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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

SCARCE Vintage Halloween Porcelain Jack o' Lantern Tea Set Cup Germany 1914-32!!

This wonderful seller is right - collectors who have discovered the visual allure of the Halloween tea set line produced in Germany from 1908 through 1932 buy and hold. Pieces, especially the cups without handles, once surfaced with some regularity, but like someone without enough roughage, that regularity is now missing! When you see these, especially solid examples offered by trust-worthy sellers, both of which we have here, snap them up.

Antique Vintage Halloween Pumpkin Creamer GERMANY

Whenever an unmarked basic tea set item is offered for sale, collectors should assess whether it is of German or Japanese manufacture. The latter were derivative of the former, tend to be more goofy looking, have less finished detailing and have a clunky feel to them. Many are overly knobby. Japanese tea set pieces bring ~50% or less of those tea set items made in Germany. (Refer to page 119 for more information.) This creamer is certainly a German-made item. This market segment has been hotter than many, so I’d expect the ending price to be significantly higher than the $61 level currently bid.

07/27 Update: This sold for $270.01.

RARE Vintage Japan Halloween Porcelain Jack o Lantern JOL Covered Trinket Box

The vintage Halloween market is certainly not a static one. Market segments fall in and out of favor. Candles used to be as cold as the Arctic, now they are warm. Small paper used to be an affordable niche. There is little affordable about that segment now. These Japanese porcelain items used to be so cold you could more profitably use them for skeet practice. Now look at what even examples in less-than-perfect condition bring. Collect what you love and hope those segments increase in value, but don’t count on it.

Vintage Halloween German Minature Tea Set Saucer Early 1900’s

Here’s a great item worth having. The Germans made a line of porcelain Halloween-themed tea set pieces in three sizes from 1908-1932. This green leaf saucer should measure 3.25” in diameter, and would have been made for their smallest tea set size. An otherwise identical pattern in orange was also made. Please refer to pages 119-121 for other items from these desirable sets.

10/15/Update: This sold for $392.77, quite strong considering a cup and saucer set sold the same day from the same seller for $421.

Halloween Handled Small Tea Cup with Saucer Germany 1908-1932 JOL Face

Over the three decades I’ve been collecting vintage Halloween, various market segments have waxed and waned. Prices for tin have decreased with occasional signs of life. Germany candy containers still bring strong dollars but nothing like they used to bring. ( I suspect this downtrend for such items will continue.) Lanterns by and large have also lost luster. On the other side of the ledger, early Beistle, Dennison and Gibson products have sizzled. Small paper (invitations, place cards and tally cards) has had a phenomenal rise as have German porcelain items. This cup and saucer result is the latest indicator of the health of this market segment. The realized price is near 100% more than it would have been 2-3 years ago. I suspect these same segments will continue to weaken and strengthen as the first generation of collectors, who specialized in what are now the weaker segments, ride off into the sunset.

Vintage Halloween German Childrens Tea Pot Jol

I suspect this is a teapot made not in Germany but in Japan. Some of the reasons are its knobby surface to both the pot and its lid, the dark-hued orange, the overly large eyes, the uncolored/unglazed lid bottom and the clumsy, hurried paint to the end of the spout.

09/15 Update: Given that I feel confident this is a teapot made in Japan, not Germany, the buyer overpaid by forking over $515.05.

Vintage Halloween Porcelain Devil Ashtray RARE

Outside of the complete set I’ve owned since 1991, this is the first time I’ve seen this ashtray. (You can see the set on page 130.) I bought the set from a show in North Carolina in 1991. When I began to research what it was all about I found a book on “country store collectibles” that had the plate, humidor and match holder shown, but no ashtray. The photo’s caption said it was from the collection of Mary Lou Holt. I found a way to contact her to ask about the ashtray. Her initial response was that there wasn’t an ashtray. I offered to send a photo - and did so. Maybe a week later Mary Lou called to say how excited she was to now know there was an ashtray as part of the set. She told me that there were only ten plates made and speculated that there were only 10 ashtrays made since she had never seen one before. Mary Lou and I became friends. She was a great source of knowledge on many collectibles topics, including vintage Halloween. She passed away a number of years ago. I miss her still.

04/18 Update: This brought $201.50.