Good, Better, Best Book Review & Giveaway
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I‘ve always enjoyed watching Antiques Roadshow, when someone would find out that something that was a precious treasure in their family actually turned out to be a priceless antique. Now wouldn’t that be fun? I doubt it would happen to me, but I have seen it happen on more than one occasion on the show. So, when I was contacted by the publisher of a book all about spotting treasures, asking me if I’d like to receive a copy of the book for review and get 3 copies to give away, well, I was all over that!
Carol Prisant, who used to be with Antiques Roadshow has written a colorful and concise book on how to spot real treasures when you are out there scouring the flea markets and antiques shops. Good, Better, Best: (Trade Secrets for spotting a Find) describes the levels of finding these treasures and what to look for. If you’ve got money to burn, then you might want to go for the Best category, but after looking at the prices on those, I’d say that particular one will never grace my home.
In fact, I’m not even sure I own any that would fit under the Good category either, which is reserved for the very ordinary and peasant pieces apparently. 
I did find one furniture item, the English tea table, in the book that reminded me of my mahogany piecrust table that I found at a yardsale. 
Not having any idea of its provenance, I would imagine my table is probably a reproduction from the mid-century (last century that is) and is no doubt, worth not a whole lot more than the $75 I paid for it. Well, in an antique shop, it would probably go for double or triple, so I’m sure I found a deal. And I love this table, so will probably always keep it.
I did really like looking through this book and seeing all the pictures, reading the difference between the Good, Better, Best categories and if you enjoy reading about antique pieces, you’ll enjoy this book too. With lots of color pictures and descriptions about items from glassware, furniture and collectibles, Carol covers a multitude of antique items. I don’t think I own a bit of priceless antique pieces, but I will keep them just the same. But, collectors of antiques will no doubt love this book as it gives tips for looking at items with a keen eye towards identifying where it came from and how old it might be.
And the good news is….I have 3 copies to give away to THREE of you, so all you need to do is leave a comment and you’ll be eligible for the drawing. I’ll pick 3 names at random and your book will be shipped out to you from the publisher.
And just for fun, what is your favorite antique that YOU have in your house? I’d say my very favorite piece is that kitchen cupboard I have in my breakfast area that is from the late 1800′s. It’s French, very unique and I’ve never seen another one like it.
Don’t forget to leave a comment!
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I don’t have any antique furniture…but I do have a lot of antique photographs. I would enjoy reading the book.
Rhoda,
Thank you for sharing all the great info with us. Love your blog!
MW
I would love to win this book.
We don’t have alot of antiques in our home, but we we have a dresser with a mirror – 100 years old. It’s mahagony. An oak knobby legged table with a little drawer in it and a lower shelf. I have a lamp on it with christmas decor right now. I have some old pottery dishes from the Vermont Bennington Potters CO. I love that set. It’s dark green splatterware – they were given to me by my dad and step mom. My step mom and dad own an antique shop in Helena, MT. I really should have more antiques, but my husband is a cabinet maker, so I get to pick whatever I want him to build for me and he does just that. Pencil post bed, beadboard bed, slat board beds, dressers, armoirs, bookcases, kitchen table, etc… Thanks for this post. I love your blog, Rhoda!
Being both a treasure hunter and a collector at heart, I have many things (antiques) that I truly treasure – some found, some gifts, some inherited. My mother’s crystal is over 65 years old and I love every piece that’s left. Wish I could find the pattern name!!! Also we have a beautiful bow front curio/china cabinet that belonged to my husband’s grandmother. I keep my Mother’s crystal in it, plus a wonderful set of white Wedgewood that was a dear friend’s Mother’s wedding china (I even have the cram soup bowl and the teapot). Her mother passed at 90+ about 10 years ago. She knew how I loved dishes and offered it to me.
i read your blog everyday….its like reading a book , you just can’t put it down, i love all the pictures you have taken, and i especially love your Grandma Eleanors Birthday Party and the one where ya’ll made the cover for your chair. She is such a delightful lady… I love your home and you are so talented in all that you do… I have a few antiques, i downsized in my home and i gave quite a few to my children. I like oak furniture , I have a beautiful rocker, i’m not sure of date, but it is very pretty..
