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If you're about to buy a mid-range phone, then you'll more than likely be glad of the help from sites such as Pocket-lint, because it is, without doubt, the most confusing part of the market. At the high-end, with phones like the Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X and, of course, the iPhone, things are simple. These are all good phones, and each one will be a pleasure to use.
At the low end things are a little confusing, but many handsets are perfectly usable day to day. When you're paying £100, you're really getting something basic, but more than likely it will surprise you - read our review of the Orange San Francisco II and the T-Mobile Vivacity to see why.
And then there's the mid-range, in which the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 sits, along with phones like the ZTE Grand X and the Huawei Honour. These three phones are all different, and the quality, and usability varies wildly. If you're buying a phone for about £200, then you're going to need some advice. So let's hope we can help.
It's a phone, what can we say. On these budget handsets Samsung doesn't push the boat out with exciting design. Here we have a black rectangle with rounded corners - don't tell Apple - and a hard button, and two capacitive controls on the front. This follows the usual Samsung style of a menu key on the left, and a back button on the right.
Elsewhere on the phone you'll fine a power button on the right, a volume rocker on the left, and a headphone socket on the top. charging is done via USB, which is located on the bottom of the phone. The battery is removable, there's a full-sized SIM card slot too, and microSD near the volume rocker.
There's a camera lurking on the back of the phone, which has an LED flash, and there's the usual video-calling front-facing shooter.
Perhaps the most striking thing about the Ace 2 is that it's the right size. It's not too small to be useful, but it's not too big to be a hassle to lug about either. This is perhaps one of the most overlooked things about modern smartphones, so it's nice to see a handset that appeals to the people who want a phone-sized phone.
Phone stuff and texting
Because of the size and shape of this phone, it actually does calls and text messages with considerable skill. Perhaps it's aimed at that group of people who like phones, and live on text messages, but aren't too bothered about apps and multimedia. Although we wonder if those people exist any more. But there are people who just don't have £450 to spend on a phone, and this is the territory of the Ace 2.
In terms to keyboard customisations, you get a choice of a standard Samsung system, which we rather liked. Or you can use Swype, which we do think is a good input method, but it does take a little bit of learning, and comes into its own on slightly larger screens.
Call quality is super too, the earpiece is loud enough, but calls are very clear too. This is nice, and we found it pretty easy to get the earpiece over our ear too. Don't laugh, on some handsets that's a lot harder than it sounds.
Limited hardware
There's not much wrong with the Ace 2 in terms of performance. It feels slick, and we never felt it was lacking. The processor is a dual core chip running at a modest 800MHz, and there's just 768MB of RAM and an annoyingly small 4GB of storage. The storage can be improved with a microSD card though, and the RAM never really felt like a problem in day-to-day use.
The screen is a 480x800 TFT LCD, and it's nice. Bright enough outside - just - and very clear, despite being quite a modest resolution. We prefer LCDs to OLED because the colours are more natural, and they're better in bright daylight.
You get an FM radio too, which is surprisingly good, and we are always pleased to see them on phones. Samsung is especially good for including them, and this one works well. It auto-scans and the quality is decent.
Apps and that
Samsung goes light on pre-installed apps, which we like. It covers the basics, so there are music and video players to get you started with media. We like the video player, but we think there are better music players on the market.
Samsung is also obsessed with "hubs". It's almost as if humans used the word "hub" in normal conversation. In fact, it's like "keeping something on your radar". Humans aren't equipped with radar, so the whole thing sounds like it was made up by someone trying to sound clever. Anyway, the social hub is where you can tell the phone all your social media logins, and it can then pillage them for information and updates. It will be popular, as it brings a new dimension to the phone, and makes sharing things easier too.
There's a Samsung app store: the thing is ghastly and annoys us no end, as it just means you need a Samsung account, and that in turn is another load of nonsense to sign up for. There are probably exclusive Samsung apps here, but really, who cares? You might, in which case feel free to sign up, we think it's largely nonsense.
ChatON is also included, which is Samsung's version of Messages on an iPhone. It works the same way, and can help you communicate free if your friends also use the service. The app is free to all, so actually it's probably worth telling people about and getting them to use it.
Allshare provides some DLNA support. We don't get on with it, and it wouldn't play much of anything from either our Windows shares, or Plex. There are better apps - try Skifta - out there, so we wouldn't bother. It is better for sending things from the phone to another device though, so you might get some mileage out of that feature.
Video on the Ace 2 is a surprise. The phone will happily manage HD at 720p in MKV containers. There's a problem with AC3 (Dolby Digital) audio though, the phone can't play it, so if you want to hear video with this type of sound you'll need to flatten it first using an app on your computer. But we love that HD video plays smoothly and crisply on a £200 phone. We've used phones that cost twice as much that can't handle this sort of thing.
Video quality is really good too, the smallish screen has enough pixels to make the screen look impressive, and the colour is excellent, it looks very natural. You can thank the LCD for that, because the Samsung doesn't use one of those ghastly AMOLED things.
It's worth noting that the standard Samsung video app is really quite good. It plays files simply, with minimal fuss. It also remembers your place, so if you get interrupted, or even start watching another thing, you can always go back to where you were.
Sound from the small, built-in speakers is decent enough. It's tinny, and there's not much range which makes listening to must a real pain. But for speech from TV shows or phone calls, it's actually quite serviceable. It's also pretty loud, which is good if you are a speakerphone sort.
Sound from headphones is deeply impressive - depending on your headphones, of course - but there's loads of range, and the bass is deep and impressive sounding. This is, sonically, quite a capable phone, so if music is your thing, that's good news. There's a bias toward the low end, but that's to some people's taste. There's also a faux 5.1 effect. It's dreadful, don't use it.
The camera
Yes, it's a bit predictable, but the camera isn't brilliant on the Ace 2. We found that colours were far too over-saturated by default. This produces results that catch the eye, but there's no definition in these bright colours, and that makes the results incredibly disappointing.
There is also a slight issue with the focus, it's quite simply not very accurate, and it seems to keep focusing well after you think it's stopped. What that meant to us, was that we'd touch the screen, to lock on, then press the shutter button, but the result was blurred. You can work around this by holding the camera still for longer than you think and waiting for a final lock. It's still a bother though.
Aside from the colour issue, detail is average on photos. The traditional smear of low-cost digital cameras is present and correct, but it's not as bad as budget phones, it's just not really ideal either.
We like the Ace 2 a lot. It's a sensibly priced phone that, while not overflowing with high-end features, holds its own in a busy market. The screen is good, the build quality is excellent, and as a phone, it excels at the phone tasks that often get forgotten in reviews.
It's a good size too, you can operate it easily with one hand - all too hard on big-screen handsets - and it fits in pockets and bags without any problems. It's also sturdy enough to carry around without worrying you'll break it at a moments notice.
Problems are, on the whole, minor too. The camera isn't brilliant, but it works well enough for tweeting, Facebook and other similar. Overall, we like the Ace 2, it's not as exciting as a flagship handset, but it's also more than half the price.


