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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Vintage Halloween Noise Maker, BUGLE TOY COMPANY - RARE - tin metal, wood handle

The rather mysterious Bugle Toy Company of Providence, Rhode Island turned out some of the quirkiest and best designed tin litho Halloween noisemakers of all of the bigger manufacturers. I think that T. Cohn's designs generally lacked fizz, US Metal Toy often went the cutesy route and Kirchhof turned out solid, varied work during their long heyday from 1928 through the 1950s. However, Bugle Toy almost always had an interesting take on design. This almost certainly makes their items coveted. Given the relative coolness of the tin market these last 5 years, prices of Bugle items have generally held up. Just look at everything that is going on in this great noisemaker. Each panel is interesting. The artist used every opportunity to use the space, including the ring of bats encircling the handle. If you like tin, I hope you also like Bugle!

Vintage 1916 Peggy's Halloween Party Box Holiday Decorations!!! Collectible!!!

Now, here is a boxed set one doesn't see too often. As I write in my book on page 114:

"This is the earliest boxed Halloween party set produced, and it wasn’t done by any of the big names. Barse and Hopkins Publishers of 28 West 23rd Street in New York City produced this wondrous set of fifty-two pieces in 1916, all contained within a box with a lid instantly captivating and oh-so-memorable. This complete set consists of four lamp shades, eight doilies, eight bon-bon dishes, eight invitations, eight place cards, eight consequence cards and eight suggestions/note folders. The extant directions/advertising sheet reveals a number of interesting facts. Barse and Hopkins created six different Peggy boxed sets: Pansy Party Box, Blue Bird Party Box, Thanksgiving Party Box, Card Party Box, Children’s Party Box and, of course, this Hallowe’en Party Box. The designs were all “newly drawn and copyrighted.” Pieces were not sold separately. I believe this accounts for how hard it is to find even a piece or two from this set for sale. I feel this set was available for one season with a very limited sales distribution. Barse and Hopkins was primarily a book publisher, so these party boxes were certainly a sideline business, and a short-lived one at that. Interestingly, Beistle issued their first boxed Halloween set in 1918, a set that seems to be heavily inspired by this Peggy’s set. How formally inspired Beistle was is not known, but the Beistle designers had to have seen a Peggy’s Halloween Party Box given the number of similarities. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, Beistle could hardly have flattered more strenuously." 

Be aware that many of the pieces shown in this listing were never part of the set, so please bid accordingly. The last time a complete set in FAR better condition was sold on Ebay it fetched ~$2300. I expect this to go for much, much less. 

10/20 Update: It fetched $293.88 showing just how important condition and completeness matters.  

Vntg NMIP Dennison Halloween Decorations Seals Weird Guy

Of all the many and varied genres of vintage Halloween memorabilia, Dennison slide box goods are near the top of the list. Something happened at Dennison during 1930-31. Some senior person must have decided to fairly radically alter their designs, injecting an Art Deco look to most of their new slide box goods, diecuts, etc. This change in style was fairly short-lived, perhaps due to a decline in sales. Who knows? What I do know is that by 1933 all of these designs were scrapped. Today Dennison goods from this narrow window are instantly recognizable and quite coveted. 

Antiqe Vintage Halloween FLIPPING JOL TOY Germany c1920s SCARCE works

I first saw these at an Atlantic City antiques show in about 1997 in the booth of a German exporter. I said then that these freshly made things would soon percolate through to collections and they have. I know of no vintage counterpart, so I'd approach this listing with caution. I appreciate that this seller points out my reservations directly in her listing.  

A Fun Trip To Disneyland...

I just returned from a 5 day trip down to southern California, having a blast with good friends in Disneyland and California Adventure. I attended "Mickey's Halloween Party" on Friday night, which really put me in the mood for this fun season. (I will say that the parade's endlessly repeated ditty was annoying and overly joyous.) 

While down in that very thirsty part of California, I was privileged to visit three vintage Halloween collections. It is always such fun to see how other collections are displayed and what items I still have to acquire. (There is so much!) 

Thanks to LM, JW and V&JP. You all enriched what was already a very fun excursion.  

A special thanks to TM and BK for organizing the whole adventure. You guys rock! 

1927 Vintage Halloween Game ~ Pumpkin Face Ring Game ~ Complete W/ Box

I have examined many of the breathtaking prices recently seen on Ebay, especially those involving vintage Beistle items. These sky-high ending prices seem to have been driven by two or three bidders who, when taken out of the equation, would not have resulted in "world record" levels. Look at this game for example. Its ending price of $536 was driven by two bidders. Remove them from the picture and the price would have settled at a more sustainable $242. Now, I know that this is an imperfect assertion since automatically generated bids may not register at the last second given the level of bidding at the precise moment of execution, but I think my statement is generally true. Once these deep-pocketed bidders acquire such items, prices should return to more sustainable levels, still inviting to new and intermediate collectors. 

4 PC VINTAGE HANGING DIE CUT DECORATIONS, SKULL, JOL, WITCH, CLOWN

The seller, curiousimp, is back. Several years ago it seemed that this seller sold nothing except poorly made reproductions that were represented as authentic, vintage items. This lot of 4 small diecuts, originally made by Beistle, seems to fit that description. Authentic such diecuts are lightly embossed and wouldn't have that reflective glare that is oh-so-reminiscent of something flat and shellacked. Buy from this seller with caution. 

Rare Find! Halloween Die-Cut Jointed Honeycomb Double-Sided Tango Witch

The market for vintage Beistle items in near-mint condition is hotter now than perhaps it has ever been. I would have never forecast (or even dreamed) that this iconic Beistle witch tango figure would have commanded the price it did. As with anything else, vintage Halloween items in the condition this piece was in bring multiples of guide value, a phenomenon well known in the comic collecting market with that same phenomenon now aggressively moving in to our fun hobby's market.  

Vintage Halloween Fibro Toy JOL man pulling cart slot & Tab Candy Container!

Out of the trio of slot and tab candy containers Fibro Toy manufactured, this is - hands down - the most difficult to locate. (The other two are the witch pulling a hay wagon and a black cat pulling a JOL wagon.) These were made in a span ranging from 1934 to 1953, but I suspect this design was made for a lesser number of years. Because there is no stamped mark underneath, we do know that this particular item was made later in the overall production run.