Written By: Barbara Nicholson Bell
Best of Suite (BoS) are e-books published by Suite101 and authored by Feature Writers within the Suite101 Communities. These books are created from previous articles written (and now archived) by the Writer for their Topic. Cost is minimal ($9.95) for the quality of information. You download the encrypted file and upon receipt of payment you are given a password to "unlock the door" to a world of fascinating information. The e-books are compiled via Adobe Acrobat which makes for easy reading and access - including being printed out in an attractive format.
We are all collectors of something - and as spring rolls around we tend to survey our collections with pride and an eye to expanding or decreasing. Barbara's collection of articles is informative, fun to read, and vindicates my stubbornness to relinquish my favourites.
As Barbara's extensive research covers a five year span from 1998 to 2003, she conveniently divides the series according to the alphabet - with Vol. 1 centreing on letters A to L. There are 23 jammed-packed articles ranging from Antiques in Alaska to Low Art Tiles. Each article recommends other links showing research and more information for the interested reader. More importantly though, is that the articles stand on their own as a fun read while being informative.
The book covers many Pottery areas with entries for Bennington Pottery and Dedham Pottery and even Hampshire and Marblehead Pottery. Did you know that the signature logo of the motif of rabbits for Dedham pottery was created from a contest held to launch a new line of pottery? The book is filled with small tidbits of information so important to the collector's knowledge.
As a confirmed "Numismatist" (hey, honestly, I never even knew that term applied to me) I thoroughly enjoyed the article on Coin Collecting. While I am not a true collector, I tend to keep coins I find interesting and have a huge collection that one day I should actually go through to see if it has more value - the links have helped to show me how to attempt this task (sigh, yes, the coins are just in pretty boxes and pouches).
There is also a huge amount on the varying china and ceramic collections. Flow Blue China rates a section, as does Chinese Export Porcelain. The pictures are divine and vibrant - showing the fine detail and rich colours.
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