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I have my menu made of images. Therefore I use
divs and with
.current-menu-item I use CSS to change the image. This works if I'm directly on this main page. If I'm on a subpage I cannot use this trick anymore. The reason is that the submenu is build like the following:
Each page has set a parent. The submenu is generated with
'child_of' => SUBMENU_ROOT
whereas SUBMENU_ROOT is the fetched top most parent. So I have the parent ID which should be highlighted in the main menu. How can I achieve a highlighting of the main menu when I'm on a subpage?
Or is the only way to use the normal menu dialog?

subset: commoncrawl


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Facebook 'friends' renewable energy. Thumbs up!
Facebook's message to energy producers is clear: invest now in renewable energy, and move away from coal power.
In addition, Greenpeace and Facebook will collaborate in the promotion of renewable energy and encourage major utilities to develop renewable energy sources. (See the agreement here)
Facebook has also committed to develop programmes with Greenpeace so that Facebook users can save energy and engage their communities in clean energy decisions. The possibilities for helping to empower and mobilise people around the world to launch an energy revolution are staggering!
You can see the campaign timeline here.
From today, Facebook has a siting policy that states a preference for access to clean, renewable energy supply for its future data centres – the places where its computers live. Coal power is still a feature of Facebook for now, but as they say in the IT sector -- it's been deprecated.
Congratulations and thank you to everyone who helped us get here. Now please announce it to the world! Go on, boast about how you helped our Facebook campaign to success - on Facebook -- you deserve it! The good people at Facebook also deserve our thanks for rising to the challenge and setting the bar for Internet companies with its data centre siting policy.
You can see Facebook's announcement of our collaboration on their Green Page. And don't forget to let them know if you 'like' it!
The campaign to green Facebook took off in February 2010, just after the company announced its plan to build a data centre that would run on electricity made primarily by burning coal.
Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world got involved. Celebrities and students joined Greenpeace volunteers and activists from Argentina to Zimbabwe, and in every city where Facebook has offices.
We demonstrated with photos, humour, petitions, videos, music, and dance -- and an airship flying over Facebook's HQ in Palo Alto, California.
Campaign supporters even set a Guinness world record (for the most Facebook comments in 24 hours).
The energy used to power data centres, such as those which run the websites and online services of Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter and other major IT companies is enormous, totalling more than 2 percent of US electricity demand, and is projected to grow 12 percent or more each year.
Videos, pictures and other data are stored in this high tech "cloud" to deliver data to homes and offices in real time. If the cloud was a country, it would be the 5th largest in terms of electricity use, worldwide.
This cloud is often powered from locations that are heavily dependent on electricity from a variety of sources, including coal, which is the dirtiest source of energy and largest single source of global warming pollution in the world.
If all the Internet giants would unfriend coal, it would send a message to utilities and investors that couldn't be ignored. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has shown today what other IT leaders should be doing.
Energy efficiency is important, but for an energy revolution to save the planet we also need to upgrade to green energy. Who will be next?


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Disability: Psychiatric Disabilities
W. Patrick Sullivan
The psychosocial catastrophe that accompanies serious mental illness negatively impacts individual performance and success in all key life domains. A person-in-environment perspective, and with a traditional and inherent interest in consumer and community strengths, is well positioned to address psychiatric disabilities. This entry describes a select set of habilitation and rehabilitation services that are ideally designed to address the challenges faced by persons with mental illness. In addition, it is argued that emphasis on a recovery model serves as an important framework for developing effective interventions.
Empowerment Practice
Ruth J. Parsons and Jean East
The concept of empowerment has deep roots in social work practice. Building upon the work of empowerment theorists of the 1980s and 1990s and applied broadly in the 2000s [Itzhaky and York (2000), Social Work Research, 24, 225–234; Travis and Deepak (2011), Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 20, 203–222], the concept of empowerment has evolved from a philosophical level to practice frameworks and methods. Substantial research confirms empowerment outcomes as personal, interpersonal, and sociopolitical. Practice interventions contain both personal and structural dimensions and are accomplished through multilevel interventions. Based on transformation ideology, empowerment is a counter to perceived and objective powerlessness. Social work relationships provide an opportunity for experiencing power and collaboration. Empowerment interventions are often useful with vulnerable populations, such as women and members of stigmatized groups.
Ethics in Research
Jeane W. Anastas
Social work researchers hold themselves to general ethical standards for biomedical and social science research and to the values specific to social work. This article describes (a) the general ethical principles guiding research involving human beings, (b) mechanisms for the ethical review of studies involving human beings, (c) ethical issues in research on vulnerable populations such as children and adolescents, recipients of care, and other socially marginalized groups, and (d) plagiarism, authorship, and conflict of interest. Current topics in the responsible conduct of research include the use of clinical and audio or video data, participatory action research, and Internet-based studies.
Evidence-Informed Social Work Practice
S. J. Dodd and Andrea Savage
Evidence-informed practice (EIP) is a model that incorporates best available research evidence; client's needs, values, and preferences; practitioner wisdom; and theory into the clinical decision-making process filtered through the lens of client, agency, and community culture. The purpose of this article is to define and describe the evidence-informed practice model within social work and to explore the evolution of evidence-informed practice over time. The article distinguishes evidence-informed practice from the more commonly known (and perhaps more popular) evidence-based practice. And, having outlined the essential components of evidence-informed practice, describes the barriers to its effective implementation. Critical contextual factors related to the implementation of evidence-informed practice at the individual level, as well as within social work organizations, are also addressed. Finally, implications both for social work practice and education are explored.
Quality of Care
Enola Proctor and J. Curtis McMillen
Assessing and improving the quality of social services is one of the most pressing concerns for social work practice and research. Practice in nearly every setting is affected by stakeholder expectations that agencies monitor and improve quality. This entry addresses the meaning of the phrase "quality of care" with respect to social work services, considers this topic in relation to quality improvement, quality assurance, and evaluation of services, and points to the research that is needed in order to assess and improve quality.
Randomized Control Trials
Phyllis Solomon
This entry defines Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) and puts them in an historical context. It provides an understanding of the distinction between efficacy and effectiveness RCTs and explains why effectiveness trials are more relevant to social work interventions. The strengths and limitations of RCTs that use experimental designs are delineated. It discusses the reporting requirements of RCTs by the standards of the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials).. It also presents the controversies of social workers in the use of RCTs.. Current health services research emphasizes evidence-based practices, research on comparative effectiveness, and using dissemination and implementation research to understand the gaps between empirically supported interventions and the services that are offered in routine care. RCTs have emerged as a central methodology in all of these efforts. Social workers, therefore, need to be knowledgeable and engage in these efforts.
Social Work and Coercion
Tomi Gomory and Daniel Dunleavy
Social work is perhaps most distinctive for its clear and outspoken commitment toward improving the well-being of society's vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, while still emphasizing the importance of respecting and defending personal rights and freedoms. Though there is a fundamental necessity for coercion, or its threat, for eliciting civil social behavior in a well-functioning society, it is professionally and ethically imperative that social workers make explicit our rationales for, justifications of, and the evidence used to support or reject coercive practices in our work. Social work's engagement with coercion inevitably entails the ethical and social policy arguments for and against its use, as shown in a review of the empirical evidence regarding its impact on the professions' clients, exemplified by three domains: (1) child welfare, (2) mental health, and (3) addictions. Recommendations for future improvements involve balancing the potential for harm against the benefits of coercive actions.
Lawrence Shulman
Supervision of students and practitioners has been important to social work since its earliest evolution as a recognized profession. Central to the process is the idea of one professional with more knowledge, skill, and experience guiding the practice and development of another with less. The four content areas of supervision usually include direct practice, professional impact, job management, and continued learning. There are a number of supervision models, and most emphasize a positive supervisor–supervisee working relationship, a parallel process, and the importance of cultural competency. The emergence of Evidence-Based Practices and Trauma-Informed Practices has also influenced supervision. The contemporary context of social work supervision offers both opportunities and challenges to clinical supervision.


