The name Kummersdorf is inextricably linked with a wide variety of German weapons, vehicles and equipment. Kummersdorf was involved in every stage of military technical development: research, development, testing and the mass employment of military technology.

For centuries, entertainers have strung their audiences along with these captivating characters. This author does the same, chronicling the global fascination with puppets over thousands of years. From Pinocchio to Kermit the Frog, from Indian stick figures to Jerry Mahoney puppets, these collectibles have entertained and educated generations. They are a perfect medium for telling stories, some quite serious and deeply meaningful and others meant simply for entertainment and laughter. Puppets and Marionettes will bring back memories of childhood, of the early days of television and the hours...

Discover the many forms and adornments of Purinton Pottery, an attractive hand-painted slip ware best known for its simple yet beautiful designs. More than 1100 color photographs chronicle the pottery from its early, primitive Peasant Ware stages after the company was founded in Wellsville, Ohio in 1936, to the ever-popular Apple and Pennsylvania Dutch patterns of the 1940s and '50s, with all known patterns and molds illustrated in chronological order. The company continued to manufacture pottery until 1959, producing a wide range of items from dinnerware and souvenir items to personalized...

Slip into a bold and colorful era in cloth design. Once fashionable decorative fabrics for the home, these large and sometimes splashy print designs were used for drapery, upholstery, slipcover, and tablecloth fabrics. Designs prevalent in the 1950s included tropical scenes, American West motifs, sports and sporting events, nautical and boating themes, kitchen designs, and exotic foreign destinations. Often customized for specific rooms, some fabrics feature typical "den," "kitchen," or "child's bedroom" themes. Included are more than 250 color photographs of vintage conversational or novelty...

Zenith's "The Quality Goes in Before the Name Goes On" is one of the most recognized, and well earned, corporate mottos in America. Founded by two Navy radiomen in 1919, luck and the infusion of capital from a wealthy adventurer and car salesman started the Zenith Radio Corporation on a journey that would propell it to the top of the United States electronics manufacturing industry. The rise was an interesting one, the cast of high profile. With access to the Zenith corporate archives and their discovery of the long sealed files of one of Zenith's founders, the authors present for the first...

The toys of the 1950s and 1960s are currently among the most sought after collectibles, and some of the most popular examples are covered in this book. Nearly 500 beautiful color photos of over 780 toys and collectibles, and a helpful price guide make this a necessary reference for new and advanced collectors and toy dealers everywhere. Baby Boomer Toys and Collectibles covers a broad range of favorites from robots and space toys to race cars, Hanna-Barbera toys, and Beatles collectibles. Among them are The Official Lost in Space Robot, a hopping Fred Flintstone, and a rare bottle of "With...

Zsolnay ceramic art from Hungary, featuring over 400 color photographs, covers the three main periods of Zsolnay production: 1868 to 1897--Folklorism, Historicism, Victorian Eclecticism; 1897 to 1920--Art Nouveau; and Art Deco; and 1920 to the present--Modernism. An entire chapter is devoted to Zsolnay marks to help identify the pieces. There are almost 11,000 different forms of domestic Zsolnay art works; 700 were issued in 1900 alone, and there are many undocumented forms imported in England and America. Along with the charming miniature, green-glazed, multi-figural series that Zsolnay is...

Woo hoo Here, at long last, is a guide to the ever-expanding world of collectibles inspired by America's longest-running animated sitcom, "The Simpsons." Since their first appearance in 1987, the Simpsons have lent their familiar faces to literally hundreds of items, from dolls and action figures to clocks and cookie jars. With over 500 full-color pictures of Simpsonabilia that range from the everyday to the obscure, Robert W. Getz invites you to join him as he braves this forbidding, spiky-topped Everest. Prefaced with an essay that traces the history of the show and the reasons for its...

The increasingly collectible categories of nursery rhymes and literary characters, including children's stories and fables, provide the focus for this fourth book of salt and pepper shakers by experts Larry Carey and Sylvia Tompkins. This very popular area of salt and pepper shakers appeals to a wide range of collectors-it's the book for collectors who love classic literary characters such as those from Dickens, fairy tales, and Aesop's fables, to modern day characters such the Cat in the Hat and Curious George. Wonderful sets, from Aladdin and His Lamp to Wizards with Dragons, and everything...

This third and final part of the narrative starts with the bitter fighting over Italy, where the Geschwaderstab together with I. and III./JG 53 had to face overwhelming odds in their struggle over both the front lines at Cassino and Anzio/Nettuno bridghead, and over northern Italy. I./JG 53 was later moved to Romania in order to protect the vital oilfields and refineries around Ploesti and later saw further action in Hungary, where it was to take part in the fierce fighting on the southeastern part of the Russian Front in the fall of 1944 and early 1945, eventually retreating into...