I will continue to check with you everyday, to see what wonderful things your doing… Thanks again for sharing the books with us.
I don’t have a blog, I just love to see what everyone else is doing…and enjoy seeing the different parts of the country with them..
I live in Texas… i hope i’m lucky to win one of the books….
thanks again,
jeanne
Would love to read this!
What a wonderful book to have- I’m always looking for that one special treasure. My favorite and dearest antique (not quite- made in the 1930-40′s) is a hand carved wooden -bubble glass oval frame made by the Chicago Picture Co. It has a picture of my grandmother and mother when she was a teenager. It is gorgeous with a gold antique finish and still looks brand new.
I love antiques even though I hardly own any. But the ones I have have been in the family for many, many years. So that makes them more precious.
I have 4 antiques I love
l. a library table from my husbands great aunts
2. a small bedside table from my husbands grandfather
3. my mothers hope chest
4. an old, old cupboard with the paint peeling I bought at an antique shop
I love reading your blog and getting new ideas and tips. This book looks very interesting.
Loved your mailbox – lots of good ideas there.
I have been enjoying your blog for about a year now, after seeing it mentioned on Eddie Ross’ blog. Your ideas are so charming and the fact that you are a great “do- it-yourself-er” really resonates with me! I love a good house sale and the flea market and think I have a good eye, but have been proven wrong on occasion. I love seeing your latest ideas and your home decor photos. I look forward to whatever you have coming for us bloggy fans in the future.
I love giveaways! I haven’t won yet so this may be my lucky day.
My favorite antique would be a toss up between the only two I have. 
I have an old washstand that was my great grandmother’s. I love it for the simple fact that it belonged to someone precious in my family. (and it’s pretty) I also have an antique bedroom set that was my very first “big girl bed” when I was little. It was my grandmother’s. She isn’t with us anymore and it’s a sweet reminder of her.
i have just been introduced to your sight & i LOVE it!!! i also am a treasure hunter! thanks for all the good ideas! just keep them coming! my favorite antique piece is a table in my sunroom that i have had for about 30 years & it was old when i got it. i’m not sure what it is or when it was made, but i think it is a library table. i just can’t part with it either! pam
Rhoda, I would love a book, I do have a few antique pieces and the book would be a treasured collectible for me!
I’m hoping I win!!!!! Thanks for the chance to enter, I’d love to get a copy!!
Rhoda, These are such beautiful furniture pieces that they will be the feature in my Furniture Feature Friday link party this week. Of course, everything will be linked back to you. Thank you so much for your inspiration!
I could definitely use a book like this. My house is full of family antiques and some I have bought. I went to an estate sale last weekend and was at the table to pay my $25.00 for some glassware, and while I was standing there I just had to bid on a mantle clock and got it. I have since put myself on restriction. Temporary of course!
I think the best antique I have ever bought was a drafting table, huge, solid wood, carved legs, that I got for my son for $40.
He is a graphics artist and uses that table EVERY day. Got it at a garage sale. It has been priceless to him. My favorite at home
was a vase that has been passed down from my great grandfather to my grandpa to me. It came over with him from England and
is a tall vase with a lady on the front and carved leaves that stick out on the sides. I sure have to be careful with it. It does have
a small piece broken out of the top. They were a pair and a cousin has the other. I sure would like to have the book.
thanks
I have a bunch of “old” things and furniture that I have no idea of their worth, or lack thereof. But, I like them. Most of them were my mother’s. I would suppose my favorite antique is my dining room table. About 29 years ago, I lady in our church asked my husband if he could take an old table of hers to the dump, as she was getting a new one. He went over to do so, but instead brought it to our house! It was a gorgeous oak table and looked barely used! We have used it daily ever since — for eating and for doing homework! About a year ago, we had it refinished (cost more than we would have used to buy a new table, but oh well!). The refinisher said it was from the 1800′s and raved about how wonderful it was. I still have no idea how much it is worth. But, it doesn’t matter anymore. It has my family’s history written in.
Love your blog! Very nice giveaway!!
I have a few things that I think are antique, one being an armoire I picked up at an estate sale for cheap. They had wanted $650 for it and I got it 80% off! That’s $130. When we moved to our new house in the midwest it got slightly damaged…so I’m upset about that…but it still looks very pretty and girlish. My little girls love to put their dress up dresses in it. It’s great for throwing toys in when company pops over unexpectedly.