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Arvest Bank's 1 Million Meals initiative challenges bank associates, customers and community members to participate in fundraising efforts and nonperishable food drives to fight hunger in the more than 120 communities the bank serves. The initiative is needed, as the United States Department of Agriculture reports more than 12 percent of American households surveyed in 2016 were food-insecure, meaning they lacked access to enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle for all household members.
Arvest is conducting its annual initiative in the spring for the third consecutive year due to the fact food banks report an increased need for food items in the summer, when many children do not have the benefit of eating meals at the schools they attend. Nationally, for example, the Food Research & Action Center said only one out of seven children who receive free or reduced-price meals during the school year continues to receive meals during the summer months. Donations to food banks also tend to be lower in the spring and summer than at other times of the year.
Arvest Bank kicked off the two-month, bank-wide effort to provide at least one million meals to local, hungry families today, and it will continue through June 2. The initiative will conclude later that month, when donations are presented to 75-plus locally selected organizations that feed the hungry in their communities.
To participate in the 1 Million Meals initiative, customers and community members can donate nonperishable food items or make monetary donations at any Arvest branch or call (866) 952-9523. Arvest credit card customers also can donate Arvest Flex Rewards™ points by visiting arvestflexrewards.com and clicking on the 1 Million Meals banner. Every dollar raised through 1 Million Meals provides the equivalent of five meals for those in need.
For more information about 1 Million Meals, visit arvest.com.
Submitted questions will be answered by an Arvest banker and may appear on the Arvest Blog.
All Arvest banks are Equal Housing Lenders and Member FDIC.
Investment products and services are provided by Arvest Investments, Inc., doing business as Arvest Asset Management, member FINRA/SIPC, an SEC registered investment adviser and a subsidiary of Arvest Bank. Trust services are provided by Arvest Bank. Insurance products are made available through Arvest Insurance, Inc., which is registered as an insurance agency. Insurance products are marketed through Arvest Insurance, Inc., but are underwritten by insurance companies.
Securities and Insurance Products: Not Insured by FDIC or any Federal Government Agency, May Lose Value, Not a Deposit of or Guaranteed by a Bank or any Bank Affiliate.


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*Dances the Roger Rabbit*
Summary: Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before.
Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he's volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she's been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he's really from.
I got all set to talk about the coolest, most awesome thing I loved most about this book, and then last minute I read the summary as I was pasting it from Goodreads, and CRUD. It's not even mentioned. Which means if I talk about it, I will be spoiling it for everybody. Dang it dang it dang it.
Okay, so, fresh approach, avoiding the coolest thing which answers "never guessing where he's really from."
So, obviously, HERE is a mystery. Eh hem. It's also a romance, but it's special in a certain regard, which I can't talk about because that's also not mentioned, and that would be giving away something quite major. Hm...
The amazing thing is, even with so much of the story being a complete surprise (and those surprises being some of most memorable aspects of the book), the summary itself is really compelling even without those spoilers. That should give you an idea of what to expect from HERE.
(I totally just talked in circles--but bear with me.)
So let's focus on non-spoiler things. Like Julia. She's emotional, a little lost, suffering from intense survivor's guilt. The amazing thing is that Julia still manages to come across as a three dimensional character with a well rounded personality; she's not just 'the depressed character." She's got issues outside of the death of her friend Monica. Like her parents. And school. Lack of self confidence. And eerie occurrences (this is where the story elevates to a higher, more intense level). It's got a bit of a science fiction flare, but very accessible, with teen drama that makes the fantasy of it still feel really relatable. Swank captures well that angst that seems to drive teenage existence without overwhelming the reader with it.
It's easy to get carried away with HERE, to just rush through the pages. It's filled with tension that drives you forward, propelling you headfirst into the fantasy element without you even realizing it's happening. It's quite a genre buster--a story that feels like a YA romantic mystery, but it pulls elements from history, sort of...bending them...while throwing in some SF/F that ultimately shapes the mystery into a thriller.
I really like genre busters, so this is awesome.
HERE is cool and different from so much of the YA that is out there now, though I predict we'll see more books like this in the next year or two. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you how it's different without ruining it for you. Just trust me on this.
Win a Signed copy of HERE by Denise Grover Swank
Hey, guess what? After some pleading and serious whining, I managed to procure a signed copy of Denise's book to give away. Cool, huh? All you have do is fill in your name and email on this form:
Enter HERE to win a Signed HERE by Denise Grover Swank
This giveaway is international and ends Friday, December 16, midnight EST. You must be 13 years old to enter. If you win, you will need to provide an address for shipment. Under 18's must have parent/guardian permission to enter.
Thanks so much for entering and commenting and being all around supreme. Oh, and if you just can't wait to see if you won and would like to pick up a copy of HERE for yourself, check it out on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. But enter anyway. Cuz it's signed.
OH, and come back again because I've got some more surprises for you guys. You realize I haven't done giveaways in like a million years? Let's remedy that. Tomorrow maybe? (Sorry, I'm not trying to be vague--I just never know if I'll find time to do this stuff.)
Nikki Katz dishes on WHY WE BROKE UPElana Johnson roars for FURY
Shannon Whitney Messenger marvels at A MILLION SUNS plus a preorder giveaway
Carolina M Valdez is all about HERE with giveaway
Gretchen McNeil twirls for AUDITION
Corrine Jackson hails THE CATASTROPHIC HISTORY OF ME AND YOU
Stasia Ward Kehoe is wild for DON'T BREATHE A WORD
Katy Upperman gets in the spirit with ELF ON A SHELF
Okay, so this is really weird. I can't figure out why all the names except Nikki's are all white. I tried to fix it and ended up with something weirder than this, so white background it is. Sorry.


