Leslie Piña

The collectible appeal of Mexican metal art can be attributed to artistic quality, variety, and large production volume. In addition to jewelry, it includes wearable art, table art, and wall art, with something for everyone. See Mexican jewelry and metal art made with copper, brass, alpaca, and silver. From glass mosaics on brass to silver jewelry inlaid with crushed stone, to metal combinations such as metales casados, the variety in color, texture, and form is wonderful. While other books have made significant contributions to raising awareness of Mexico-designed silver jewelry, little has been written about other metal objects, often made by the very same designers, such as Salvador Teran, Los Castillos, Miguel Martinez, Miguel Pineda, Estele Popowski, and Bernice Goodspeed. Additional names found on illustrated brass and mixed-metal items include Maya, Toño, Cecilia, Caballo, and Victoria. Detailed captions with value ranges accompany 1000+ color photographs. Includes a bibliography, index, illustrated glossary, and illustrated hallmarks.

Archimede Seguso (1909-1999), one of the great Muranese masters, took traditional glassmaking techniques to extremes. His introduction of merletto lacework technique at the Venice Biennale of 1952 turned heads. His secret for embedding fine lacy threads of glass was never shared. Rather than apply the filigree to the surface of vessels as was traditionally done, Seguso floated these delicate wisps of color inside the glass. Archimede Seguso was also a sculptor. His preference for solid glass and love of nature resulted in a glass menagerie of feathered, scaled, and furry creatures. In the late 1950s he debuted with an array of alabastro figurals mimicking natural white alabaster, as well as the stone in delicious colors. This book, the first on the subject written in English, shows the full array of his extraordinary work in almost 500 full color photos from collections around the world. With focus on the 1950s and the Venice Biennales, his designs for decanters, vases, bowls, and animal sculpture from the period are shown with detailed captions and a price guide. This book also includes a history, bibliography, index, and illustrated glossary of terms.

A tradition of creating beautiful Scandinavian art glass began in the 1930s and continues today. The well known companies Orrefors, Kosta, iittala, Nuutajarvi Notsjo, Holmegaard, Riihimaen Lasi, and other less famous firms, have been on the creative edge of glass design for over three quarters of century. This long-awaited book chronicles their work in color and is a companion to the authors' earlier work on colorless, smoky, and engraved glass. This is the first book to cover all the major and many of the minor companies, revealing how each country (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway) had its particular color palette and style. With more than 700 full color photos, comprehensive design biographies, company histories, close-ups of labels and signatures, bibliography, index, and price guide, this volume will be indispensible to collectors, dealers, and scholars interested in Scandinavian glass and 20th century design.

Named after its founder, Englishman William Blenko, Blenko Glass Company, Inc. began producing stained glass in America in the late nineteenth century. It remains one of the few glass factories in the United States still making modern hand blown production glass. Recently, collectors have been scooping up Blenko designs from the company's middle years of production, the 1950s and 1960s. Three outstanding designers were responsible for the entire design repertoire of that era--Winslow Anderson, Wayne Husted, and Joel Myers. Over 675 color photographs of Blenko glass (courtesy of Blenko Visitors' Center Museum, the Huntington Museum of Art, and private collections), detailed captions, information about the designers, the never-before-published 1960 catalog, bibliography, and index make this book a valuable reference.

Take a detailed look at the exciting and highly collectible modern furniture of the 1950s--furniture created by renowned designers, including Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Harry Bertoia, Isamu Noguchi, and Eero Saarinen, and produced by companies such as Herman Miller, Knoll, and Heywood-Wakefield. Included in this new and improved third edition are over 450 color and vintage black and white photographs bearing detailed captions for all the classic designs, plus accessories, 70 designer biographies and company histories, a construction case study, a source list, bibliography, values, and an index. This single volume is an invaluable reference.

This long-awaited book will be a valuable tool for collectors, dealers, and researchers of modern Italian glass. Most comprehensive volumes are written in Italian, and none includes a value guide. This one, in English, includes information and photographs that will make this book a standard reference on the subject. With approximately 700 full color photos of almost 1000 examples of glass from 1900 to 2000, and an emphasis on the highly collectible mid-century period, nearly every company and technique is represented. Company histories, designer biographies, glossary, bibliography, index, and value guide make this an ideal reference book.