I also loved your TJ Maxx post…I’m going over there today. Hope I can find some birdies…love ‘em!
Happy Holidays!
You can never have too many good books on antiques. Love your piecrust table.
Rhoda, what a neat giveaway! You always inspire ! Can’t wait to see if I am one of the winners this holiday!!!
Looks like a great book. Thanks for showing it to us.
What a great book, I love watching the Antique Roadshow. Please enter me.
Toni
I have an antique buffet server, something that I have wanted forever..they are hard to find. It is a bit smaller than I wanted, but I love it.
I typically just buy what speaks to me – maybe this book would help me listen to the upper end better
Thanks for the chance.
Hi Rhoda, I’ve been a treasure collector for many years and would loooove to win one of these books. My favorite antique furniture is my grandmother’s dining room furniture. It’s the old oak round table with six chairs. The chairs are dated on the bottom 1921. I was with her when she bought the set in Lincoln NE in the 1950s when it was merely used furniture, not antique.
I love love your blog and really appreciate all your projects. Thanks!
New to the blog as of yesterday and already loving it!
My favorite antique is the sideboard that my grandmother gave me. She owned the entire dining room set, but had sold it before I was born.
I think your kitchen cupboard is gorgeous. I would love to find something similar for our kitchen. We have gone to a few estate sales, and have seen some great deals, but so far we have not found a much needed coffee table. The hunt is fun, even though the living room looks barren!
My favorite antique is my clawfoot dining room table. It is HEAVY and has enough leaves to make it about 15 feet long. Thanks for the chance to win!
I’d have to say my favorite antique is a huge framed painting of George Washington, with a long quote and commemorative coin. It was given to my husband’s great-great-great-great aunt (who was the president’s personal secretary) when the government moved to DC.
Even though I love antiques I don’t own any. But I would very much enjoy reading the book.
I WOULD SO LOVE TO RECEIVE A COPY OF THIS BOOK. I’M ALWAYS SHOPPING FOR ANTIQUES AT YARD SALES AND AM NOT SURE THAT IS OR ISN’T AN ANTIQUE.
I don’t have any antiques in our house yet, I’m hoping to find some since we’re going to live here for another two years.
Hi Rhoda,
Merry Christmas to you and I love your blog, it inspires me so much…I have been collecting antiques since I was a teenager. Unlike most women, I don’t fall for shoes or purses or clothes, my weakness is furniture…yeah, makes for some full rooms sometimes…but what can I say, I get weak-in-the-knees at I beautiful piece of furniture.
Oh my gosh! I love Antiques Roadshow. My favorite show. I wish it was on every night. This week I watched the UK version, it’s a hoot.
My favorite antique piece is a pie safe that belonged to my grandfather’s sister – not sure if anyone had it before her. My grandmother had painted it a lovely ‘antique’ green (think early 1970s). It became mine once my grandparents had passed away and is the first piece I refinished myself. I’ve always used it – although never to cool pies! It holds my sewing supplies these days.
I just discovered you site this week, and LOVE it!!!! Thanks for sharing your home and your wonderful ideas with us. Oops…forgot…favorite antique…a beautiful mahogany melodian…kind of like an old organ that has to be pumped to
be played.
my family didn’t have a lot of antiques to hand down…I have the slop bucket from my Nuni, her old cookie jar and a plant that I have had since her death, 23 years ago. Perhaps someday, the items I have accumulated will be my families’ antiques and this book may help me find something that is a real treasure
Hi Rhoda!
Love that book! My favorite antique is my great-grandmas china cabinet. It is small but very sweet in the
corner of my family room. I store my great-aunt’s dinnerware set and my Christmas dishes in it!!
Hope I win the book…..it would be a very interesting read!
Merry Christmas!
Georgia
Grandma G’s
grandmags.blogspot.com
Rhoda,
Just love your house!! Love the way you decorate and love, love, love the piecrust table!!
Merry Christmas!
Sounds like a really good book, I’d love to win one! Enjoy your blog!
Great photos! Would be a fun book to sit and pore over.
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