text: This American flag found for sale at Dollar Tree has either fallen through a crack in space and time from a future when the United States has annexed Canada, or the Chinese company that produced it screwed up. Dollar Tree, for its part, claims that the flag is a "patriotic banner" and not supposed to be a regulation American flag. Right. [More]


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Technology has the potential to transform any sector, and real estate is no exception – whether it is through the use of blockchain providing increasing liquidity and transparency on transactions, or the use of artificial intelligence to allow ever more accurate investment decisions to be made. But is the market ready?
Working with Local Government Chronicle (LGC), DWF's public sector team conducted a roundtable discussion to establish how retailers, institutional investors and local government can come together to regenerate town centres for the 21st century. Following the roundtable we produced a summary report to highlight the key findings.
International legal business DWF has launched a new specialist business division, Connected Services, as it continues to evolve its service delivery model as part of wider strategic growth plans.
A technology revolution is upon us, but what does this mean for the world of transport? Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, Blockchain and Electrical Energy and Storage have the potential to transform the sector, but what challenges do businesses face in adopting these technologies?
On the calendar
24. January: Record date for second 2020 interim dividend
29. January: Capital Markets Day
21. February: Payment date for second 2020 interim dividend


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Larry McMurtry
Date Of Birth:
3 June 1936
Place Of Birth:
Wichita Falls, Texas
Larry McMurtry is the Pulitzer and Oscar winner who wrote the novel Lonesome Dove and the screenplay Brokeback Mountain (he shared the Oscar with longtime collaborator Diana Ossana). McMurtry grew up in the small town of Archer City, Texas and is strongly associated with tales of the American frontier. While proclaiming himself a shy Texas lad, McMurtry has proved to be a prolific and savvy scribe whose works have been popular as novels, feature films and television mini-series. His first novel, Horseman, Pass By (1961), was made into the Paul Newman film Hud (1963). His 1966 novel The Last Picture Show was made into a critically acclaimed 1971 movie that earned McMurtry an Oscar nomination for screenwriting. His most famous novel is probably Lonesome Dove, the 1985 cattle drive epic that won a Pulitzer Prize and was made into a hit TV mini-series starring Robert Duvall in 1989. McMurtry is also the guy who wrote Terms of Endearment, the 1975 novel that became the 1983 hit movie with Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine. McMurtry has written several novels with the same characters: the Last Picture Show novels include Texasville (1987) and Duane's Depression (1999), and the Lonesome Dove novels include The Streets of Laredo (1993) and Comanche Moon. His other books include Buffalo Girls (1990), Boone's Lick and the memoir Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen (1999).
Extra Credit:
Larry McMurtry has owned book stores since 1971, and since the late 1990s has opened four buildings in Archer City, Texas that sell used books… McMurtry and author Ken Kesey were friends/rivals since their days in a creative writing seminar at Stanford in 1960; McMurtry ended up marrying Kesey's widow, Faye Kesey, in 2011.
See also:
Copyright © 1998-2018 by Who2?, LLC. All rights reserved.


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Evergreen clematis covers the gazebo of Gail Norwood in Chapel Hill, N.C., an exact replica of the gazebo at the Benjamin Waller house in Colonial Williamsburg.
Whether for entertaining guests, enjoying the view or finding solitude, a garden gazebo adds a focal point to the landscape that draws the eye and invites a visit. The placement of the gazebo, materials used and the selection of surrounding plants are all elements that determine the style and personality of the gazebo and help tie it in with the existing home and landscape.
Four Gazebos, Each Designed for a Specific Purpose
A Williamsburg-Inspired Garden
Taking advantage of a steep incline, this hillside gazebo offers views of a pool built into the terrace, as well as the patio below.
At Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton, Md., a golden-toned pagoda-style gazebo echoes the tones of the surrounding garden.
A rustic wood gazebo fits perfectly into the naturalistic setting, and offers a relaxing perch for viewing the tranquil beauty of the adjacent pond.
A ball-and-chain gate, grit paths, picket fences and outbuildings all combine to create a Colonial atmosphere in the garden of Gail Norwood. Paths through the woodland garden lead to the gazebo, an exact replica of the one at the Benjamin Waller House in Colonial Williamsburg. The gazebo is adorned with vines of evergreen clematis (Clematis armandii), which bloom abundantly in early March. The shade garden surrounding the gazebo is filled with hellebores (Helleborus spp.), Heuchera, Hydrangea, columbine (Aquilegia spp.), ferns, azaleas and Trillium. A moss garden shimmers in various shades of green around the gazebo, adding soft texture and inviting a visit.
A View From Above
A gazebo perched on a terraced cliff offers multi-directional views. Up top is a swimming pool set into the terraced hillside, planted with peonies (Paeonia spp.), azaleas (Rhododendron spp.), coneflowers (Echinacea spp.) and Phlox. Below is an expansive brick patio lined with crapemyrtles (Lagerstroemia indica). The gazebo is surrounded by a juniper (Juniperus spp.) ground cover and Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) twines around the base. At its foot, a waterfall planted with Sedum and grasses cascades below a rocky outcrop. Equipped with lighting and an overhead fan, the gazebo offers a shady refuge on hot summer days.
Gazebo in a Color Garden
A unique pagoda-style gazebo is an integral part of this colorful garden. Surrounded by a variety of yellow green plants such as various sedge (Carex spp.), Hosta, grasses and elephant's ears (Colocasia and Alocasia spp.), the plantings are all tied together by hedges of golden privet (Ligustrum x vicaryi) and foster holly (Ilex x attenuata 'Fosteri'). The golden color of the gazebo is designed to integrate with the chosen palette and offers a welcome resting spot for garden visitors.
Rustic Gazebo by a Pond
In keeping with its naturalistic setting, this gazebo is made with rustic materials and built on a raised base to add extra height and offer a broader view of the garden. A welcoming staircase is edged by a soft cascade of evergreen poet's laurel (Danae racemosa). The rock-edged pond is planted with hellebores, ferns and trillium.
Designing Your Own Gazebo
You may have a vision of where you'd like to place your gazebo and how it should complement your home and landscape. Whether you decide to purchase a kit and build it yourself, or hire an architect for a custom design, you'll need to consider some important questions.
How will you use your gazebo? Is it meant to look pretty in the landscape, to use for entertaining or to provide a place of solitude? All these factors will help determine the size and layout of the gazebo. If you plan to have guests for dining, then the gazebo must be large enough to accommodate tables and chairs with enough room to circulate around the perimeter.
What time of day will you use the gazebo? If you'd like to have evening parties or just like the idea of having the gazebo lit up at night, then running electricity to the structure will be necessary. Removable screens may also be advantageous to keep out intruding insects.
This Asian-inspired design sits serenely by a water feature – the perfect spot for quiet contemplation.
Any new structure on your property will need to adhere to local regulations such as permits and property lines. With homes near water or wetlands, there may also be restrictions due to environmental protection areas, such as the minimum setback from the water's edge. Most building codes also require railings on structures that are a certain height above grade.
The orientation of the gazebo is also an important factor, particularly if it has a southern exposure, both to maximize the view and to ensure comfort in all seasons. Distance from the house may also determine whether a connecting path is desirable, or whether walking across the grass is sufficient.
This rustic gazebo is the perfect design for this country setting.
The degree of time you wish to spend on maintenance will affect your choice of materials. If using wood, rot- and bug-resistant materials are most desirable, such as teak, ipe or cypress. Composite synthetic materials are a low-maintenance option that will not require regular painting or staining. Having a water source nearby, either from a hose or an installed spigot, may be useful for regular cleaning and upkeep.
Whatever the style of your home or the function your gazebo will serve, there are a number of options both for the structure and for the types of plants that will enhance its beauty. A gazebo is a part of the garden landscape that can be designed to truly reflect your own style and personality.
A version of this article appeared in Carolina Gardener Volume 26 Number 5.
Photography courtesy of Anne Wood Humpheries, Norman Winter, and Patrice Peltier.