A combination of original Blenko catalog pages and photographs, this book completes the Blenko “story,” covering the much sought after early designs and the later designs readily available to collectors. The first three color catalogs -- designed by Wayne Husted in 1959, 1960, and 1961 -- show some of the best of Blenko’s early glass production, and these are featured in this latest Blenko book. The year 1983 marked the beginning of the “late” period when the label was changed from the silver foil hand to the square with large B and red dot. The early years of the 1940s through the 1960s have been the most popular with collectors of Blenko Glass. However, interest in later Blenko has already awakened with the other Schiffer books on Blenko and with exposure on PBS videos. For the collector, current market values of this beautiful glass are included. Don Shepherd, Hank Adams, and Matt Carter were the staff designers responsible for all of the later glass in the catalogs. Many of their designs were inspired by those of their predecessors — those great designers of “cool 50s and 60s glass” — Winslow Anderson, Wayne Husted, and Joel Myers. Others are bound to become classics on their own merits.

In this long-awaited new volume, classics by Herman Miller’s super-designers — Gilbert Rohde, Charles and Ray Eames, and George Nelson — are shown along with more recent office furniture designs. Furniture designs are described in detail and shown in color and black-and-white photographs, all from the Herman Miller archives. An essay on the history of the office, designer biographies, company chronology, appendix, bibliography, index, and value guide make this book essential for collectors, dealers, curators, designers, and other devotees of modernism. Herman Miller was the first American company to design and manufacture exclusively modern furniture. From the 1930s, Herman Miller has been a leader in modern design. The same company also led the office revolution and is a name synonymous with the best modern contract furniture. From Action Office I of the 1960s to the Aeron Chair of the late 1990s, Herman Miller has consistently introduced designs that have become classics that are being collected along with the residential icons of modernism.

Fostoria is one of the best known and most admired names in American glass. Probably more brides and homemakers have received gifts and purchased glass made at the Fostoria factory in Moundsville, West Virginia than from any other glass company. This is the first book to present all of this fascinating and highly collectible glass through hundreds of color photographs. Pieces featured range from rarely seen examples of Victorian pattern glass from the early years in Fostoria, Ohio through the introduction of color, the popular American and Coin patterns, to the scarce and unusual, even unique, items. Any collector, dealer, or student of American glass will delight in the beautiful glassware presented here. In addition to more than 400 beautiful color photographs of Fostoria objects with detailed captions, the book contains labels, color catalog pages, an illustrated styles chart with over 1000 entries, a chronology, index and updated values. The first to bring all this information together, this book will fascinate and inform the advanced collector as well as the beginner.

Among the great designers at Herman Miller in the 1950s and 1960s, Alexander Girard enhanced Eames' and Nelson's furniture with innovative textiles. As head of Herman Miller's Textile Division since it was formed in 1952, he designed some of the most colorful and exciting fabrics available anywhere. He also designed the 25-piece Girard Group of modern furniture, and the 40-item series of Environmental Enrichment Panels for Action Office 2. Girard's unmatched folk art collection adorned Herman Miller buildings, filled their Textiles & Objects Shop in New York, and over 100,000 items made up the famous Girard Foundation. His acclaimed work as an interior designer and architect and his remarkable textiles for Herman Miller make Girard one of the legendary designers of the twentieth century. With over 400 mostly color photographs of his textile and wallpaper designs, all of the EE panels and furniture, plus detailed text, timeline, and an updated value guide, this book is a comprehensive view of Girard's work at Herman Miller, and a must for anyone interested in mid-century design of textiles, interiors, or graphics.

Color is one of the most interesting qualities of glass, and many people collect according to color. Purple Glass is a sample of various collectible glassware made in the United States and Europe. Included are examples of Depression Era glass from American companies such as Tiffin, Fostoria, and Morgantown, to mid-century blown glass from Blenko; from Italian mid-century cased items to Scandinavian designer glass from Kosta, Orrefors, and Flygsfors. While focusing exclusively on purple glass, this book is also a survey of 20th century glass, because each design was also produced in other colors. More than 400 color photographs (including 80+ rare catalog pages for identification) and information on the 60 companies represented make this book essential for all glass collectors.

Neither a particular style nor the product of one company, crackle glass has become one of the popular fields of twentieth century glass collecting. Crackling, a finish caused by dipping the hot piece of glass into cooling water, is the common feature that gives this type of glass its name. The majority of this glass was handblown by West Virginia glass companies such as Blenko, Pilgrim, Rainbow, Kanawha, and Bischoff. This volume shows thousands of crackle glass vases, pitchers, bowls, tumblers, and dishes grouped in more than 300 full color photos, with company histories, detailed captions, a current price guide, bibliography, and index. It will serve as a necessary reference for students, collectors, and dealers of this colorful glassware.

