From the first officially certified wristwatch, to the waterproof "Oyster" case, to the technically sophisticated models of modern times, Gisbert covers everything the reader needs to know about the Rolex brand in impressive pictures and highly informative yet entertaining texts. In the third revised edition, the successful author has now also included the latest models of the legendary Submariner and Daytona series, the brand's traditional lines, which are already celebrating their 70th and 60th anniversaries. But in this edition, Gisbert also addresses the particular challenges facing the watchmaking trade in the advancing 21st century. The business is confronted with the increasing shortage of skilled workers. The author highlights the innovative projects and programmes with which the luxury brand is countering this trend in order to be able to maintain its own standards of guarantee and service in the future. 

Text in English, French and German.

Compendium - Revised Edition

For all chrono fans, collectors and watch enthusiasts there is now the brilliant and completely revised new edition "The Watch Book Compendium". The comprehensive coffee-table book replaces the earlier "The Watch Book Compendium" and combines "The Watch Book I" and "The Watch Book II". As usual, the successful author Gisbert L. Brunner shines with his extensive expertise and brings his readers closer to the history of the wristwatch with more than 1,000 high-resolution photographs. With over 40 pieces, hardly any other illustrated book gathers more premium watch brands under one roof.

The predecessors of "The Watch Book Compendium - Revised Editon" have long been considered standard works among experts. Because no other photo book depicts more of the noble timepieces. The author shows the luxury timepieces not only in a frontal and side view, as many catalogs have to offer. The reader often gets a direct look at the sophisticated mechanics of these small masterpieces of extraordinary craftsmanship. There is no more beautiful and artistic way to present accomplished technology. 

Gisbert L. Brunner invites his interested reader on a journey through time in the world of the watch. Beginning with the earliest beginnings of the art of watchmaking, we accompany him piece by piece into the modern age. Because even today, premium watches are a sign of style, taste and status symbol. The presentation of the precious materials, the beautiful designs and the insight into the sophisticated technology, enchants real watch fans and makes "The Watch Book Compendium - Revised Edition" a perfect gift.

This thoroughly updated and comprehensive edition enhances the classic work as a guide to symbolism in Christian liturgical art, architecture, manuscripts, stained glass, and more.

This edition is more heavily pictorial in an effort to provide an even stronger resource for artists and researchers, as well as the general browsing public. It addresses the rich history of Christian symbolism, presented for the twenty-first century reader.

This unique resource offers page after page of line drawings depicting sacred monograms, saints, crosses, altars, flowers, fruits and trees, plus symbols of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, the Church Year, the Apostles, the Holy Trinity; and much more. Completely updated and with ecumenical appeal, this useful new reference book expands on its earlier and well-earned reputation for providing clear and reliable information on Christian symbolism.

A Field Guide to Identifying Woods in American Antiques & Collectibles is the authority on wood identification. Beginning with general information about the featured woods, the book then delves into hundreds of detailed photographs, even at a macroscopic level, depicting the critical characteristics used in identification. Ultimately, each wood is presented in two or more antique or collectible objects to illustrate the traits that confirm the wood's identification.

Canadian-made W.J. Hughes "Corn Flower" is a distinctive floral design cut on glass stem and tableware. Produced from 1914 to 1988, Corn Flower was a popular gift item, widely collected and used by at least three generations of Canadian families. Corn Flower: Creatively Canadian contains a history of the Hughes family in Ontario, the life and work of Jack Hughes and the detailed business history of the Company from its inception in the basement of the family home to becoming a popular Canadian corporation.

Collectors from across North America will be fascinated by the profusion of splendid photographs, both black & white and colour, of the Corn Flower lines of glassware, many from the original company catalogues. Within the text are clues to the identification of authentic Corn Flower and the differentiation of blanks.