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Rustic Wood Shelves
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- Overview
Add rustic warmth and style to the kitchen, living area or bedroom with our sleek Rustic Wood Shelf. The floating design adds easy style and modern appeal to any room. Our shelf adds useful storage without taking up floor space, to enhance your home without adding clutter. Use this shelf in the dining area or the kitchen to store festive glassware, pottery or other useful kitchen tools. In the living area, the shelf provides a secure spot to display your treasured decor, including photos, sculptures and artwork. Install a few of these handsome pieces in the bedroom to add personal touches or to free up space on your nightstand or bureau. Each of these space-saving shelves show the wood's natural knots, giving a unique look that lends a custom vibe to your room.
- Solid wood construction from bayur wood with visible knots. Dark stain adds warmth and rustic charm.
- Adds attractive storage space without visible brackets.
- Easy installation with keyholes on the back.
- Comes with two toggle screws and anchors for secure wall mounting.
- Imported.
- Dimensions & Care
2 foot shelf
- 2' wide x 10" deep x 4" high
- Weight capacity up to 55 pounds
3 foot shelf
- 3' wide x 10" deep x 4" high
- Weight capacity up to 70 pounds
4 foot shelf
- 4' wide x 10" deep x 4" high
- Weight capacity up to 100 pounds
- Blot any spills immediately.
- Wipe these rustic wood shelves clean using a soft, dry, lint-free cloth.
- Shipping & Returns
Shipping Information
This is a General shipping item.
- For standard delivery of in-stock items, UPS will deliver as quickly as 5 business days.
- Standard delivery and processing charges are calculated based on pre-tax order total.
- Next-Day delivery is available to most destinations for an additional fee. Not all products are eligible for next day shipping.
View complete information on shipping charges and delivery options.
Return Policy
Our Quality Guarantee: We carefully inspect your order prior to shipment. Upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage; we will arrange for a prompt replacement. Within 7 days for Quick Ship upholstery and 30 days for all other products, if you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return your purchase for a refund of the merchandise value.
Items Ineligible for Returns: We cannot accept returns on monogrammed, personalized, special-order items, or on items damaged through normal wear and tear. We also cannot accept returns of final-sale items which are identified by a price which ends in .99.
Registry Returns: For returns of items purchased from your Pottery Barn registry, we will gladly provide a refund or exchange for the merchandise within 90 days of your event or within 90 days of purchase, whichever is later.
You may return merchandise through the mail for a refund or replacement. For detailed procedures for returning items through the mail, please contact Customer Service at 1.888.779.5176, 7 days a week, 5:00am - 9:00pm (PT).
- Design Tips and Tricks
Our Rustic Wood Shelf lets you quickly refresh the decor in your room to highlight some of your favorite items in a sleek, elegant manner. Without bulky brackets, our shelves offer a modern storage solution that looks attractive against any wall. The warm, dark stain provides rustic appeal, while the exposed knots and grain of the wood give a custom look. Although each piece comes ready to hang and enjoy, following a few tips and tricks can help you achieve the design you seek.
- Tip 1: Before choosing a spot to hang our Rustic Wood Shelf, consider repainting the wall. Let the warm, dark stain pop by hanging it on a light-colored wall. Choose paint colors that speak to your personal style and design goals while still offering enough contrast to create an eye-catching effect.
- Tip 2: Create a playful, three-dimensional wall collage by grouping several shelves of varying sizes together. Add objects such as vases, trinkets and pictures in a variety of shapes and angles. Using asymmetry in your display adds a dramatic visual effect.
- Tip 3: Give your kitchen a quick and easy makeover by removing a few of your closed cabinets and replacing them with a row or two of our Rustic Wood Shelves. This creates an instantly open, airy effect. Our shelves feature a narrow footprint to give your kitchen the illusion of extra space while making it easy to grab anything you need.
- Tip 4: Create a spa-like retreat in your master bathroom by hanging one or two shelves low to the ground near the bathtub. Use these to store linens and display soothing candles to add to the warm ambience. Alternatively, install a shelf or two next to the vanity to make the most of your bathroom space. Use to store essentials or to display decorative items.
- Tip 5: Maximize your space in the living room while adding a delightful combination of form and function. Add a pair of shelves of varying sizes above your loveseat or sectional. Use the extra space to display framed artwork, sculptures, plants or candles.
- Our Quality Commitment
Our Commitment
We have a firm commitment to quality. We take great pride in our timeless designs, premium materials and expert craftsmanship.
Free Interior Design Services
Need design help? We offer free, no-strings-attached Interior Design Services. Get advice and inspiration from our specialists in-store, over the phone or by email. Designers will even make in-home visits, where they can take measurements, discuss color options, and give tips on any room.