“The eyes have it,” in this colorful selection of outrageously whimsical eyeglass stylings from the fabulous 1950s and hip 1960s! Whether dotted with rhinestones, molded into “cat’s-eyes,” or built up into tiara-like proportions, eyeglass frames with “specs appeal” are among today’s hottest and most collectible fashion accessories. The 450 color photos and vintage ads shown here offer a dazzling eyeful of the best these eras had to offer. From harlequins to earring glasses, French “girl-watchers” to the original “rose-colored glasses,” these eye-catchers capture ‘50s and ‘60s eyewear design in all its swooping, glittery glory. The jaunty, informative text includes identifying information, historical notes, and hints on how to adapt frames from the past for modern use. A current price guide completes this “blast from the past,” sure to be the apple of every collector’s eye!

Herman Miller, the leader in modern twentieth-century furniture manufacture, was a totally design-oriented company. Known best for Eames and Nelson furniture designs, showrooms, and interiors, they also produced outstanding graphic design. Mid-century and later advertisements, drawings, brochures, catalogs, posters, and wall panels are shown in this visually exciting new book. Photos of award-winning and other graphic designs are all from the Herman Miller Archives. This beautiful book is a must for anyone with an interest in modern furniture, graphics, or twentieth century design in general.

From fun and funky to excitingly exotic, popular purses of the mid-20th century have a fashion appeal all their own. More than simply functional, these bags feature bold, often whimsical stylings. They say “notice me”—and buyers continue to do just that! Crocodile and carved Lucite, and elegant beaded evening bags are here, as are bags by Enid Collins, all enticingly displayed in over 400 color photos and vintage ads. The bright, breezy, and informative text pays tribute to fashion at its flirtiest, while the current price guide will have collectors reaching for their pocketbooks!

This book showcases a wide variety of Nativity sets that display multi-cultural artistic interpretations of the true meaning of Christmas. Artisans from more than forty countries on five continents are represented, each with beautiful expressions of the greatest story ever told, often with photographs from the country of origin to accompany the artwork. Whether sculpted in clay, carved from wood, painted, woven, or cast, these Créches from around the world are sure to enhance holiday celebrations and illustrate the universality of the Christmas message.

Over 400 color photos of crackle glass, company catalog pages, information on the manufacturers, detailed captions, up-to-date prices, bibliography, and an index. Crackle glass has become popular in the field of twentieth-century glass collecting. Taking its name from the crackle-like appearance of the glass, a finish caused by dipping the hot piece of hand-blown glass into cooling water, the majority of this highly collectible glass was made by West Virginian companies such as Blenko, Pilgrim, and Rainbow, and Depression Era companies Tiffin, Morgantown, and Duncan. This volume showcases more than 400 color photos of crackle glass along with company catalog pages, manufacturers' information, an essay on glass blowing, detailed captions, an up-to-date price guide, bibliography, and index. It is a must for students, collectors, and dealers of glasswares.

A fascinating and insightful look into the art glass of the 1950s, this revised second edition spans the range of 1950s art glass from common collectibles to those of museum quality, displaying the diversity and creativity of style, color, and shape. This book has served as an inspiration and valuable resource for collectors, dealers, and all struck by the exceptional quality of art glass. Special emphasis is given to Italian (Murano) glass and Scandinavian glass, with an expanded section on American 50s glass. Included in this edition are new and outstanding photographs of art glass, detailed captions, updated information on artists and company histories, an illustrated glossary with section on signatures and labels, an expanded annotated bibliography, and up-to-date price guide.

"Magnificent color, skilled craftsmanship and creative design make Blenko America's most colorful name in glass," touted a Blenko catalog advertisement. First begun in the late nineteenth century in Milton, West Virginia, Blenko remains one of the few glass factories in the United States where modern hand-blown glass is still in production. Recently, Blenko glass designs from the 1950s and 1960s have caught collectors' eyes. This book presents an exact, full-color reprinting of the yearly Blenko company catalogs from 1962 through 1971, thus offering a complete, well-illustrated record of Blenko glass products, including original retail prices and current market values. This book is most useful for the dealers and collectors of glass who appreciate the beauty and "timely glass design" of Blenko.

From one-of-a-kind, hand-made fashions, accessories, and jewelry to commercially made, highly decorative items, wearable art has become an important category for collectors of vintage costume and unique contemporary fashions. This book, with its 575 color photographs, showcases stunning examples of vintage and contemporary wearable art accessories, including close-up shots detailing the intricacy of handiwork involved for the items, a glossary, bibliography, and value guide. An exquisite assemblage of hats, handbags, scarves, shoes, and jewelry present this compelling topic at its best. From Art Deco enameled mesh to Judith Leiber jeweled handbags, antique African trade beads to Femo, the examples shown are not necessarily museum art, but are real wearable creations from the antique to the present. It is sure to delight and intrigue anyone interested in fashion, art, and the unusual and beautiful.