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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Thanks Tom and Linda!

I had the occasion to call a married couple of collectors in Ohio two days ago and chat about Halloween. What fun it was! I learned about the existence of another non-mechanical Rosen Pops box and some rare Dennison store display signs. We had fun speaking about the state of our hobby today and some of the reasons underlying the surge in prices we are seeing this season on many items. I don't know of another hobby where there are so many collectors so passionate about the nuances of items produced during "The Golden Age." In any event, the chat with such erudite and enthusiastic collectors made my day. Thanks Tom and Linda! 

Vintage Round Crank Metal Halloween Noisemaker~Flying Witch Paper Face Cover

This is not a vintage item. It appears to me that someone made a color copy of the graphics on a well-known tambourine (probably made by Kirchhof), shrunk them, distressed the paper to make it appear old and glued it on to a non-Halloween ratchet with a plastic handle. The presence of a plastic handle indicates the ratchet was produced in the 1960s. The tambourine from which the image was copied was made in the 1930s. It's too bad that this sold for $35 when it has decorative value - at best. 

"VINTAGE HALLOWEEN JOL1908-1932~GERMANY~CHILD'S JACK-O-LANTERN PORCELAIN TEA SET

I'm surprised this listing lasted as long as it did -and even then it was only a handful of hours. I was preparing to comment that someone should snap this up asap when the listing changed mid-post to indicate that someone had bought it. Kudos! This medium-sized tea cup is a just a tad harder to find than the smallest size, even though both are assigned a Relative Scarcity Index number of "3." The guide price, though, illustrates that difference. If you want to see the finest array of pieces from the various sized tea sets the Germans made early in the last century shown in any reference, pick up a copy of my newly revised and greatly enhanced third edition of Vintage Halloween Collectibles. 

Vintage Beistle Squirrel and Owl Die-cut, Rare Foil Embossed Halloween, USA

Beistle made a set of twelve diecuts beginning in 1932 and continuing through the early 1950s. Each was made very early in the run with this unusual color variation, rather than the more common versions with their coloration heavily represented with green. These early iterations are hard to find. The seller, different from so many on Ebay these days, actually has a reasonable opening price, so this may be a good time to acquire one of this variants for your collection. 

Vintage Halloween Attic Find

I wish I would have seen this lot offered at the extremely low BIN price of $159. Kudos to the fast mover. The two shades intrigue me. They look like Whitney, but I haven't seen other shades manufactured by Whitney, so they are surely Gibson.