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BBM Publishers recommends depositing data that correspond to journal articles in reliable (public) data repositories, assigning digital object identifiers, and properly citing data sets as individual contributions. A data citation in a publication should resemble a bibliographic citation and be located in the publication's reference list. To foster the proper citation of data, BBM Publishers requires all authors to provide a statement on the availability of underlying data as the last paragraph of each article.
Best practice following the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles initiated by Force 11:
Sound, reproducible scholarship rests upon a foundation of robust, accessible data. For this to be so in practice as well as theory, data must be accorded due importance in the practice of scholarship and in the enduring scholarly record. In other words, data should be considered legitimate, citable products of research. Data citation, like the citation of other evidence and sources, is good research practice and is part of the scholarly ecosystem supporting data reuse.
In support of this assertion, and to encourage good practice, we offer a set of guiding principles for data within scholarly literature, another dataset, or any other research object.
The Data Citation Principles cover purpose, function and attributes of citations. These principles recognize the dual necessity of creating citation practices that are both human understandable and machine-actionable.
These citation principles are not comprehensive recommendations for data stewardship. And, as practices vary across communities and technologies will evolve over time, we do not include recommendations for specific implementations, but encourage communities to develop practices and tools that embody these principles.
The principles are grouped so as to facilitate understanding, rather than according to any perceived criteria of importance.
Data citations should facilitate giving scholarly credit and normative and legal attribution to all contributors to the data, recognizing that a single style or mechanism of attribution may not be applicable to all data.
In scholarly literature, whenever and wherever a claim relies upon data, the corresponding data should be cited.
A data citation should include a persistent method for identification that is machine actionable, globally unique, and widely used by a community.
Data citations should facilitate access to the data themselves and to such associated metadata, documentation, code, and other materials, as are necessary for both humans and machines to make informed use of the referenced data.
Unique identifiers, and metadata describing the data, and its disposition, should persist – even beyond the lifespan of the data they describe.
Data citations should facilitate identification of, access to, and verification of the specific data that support a claim. Citations or citation metadata should include information about provenance and fixity sufficient to facilitate verifying that the specific time slice, version and/or granular portion of data retrieved subsequently is the same as was originally cited.
Data citation methods should be sufficiently flexible to accommodate the variant practices among communities, but should not differ so much that they compromise interoperability of data citation practices across communities
Authors are required to provide a statement on how their underlying research data can be accessed. This must be placed as the section "Data availability" at the end of the manuscript before the acknowledgements. The best way to provide access to data is by depositing them (as well as related metadata) in reliable public data repositories, assigning digital object identifiers, and properly citing data sets as individual contributions. If different data sets are deposited in different repositories, this needs to be indicated in the data availability section. If data from a third party were used, this needs to be explained (including a reference to these data). Data Cite recommends the following elements for a data citation:
Creators: Title, Publisher/Repository, Identifier, Publication Year (e.g.: Loew, A., Bennartz, R., Fell, F., Lattanzio, A., Doutriaux-Boucher, M., and Schulz, J.: Surface Albedo Validation Sites, EUMETSAT, http://dx.doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SEC_CLM_1001, 2015).
BBM Publishers also accepts supplements containing smaller amounts of data. However, please note that this is not the preferred way of making data available.
Data do not comprise the only information which is important in the context of reproducibility. Therefore, BBM Publishers encourages authors to also deposit software, algorithms, model code, and other underlying material on suitable repositories/archives whenever possible. These materials should be referenced in the article and preferably cited via a persistent identifier as a DOI.


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Voters ushered in a new era in Japanese politics Sunday, throwing out the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) after 54 years of nearly unbroken rule.
Instead, in elections to the lower house of parliament, they chose the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and its promises of a fresh approach to pull Japan out of decades of economic and political stagnation.
Exit polls gave the DPJ more than 300 seats in Japan's 480-seat Diet (parliament), an overwhelming victory that reveals the depths of disillusion with the ruling LDP.
"Japan has become a normal democracy," says Robert Pekkanen, a Japan expert at the University of Washington. "For better or worse, from now on we will see an alternation of power."
The LDP had been out of office for less than a year since the founding of Japan's post-war political system. Exhausted, beset by scandals and bereft of popular ideas or leaders, the party suffered a landslide defeat that marks a turning point in Japanese political life, analysts say.
"21st century politics in Japan has started in 2009," says Akikazu Hashimoto, a professor at Oberlin University in Tokyo. "There is no going back. This is a tectonic shift in the Japanese system as a whole."
Why Japan lost faith in the LDP
The DPJ, a broadly based party with a generally center-left bent, is not expected to make radical changes either to Japan's economic policy or its foreign policy. It won the Diet election because, after years of falling living standards and political paralysis, Japanese voters finally lost faith in their long-time rulers.
"People want a party that can do something," says Tobias Harris, who runs the perspicacious observingjapan.com website. "They are not convinced that the DPJ is that party, but they are 100 percent convinced that the LDP is not that party."
How will the DPJ change things?
The biggest change, if DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama can pull it off, will be in the way that Japan is governed. Mr. Hatoyama, scion of a prominent Japanese political family, has pledged to seize policy-making power from the senior civil servants who have wielded it for years, and hand it to elected politicians.
Other popular campaign promises included income support for struggling farmers, child allowances for parents, and the abolition of road tolls.
In foreign policy, the conservative-minded Hatoyama is not expected to shift Japan away from its close alliance with the United States, though he has said Tokyo will next year stop deploying refueling ships in support of coalition action in Afghanistan.
LDP's alliance system crumbled
The LDP would have had a hard time holding on to power at these elections regardless of how long it had been in office. Over the past year Japan has suffered its worst economic recession since the war, and unemployment is at a near record 5.7 percent.
The party was fatally weakened, however, by the collapse of the system that had sustained it for more than half a century.
The LDP's dominance rested on its alliances with a range of powerful interest groups such as the farm lobby, the construction industry, the Japan Medical Association, and a nationwide network of influential local postmasters.
Instead of appealing directly to individual voters, the party relied on these groups to get out the vote at elections. For decades they did so, in return for policies that favored them.
One by one, however, these interest groups have peeled off, sometimes feeling betrayed by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's efforts at reform earlier this decade. Construction firms have been disappointed by a drop in public works programs; "Japan Agriculture", the farmers' co-operative, was upset by trims to farm support; the postmasters were angered by the privatization of the Post Office.
As the LDP party machine began misfiring, it lost the traditional loyalty many citizens felt for it. Today, estimates Mr. Hashimoto, who has written a book on unaffiliated voters, as much as 60 percent of the electorate is in the floating voter camp.
DPJ's fresh image
The DPJ, a 12 year old party projecting a fresh image and espousing a more immediate, transparent style of politics, has appealed directly to such voters. This has broken open the traditional power structure, built of businessmen, senior bureaucrats and politicians, to admit ordinary people.
"The public feels a certain anxiety about the DPJ, but it is ready to give them a chance" says Ken Takeuchi, a political analyst who founded Japan Internet News, a political website.
Not that the risks are that great. On many issues the DPJ's policies are very similar to the LDP's, and though trade unions and civil society groups will have a louder voice in the next government, it is not expected to make any radical moves to liberalize immigration, for example, or strengthen homosexual rights.
More than specific policies, however, it is the DPJ's victory itself, opening up the prospect for Japanese parties to alternate in power, that is most significant, says Prof. Pekkanen.
"Once peoples' expectations are changed, the system is broken for ever", he says. "Just the fact of change is bigger than everything else. What people had assumed as givens in Japanese society will no longer hold."
• Takehiko Kambayashi contributed reporting to this article.


