The Seller Is A Dreamer...

This has to be one of the sorriest diecuts I've seen offered on Ebay in quite some time. This poor thing is missing pieces and has more tape than Joan Rivers after her latest surgery. The seller, though, remains very much the dreamer in writing, "He does have a few scraps bends and lots of tape marks, so I would say he is in very good condition not mint..." Not only is the seller's punctuation a bit dodgy, but the attribution of the item being in very good condition is the very definition of optimism. Couple that with the required opening bid of $45 and a Buy-It-Now of $195, perhaps the level of optimism could be accurately assessed as being laughable. Needless to say, this item has no collectible value. 

Caveat Emptor - One of The Best Known Fantasy Pieces

What you see is one of the best-known fantasy pieces plaguing our fine hobby. This devil head candy container began showing up in ~1995, the same time the reclining devil horn with a black blow-out paper streamer also appeared. Their entry point into the US collecting market was through a single German-based dealer set up at the Atlantic City show at that time. Generally, these fantasy pieces (meaning there is no vintage equivalent) do not have a cardboard bottom plug as this one is shown to have. In any event, do not waste your money on this if you are wanting to expand your collection. This item has nothing but decorative value, meaning, at most, $30. Caveat emptor!

11/26 addendum: I'm bummed that someone blew $98.44 on this fantasy piece. 

Not Much On Ebay

As one would expect, now that Halloween is over the number and quality of the listings have lessened on Ebay. Although there are a few good things listed, by and large the category is stuffed with junk. I noticed that the "Pick-A-Pumpkin" Halloween fortune game went unsold even though the seller listed it at $2000 as a Buy-It-Now AND allowed Best Offers to be submitted. There apparently were three offers submitted, but to no avail. Given the relatively large quantities of these games found earlier this year, I think fair market value for them hovers around $1,000. This valuation will probably remain static for the foreseeable future. 

Addendum as of 11/26: The same seller referenced above has once again offered a "Pick-A-Pumpkin" Halloween fortune game for sale on Ebay with a Buy-It-Now/Best Offer option starting at $2,000. Once again it has languished, this time with no offers submitted as of this writing. With the large mint quantities (with envelope) recently found of this item, prices have understandably plummeted. I still  feel a fair market value for this game is around $1,000 - a valuation that should remain static for the foreseeable future. 

Antique German Pumpkin Tea Set

I think that the buyer of this set got a good deal. All the pieces appear to have been marked appropriately and appear to be in acceptable condition. The seller correctly pointed out that the tea pot and its lid are married items. The manufacturers of these porcelain items used two different marks. The marks present in this lot of items indicate these items were made later in the run, probably between 1925-1932. The stars of this lot are the saucers. 

Halloween Noisemaker

This noisemaker is not a vintage item. It was made about 7 years ago for one season as part of a set sold exclusively at Restoration Hardware. The set consisted of a trio of items, one of which was a ratchet style noisemaker. The items from this set, including the one now being offered by this seller, have zero collectible value. So - caveat emptor! 

A Vintage Halloween Minute with MBL - 02 1917 Bogie Book

This is the second of a planned release of one dozen short videos. I will be releasing these over the next 6 weeks or so. Enjoy! 

A Vintage Halloween Minute with MBL - 01 Beistle Winged Ghoul

This is the first of a planned release of one dozen short videos. I will be releasing these over the next 6 weeks or so. Enjoy! 

Caveat Emptor 11/09/12

Here are several items that are either reproductions or fantasy pieces. In each case - caveat emptor, which as all of you Latin lovers know means "Buyer Beware."

Ebay Item Numbers:  190751048411, 190751048490, 290809234016, 140866085212

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DECORATION GAME RARE WITCH DEVIL GHOST SKELETON

This game, made by Beistle in the 1930s, is not terribly hard-to-find. The fact that this game brought $535.99 is an example of the sometimes crazed nature of Ebay. This result is a definite outlier. The seller should be ecstatic at landing a big fish. The fish needs to bone up on relative scarcity and current values, else they will have a very expensively put together small collection. 

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN CANDY CONTAINER PAPER CAT PUMPKIN RARE DECORATION G.M. CO

This container, part of a well-known set of six, was made by the General Merchandise Company in the 1950s. All of the pieces from the set are fairly common, so to see this one bring $115.49 indicates that more than one bidder really wanted it. (You can see the others to this set on pages 57 and 58.) 

German Cardboard Black Cat Candy Container

So many of these cylindrical gesso-washed cardboard containers have been reproduced that the originals have lost a substantial part of their vintage value. Make no mistake about it, this is a vintage item. One of the quick ways to spot a repro in this specific genre of candy containers is that the character’s hat brim has a broad swoop downward from one side to the other, rather than the even hat brim as seen in this auction item. 

Vintage Halloween Place Card Mint

This place card was made by Hallmark in the 1930s. The manufacturing mark used at that time was a simple “H” within a circle. (You can see it toward the right end of the card.) Hallmark’s designs then were, for the most part, rather pedestrian. Today’s market doesn’t value Hallmark’s vintage output in the same manner as it does the vintage output from Beistle, Dennison or Gibson.

WELCOME!

Welcome to my newly redesigned site! I have wanted to give my site a face lift for some time, and finally found an excellent resource to allow me to achieve the goal. Thanks Bob! The new format will allow a wider range of activities, such as the occasional posting of video clips, the ability for me to post even when I’m not in front of my desktop and the ability for you to comment. I am pleased with the new look – especially the collage banners at the top of each page. I hope you enjoy the changes too!

NEAR MINT Vintage Halloween Siren Horn Noisemaker Marks Brothers 1920s!

Ends 10/31

I, too, like the color scheme of this horn better than the other one shown on page 180 of the book. This is arguably the second best horn Marks Brothers manufactured. My personal favorite is the one with the wavy lines shown on the same page.

(I'm happy that someone snatched this great horn up at what I consider to be a very fair price!)

Complete set of 24 Beistle Fortune Verses

Ends 11/02

This rare set was made by Whitney of Worcester, MA. The company went out of business in 1943. Except for their post cards, Whitney almost never marked any of their output making identification dependent on familiarity of their imagery. This set, especially in this condition, seldom surfaces. 

(Were you as surprised as I was that this set brought such high dollars? This ended at $372.87, a result FAR higher than I would have forecast.)