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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Halloween decoration "Devil head Candy Container" – Made in Germany

This Ruby Lane seller is wrong in stating, "These decorations were made in Germany beginning in 1920s and 1930s and again distributed at the end of the cold war in 1990." In fact, this devil head container is one of the best known fakes or fantasy pieces that began polluting our hobby in about 1995. There are no vintage counterparts. This has purely decorative value - nowhere near what this seller is offering this POS for. Fair market value on a very good day is about $15. By the way, this seller's handle on Ebay is brendasawa, or something very similar.   

Antique Devil Halloween Tobacco Humidor Jar Estate German

I am trying something new here by commenting on an item offered on Ruby Lane. The listings on Ebay these past few months have been woeful garbage by and large, which plays into my theory that Ebay is becoming (has turned into...?) the low-end bazaar it never used to be. Anyway...This devil humidor is rare, but this one isn't complete since it is missing its eyes. If you turn to page 115, you'll see one of only 10 complete sets ever made including this devil head humidor. Now, this doesn't mean that there were only 10 humidors made. In fact, from what I understand, the humidor and the match striker ​were made in relatively robust quantities over a handful of years. However, a complete set consists also of an ashtray and a serving tray. Only ten of these latter two items were made. Who knows how many actually still exist. Outside of my collection, I have never seen another tray or ashtray. 

Original Early 1930's Halloween Composition Veggie Man Figural - Scarce NM Cond

These diminutive figurals (sometimes they were made as candy containers as they would stand atop a small box) came in a wide variety of forms. I have an entire crew of these cavorting in my vintage Halloween house shown in one of my videos. (Check them all out right here on this site...) This particular figural looks to be in great shape. It is also offered by a friend of mine who is on my trusted sellers list. You can't go wrong doing business with Keith! ​

Rare 1940s Beistle Co Die Cut Halloween Black Cat Mouse Swiss Cheese

Beistle was really scraping the bottom of the design barrel when it made this diecut, part of a Halloween diecut set that is equally uninspired. (Another from this forgettable set shows a doughnut by a coffee cup.) These typically don't sell for very much money. Someone should tell the deluded (optimistic?) seller as she has slapped a Buy-It-Now price of $549 on this sad piece. 

I Sure Wish...

...there were higher quality offerings on Ebay! The vintage Halloween market suffers from dramatic declines in both the variety and quality of items offered for sale during the first quarter of a year. 2013 has not been an exception! I dislike the trend I see gaining strength where buyers will offer items for sale only as a Buy-It-Now with groan or laugh inducing asking prices - but without a chance to formally make an offer that would at the very least serve to educate the seller. As I've said before, I think Ebay by and large has become a lower-end forum. Although treasures now and again surface, the typical listing is either a reproduction or fantasy item, very common items or less common items in poor condition or only offered with head-shaking starting prices. I think the real action for high-quality vintage Halloween has definitely shifted to auction houses like Morphy's or Bertoia's, or other web-based sites like Ruby Lane or icollect24/7. (From time to time I offer great things directly on this site.) Perhaps my dour mood relative to Ebay will dissipate once this first quarter draws to a close.  

Halloween Witch Tindeco Candy Tin

The condition of the paint on this common tin litho candy container is quite good! I've seen many, many examples of these over the 25 years I've been collecting, but the condition of this one seems to be near the top of all of them. This was made in or prior to 1935, as the Tin Decorating Company of Baltimore, MD (TINDECO) was purchased in that year by the Illinois Glass Company, which discontinued that mark right away. All of this is explained on page 58 of the book. 

Vintage Beistle Two Sided Standup Halloween Pumpkin

This iconic lantern was made by Beistle in 1930-31 in two sizes: this 12" version and an 8" version. The latter is marginally harder to find. Overall, the condition on this lantern is solid, slightly better than the one sold earlier this month by the same seller. That one fetched $586.50. It seems logical that this one will end around the same price. This lantern in perfect condition typically brings between $700-800. 

02/27 Update: This second of two lanterns brought $860.00 for reasons that I'll have to attribute to the vagaries of Ebay! ​

Vintage Halloween Diecut set of 5, Made in Germany

The star of this lot is the one at the bottom. Although the four crescent moon diecuts are part of a great, yet relatively common set of six, the mini-diecut at the bottom is quite hard-to-find, as are all five of its brethren. (The complete set of these mini-diecuts is shown on page 166.) This mini-diecut set was first made immediately after WWII. Items from this preliminary run are marked "USSR Occupied." Interestingly, the one being sold here is simply marked "Germany," so I suspect it was made as late as the early 1950s. I wouldn't think this later marking should have any impact on the value, which is in the neighborhood of $175. 

Vintage Halloween Paper Mache Witch Sitting on Pumpkin Germany

The buyer greatly overpaid for this item. Given how common it is and this particular item's condition, the ending price is hard to understand. This was made in the US, not in Germany as the seller speculated. Additionally, this form was reproduced by Stamm House in the 1990s. The reproductions are easy to differentiate from the original as the latter are pulp and the former aren't. I believe the sustainable price on this item in this condition is less than $60.