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Erhu Accessories
Non-U.S. Customers: all non-USD prices are displayed according to the most current exchange rates between our USD prices, so non-USD prices may fluctuate every day and are only informational. The acutal amount you pay in your local currency will be subject to the exchange rates of the payment gateways at checkout, which use very similar but maybe not exactly the same exchange rates.
New Year Sale: use the coupon code "sofmt" at checkout to get your 10% new year discount now! Valid until January 20, 2020.


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It's time that I get busy today and upload some more fun tutorials that I think many of you might enjoy. To kick things off, how about I show you all "how to draw clothes for kids", step by step. The idea to make this lesson came from, once again my eight year old sister. She asked me how she can draw clothes on her figures that she was creating. This is a very basic and simple lesson that will show any skill level artist the secrets to making clothes in a very easy, simple, and fun manner. I always say that making easy tutorials is fun for me because all I have to do is create a few lines and bang, I'm done. The end results are always neat, fun, and colorful. The clothing that is in the main image is a blouse for a female character. The simplicity is great and I bet you can complete this task in about five minutes. Have fun guys and be sure to always upload your finished work so others can see how you did. Adios and stay tuned in for more drawing fun!
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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EasyWebWorks needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 62 designs submitted by 32 freelance designers.
Easy Sell is a property company in Spain selling Spanish Real Estate to the UK market.
Easy Sell
Accepted File Formats:
Memorable logo required to use in Branding of company..
Think EasyJet!
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text: While Ford has decided to bask in the glory of the GT-350H as a way to add even more retro-cred to its latest Mustang, there was one other Shelby-prepared car that went to rental fleets: The Dodge '88 CSX-T, a non-intercooled version of Ol' Shel's Shadow that was available only through Thrifty. For only $34.95 a day in 1988 dollars! [Thanks to the mph kids. RIP and whatnot.]


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McCombs Recruitment Services staff will assist you with On-Campus Recruiting logistics; Career Services staff will assist you with connecting with students.
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On-campus interviewing at McCombs is held in the Ford Career Center (FCC). There you'll have access to: Wireless Internet, Recruiter's Lounge, Business Center and McCombs top talent.
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McCombs Recruitment Services will assist you with the On-Campus Recruiting System (OCR), On-Campus Interview Schedules, Information Sessions, and Resume Collections.
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Investors Rethink Confidence
Consumers have been resilient during the past few years, despite slow economic growth. But now investors are rethinking that scenario. Jonathan Cheng reports on Markets Hub. Photo: Getty Images.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... he will tell ... you that this means ... by you look at stocks and retail stocks that did the Americans of the year a ... retail stocks are doing very well on staple in our party this morning at fifty two week high ... however when you start looking at the state of the consumer it's a very different story Jonathan Cheng is here with that story ... the Nebraska Press are ... aching ... soul on e it ... well look what does this data that Consumer at between three stories in the paper today about this right well let ... out the UN are striking one noises came from conversations that we have ... you and I have with them and fund managers different ... the portfolio professionals another look at the market all day long ... I think what really surprised ... us this week was as to how many of them were saying ... I was having a drink of my body as ... I was having dinner with my friends and just seems like the topic issuer is always high gas prices ... taxes going up ... and expenses are generally going up the income not as strong as it used to be an end ... thinking about whether or not the one to cut back on the next trip on an extra meal out on an extra shopping trip ... and I think that what you see here is you seen affiliates for portfolio managers are light bulbs going on for the same ... ok we see the retailer does a consumer of that coming through really well over the past two years and in another things have been tough ... we know that savings rates have gone up but at the same time we've seen people continue to spend the question is ... can they continue to spend yet to say I love the you don't see these Proms reflected in the stock market yet I mean in the broad indexes or near highs write me till consumer staples consumer discretionary and doing well ... you know ... earnings season is basically over and the reall ... it seemed like generally the retailers ... they had a tough earnings reports ... tough margins ... and that there are the commentary surrounding it ... was very down the ... aisle when does the stock market start to see this ... well ... if what I'm describing is happening more broadly which I think it is I think what you see is the first ... trickles out of the retail trade here I think the idea is ... to have a great crime they've been outpacing the general ... market here ... I think the is ... you don't wanna be you know out that the tail end of this I mean you wanna get out ahead of that now ... and even if ... the retailer was the Consumer ripples through and is able to to continue to spend ... it's the day to see better opportunities elsewhere because they've already been reading because ... there's gotta be some fatigue here because look to you know I open my ... piano payroll by three check in you notice the sort of things and ... it's hard to know exactly whether or not it makes a difference I think we haven't tried that if you try the new year caught up to the gas pump ... in the best thing I'd I did notice it ... and doesn't fully Miami you talk about you know when the company gas and that's the almost four dollars a gallon you take a look at the other guy ... sitting across companies voted to seek ahead of each other and everybody sort of feels together and when that happens that's when ... he sorta


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April TV series returns
After a season of brutal TV deprivation due to the strike, here's the latest on what's coming back when:
April 2: "CSI: New York," "Criminal Minds," CBS.
April 3: "My Name Is Earl," NBC, "CSI," "Without a Trace," CBS.
April 4: "Ghost Whisperer," "Numbers," CBS. "Battlestar Galactica" SciFi
April 7: "Samantha Who?," ABC.
April 8: "Boston Legal," ABC, "NCIS," CBS.
April 10: "The Office," "30 Rock," "Scrubs," "ER," NBC.
April 11: "Moonlight," CBS.
April 13: "Desperate Housewives," ABC.
April 14: "Rules of Engagement," CBS, "One Tree Hill," CW, "Bones," Fox.
April 15: "Law & Order: SVU," NBC.
April 16: "Til Death" and "Back to You," Fox.
April 17: "Smallville," CW.
April 20: "Brothers and Sisters," ABC.
April 21: "Gossip Girl," CW.
April 22: "Reaper," CW.
April 23: "Law & Order," NBC, "The Game," CW.
April 24: "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy," "Ugly Betty," ABC, "Supernatural," CW.
April 28: "House," Fox.
April 29: "Shark," CBS.