Northern Algoma is a vast wilderness north of Lake Superior and a land rich in natural resources — fur, gold, iron ore, endless tracts of forests. Its modern history began in the eighteenth century with the fur traders. Then came the gold-seekers, followed by the lumber barons and the industrialists. As railways opened up the area to the world, more and more people came to seek their fortune, work, and adventure. The pages of Northern Algoma are filled with the voices of many of these people as they look back and remember. More than sixty historic photographs accompany their words.

A vibrant study of the history and production of the Bryce glass company, one of the most successful designers and producers of pattern glass tableware, novelties and lamps in the nineteenth century.

Scottish immigrant James Bryce (1812–1893) began his glassmaking career at the age of ten as a child laborer on the floor of a Pittsburgh glasshouse working for $1.25 a week. In 1850 he founded his own glassware company just as pressed glass was increasing in popularity. Pressed glass transformed the lives of everyday people by making beautiful tableware widely available to those who could not afford the expensive blown and cut crystal enjoyed by their wealthy neighbors. Bryce became one of the largest producers of pattern glass in America and by 1871 was shipping its products all over the world. The company continued operations for 113 years, guided by second and then third generation family members.

This volume celebrates the beauty and artistry of the naturalistic designs, colorful tableware, and whimsical novelties Bryce produced between 1850 and 1891. At its heart, this book is a highly-illustrated work with 190 newly commissioned color plates beautifully photographed by leading decorative arts photographer Gavin Ashworth. It concludes with a compendium of authenticated Bryce products illustrated primarily with period line drawings that will be a valuable tool for both sophisticated glass scholars and casual collectors alike.

A fascinating survey of exceptional American chair design from the early nineteenth century to the present day.

Designed for function, each chair has a story to tell about the history and evolution of American design, art and craftmanship. At the heart of the catalogue is the presentation of 57 chairs from the Jacobsen Collection of American Art covered in 49 essays, all showing beauty and historical context, as well as important social, economic, political and cultural influences. Highlights include designs by John Henry Belter, George Hunzinger, Herter Brothers, Stickley Brothers, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Isamu Noguchi, and Frank Gehry, among others. There are good examples of historically significant chairs, such as the House of Representatives Chamber Arm Chair (1857), and a photograph of this chair being sat in by Abraham Lincoln, plus an Appalachian Bent Willow Armchair, which is shown in a 1901 photo being sat in by President McKinley on the porch of his summer home. Key icons from post-war American history include Charles Eames’ 1946 moulded plywood Low/Lounge Wood Chair, and the Contour Bar Stool designed by Frank Gehry in 1972.

The chairs are arranged across four main, broadly chronological sections, from the early 1800s to the Civil War; from Reconstruction through the Gilded Age to the dawn of the 20th century; from Art Nouveau to post-war Modernism; and finally, from the post-war Space Age to the Digital Age and the contemporary focus on space saving and sustainability. Each section opens with a brief introduction to its key themes.

(Bilingual Edition: English / German)

The publication presents the entire collection of printing plates depicting battles of the Chinese emperor that are still in existence. They show scenes of Chinese military campaigns between 1755 and 1828. Of the originally eighty-eight printing plates, only thirty-seven are still known today, thirty-four of them in the Ethnological Museum in Berlin.

The book tells the history of the plates’provenance and describes the history of copperplate engraving in China. The process in which the printing plates were created and the motifs found in the pictures of battles are also explained. The magnificent copper plates, which are part of the exhibition in the Wang Shu Room of the Humboldt Forum, bear witness to the history of missionaries in China, the military campaigns and politics of the Chinese emperor, the transnational interrelation of culture and craft, and ultimately the craft of copperplate engraving itself.

Institutions, associations, and company boards presented magnificent birthday presents to Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria (1821–1912), one of the most well-known representatives of the House of Wittelsbach, on the occasion of his round birthdays in 1891, 1901, and 1911. As high-quality handcrafted works, they combine artistic techniques from goldsmithing to cut leather to watercolor painting. Their stylistic spectrum ranges from variants of historicism to Art Nouveau. These treasures, which are part of the holdings of the Bavarian National Museum, shed light on the vital cultural development during the span of time around 1900, also known as the "Prinzregentenzeit," or Regency period, and the magnificent celebrations of the birthday of a prince shortly before the end of the monarchy in Germany.

Die Inventarisation als Kernaufgabe der Museen benötigt zuverlässige Hilfsmittel und eine einheitliche Terminologie. Band 3 der von der Landesstelle für die nichtstaatlichen Museen in Bayern herausgegebenen Reihe 'Bestimmungsbuch Archäologie' widmet sich einer nur auf den ersten Blick unspektakulären Objektgruppe, die noch nie in ein griffiges typologisches Schema gebracht wurde: den Nadeln vom Jungpaläolithikum bis zum Hochmittelalter.

Näh- und Stecknadeln sind unverzichtbar bei der Herstellung von Bekleidung, Nadeln dienen als Schmuck, zur Körperverzierung oder auch als Werkzeug bei der Metallbearbeitung. Material sind Knochen oder Metalle, schlichte Ausführungen stehen neben aufwendig, auch figürlich verzierten Exemplaren. Der Thesaurus stellt die überraschende Vielfalt der Typen und Formen vor. Er kann von Laien wie auch von Wissenschaftlern benutzt werden und bietet verschiedene Erschließungstiefen bei der Inventarisierung. Jedem Begriff sind eine Definition, ein Quellennachweis und eine Abbildung beigefügt. Zur Einordnung der Objekttypen werden Hinweise zur Datierung und Verbreitung gegeben.

Nun in dritter, aktualisierter Auflage!

Als Angriffswaffen sind Dolche und Schwerter in ihrer Form vorrangig von der Kampfesweise geprägt. Immer waren sie aber auch Statussymbole. Mit edlen Materialien aufwendig gestaltet, repräsentierten sie das Selbstverständnis von Kriegerkasten und Heerführern. Dies belegen neolithische Fischschwanzdolche von herausragender handwerklicher Qualität ebenso wie prächtig verzierte fränkische Goldgriffspathen.

Band 6 der erfolgreichen Reihe widmet sich zum ersten Mal einer Waffengattung und legt eine epochenübergreifende Gliederung der „Dolche und Schwerter" vor. Das Spektrum reicht von jungsteinzeitlichen Silexdolchen bis hin zu eisernen Schwertern der Wikinger aus der Zeit um 1000. Erstmals werden dabei vorgeschichtliche, römische und frühmittelalterliche Formen in einer gemeinsamen Systematik zusammengefasst.

The fascinating world of Goebel is brought to you by two of the world's foremost authorities, Werner Moderhack and Ray Wagner.

This book, Goebel: The Collector's Guide, is printed in full color and is the most comprehensive and completely researched guide ever published on Goebel products. It is published with the approval and cooperation of Goebel Porzellanfabrik, Rodental, Germany.

Contents include: Value and Identification Guide; Listings of Goebel Artists and Sculptors; Trademark History, Goebel History; Many prototypes and other rare pieces; and Madonnas which include figurines, wall hangings, plaques, busts and grave markers. Every category is as complete as research and expertise will permit. Plus Works of major artists such as Lore (Blumenkinder), Kathe Kruse, Normal Rockwell (Original), Schaubach, Nasha, Huldah, Staehle and many others. 

This volume commences with the the books and manuscripts given at the foundation of King's College in 1495, continues with the collections which accrued to Marischal College from its foundation in 1593, and comes together with the fusion of the two colleges in 1860 in the modern University of Aberdeen.

From the beginning, the scope and focus of the University was international, and its developing collections represent a microcosm of the world of knowledge as it changed over the centuries. The University Colleges of Aberdeen have a distinct intellectual tradition: pragmatically tolerant in times of persecution; dissident from the religious and political policies of the Lowlands; looking outwards to the world of northern Europe and to the territories of the Jacobite diaspora.

The book introduces one of the oldest continually-evolving academic library collections of the Anglophone world, surveys its history and includes a series of studies of items or collections of particular interest.