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Valuable Valises
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A vintage Louis Vuitton suitcase calls to mind a more elegant time when the journey was as good as the destination. Whether cruising the Nile on steam ships or lounging aboard the Orient Express, first-class passengers with lavish wardrobes appreciated Vuitton's strong, well-crafted trunks with hand-stitched leather handles and burnished brass locks that secured the goods with style.
Monsieur Vuitton began designing luggage in 1854, but it wasn't until the 1890s when son George wrapped valises in LV-monogram canvas in an attempt to thwart copycats. In 1959, when the smart set began to tote some of their own baggage, grandson Gaston Vuitton lightened their load with "soft" luggage, required accoutrements for swanning around Charles de Gaulle airport.
But it's the earlier, heavier hard-sided trunks and suitcases that turn heads at auction. "Soft-sided luggage can't transform into a side table or coffee table," notes specialist Abigail Rutherford of Leslie Hindman auctions in Chicago. Topped with glass or boxed in acrylic, a vintage set of well-worn suitcases, preferably plastered with stickers from grand hotels, becomes an art object, adding a multi-culti vibe to any room.
Luggage collectors love the ripe aroma of aged, honey-colored leather and a good vintage (pre-1950). "They shouldn't have that spooky attic smell or stains inside," cautions Rutherford. Lost keys also depress value. But compared to retail, Vuitton luggage is a bargain at auction and buyers are never wait-listed.
At Doyle auction house in New York, a medium-size hard suitcase in LV fabric, bound in leather and brass, the interior stamped "made in France for Louis Vuitton Paris London" went for $813. At Leslie Hindman auctions in Chicago, an early steamer trunk in the "Daumier" checkered canvas pattern, circa 1900, went for $1,830 last year.
If pre-loved luggage grabs you, place your bids on a complete set of four--count them, four--classic Vuitton hard-sided cases in the L.V. monogram pattern at Christie's interior sale April 6 and 7. With an estimate of $1,200 to 1,800 for the set, each 32-inch wide by 21-1/2inch deep case could go for as little as $300!
And mystery lovers are in for a treat. It's possible to trace the provenance through a serial number on the lock, but the French firm won't disclose the original owner's name. "Vuitton will reveal when it was made and where it was purchased," says Rutherford, "but the process is time consuming."
Other luxury brands worth carrying away include Goyard and Asprey, but fashion historian Caroline Milbank, author of The Couture Accessory (Abrams), says that Vuitton leads the field. "Vuitton stays current because of designer Marc Jacobs. He keeps the Vuitton name alive."
To learn more, read Vintage Luggage by Helenka Gulshan and visit www.vintageluggage.net. and www.londonvintageluggage.com.
- Louis Vuitton suitcase
With stamped leather trim and brass fittings, leather handle, LV stamped locks, the interior of saffron coated canvas with four wood jacket hangers, wood bar stamped: made in France for Louis Vuitton Paris London, three compartments, with stickers from Grand Hotel Marienbad, Excelsior Hotel, Rome, Continental Palace Hotel, Saigon, red and yellow painted monogram E.V.L., New York.
Dimensions: 30x20x8-1/2 inches
Sold for $813 at Doyle auction house in 2009.
- A Louis Vuitton steamer trunk garnished in leather and brass. Stamped: Louis Vuitton.
Dimensions: length 43-1/2 inches, height 21-1/4 inches, depth 13 inches
Pre-auction estimate: $2,000-$4,000
Actual: Sold for $1,830 at Leslie Hindman's auction house in Chicago in 2009.
- A Louis Vuitton monogram-canvas train case, circa 1970s, with original key. Stamped: Louis Vuitton.
Dimensions: 28x8x18 inches
Pre-auction estimate: $600-$800
Actual: Sold for $915 at Leslie Hindman auction house in Chicago in 2009. lesliehindman.com
Call 312/280-1212 and ask for Abigail K. Rutherford
- A group of three Louis Vuitton hard-sided cases in the L.V. monogram pattern canvas. All stamped: Louis Vuitton/112113.
Pre-auction estimate: $800-$1,200
Actual: Sold for $3,120 at Leslie Hindman's auction house in Chicago in 2008.
- A group of four Louis Vuitton travel cases, circa 1950s, comprised of two train cases, a cosmetic case and a shoe case, all with a yellow monogram JHW from the previous owner. Sold with original keys. All stamped Louis Vuitton.
Pre-auction estimate: $2,000-$3,000
Actual: Sold for $4,148 at Leslie Hindman's auction house in 2009.
- A Louis Vuitton signature wardrobe trunk, early 20th century, conjures up visions of traveling on the QE2. When standing upright, the front opens up into multiple drawers on one side and hanging compartments on the other, monogram at side A.G. New York, with hotel stickers throughout. Stamped: Louis Vuitton/Paris London. 43x21x17 inches.
Pre-auction estimate: $4,000-$6,000
Actual: Sold for $7,962 at Leslie Hindman auction house in Chicago in 2008.
- Louis Vuitton square suitcase, circa 1935
Monogram canvas, LV stamped leather trim, brass locks and corners, lock number 104269, stenciled in red on side VHG Rosemont, PA, the interior of natural linen, fitted with webbed tray and elasticized pocket, interior labels: Louis Vuitton/Paris/London/ Cannes/Vichy/Nice/ with addresses, number 812132, and Bought From John Wanamaker/New York/Philadelphia.
Dimensions: Height 19 inches, width 19-1/2 inches, depth 8-3/4 inches.
Condition: very good, minor marks to canvas.
Sold for $1,625 at Doyle New York in 2002.
To order custom Lucite tables to cover Vuitton valises, try www.aaronrthomas.com
- A vintage Vuitton suitcase on later mahogany stand
Height: 18-1/2 inches, width 31 inches, depth 20-3/4 inches
Pre-auction estimate: $2,000-$3,000
Actual: Sold for $3,750 at Christie's New York in 2008.
- A complete set of vintage Vuitton luggage in the L.V. monogram pattern hits the auction block at Christie's April 6 and 7. The set of four is estimated to go for $1,200 to $1,800.