This noisemaker and the other two designs this seller is peddling are from the mid-to-late 1990s. They were imported new into the US by Blumchens. The seller uses the word “vintage” but doesn’t define it. I suppose in some universe an item that is at most 27 years old could be described as vintage, but I would use more specificity, like “newish” or “from the 1990s.”
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
Antique Old Halloween Dennison Place Card, RARE JOL Parrot Die Cut 3.75x4"
Boy, I sure wish I had seen this incredibly rare Dennison place card. Dennison produced great designs full of humor and whimsy. After about 1930 their production decreased dramatically due to the Great Depression. I assume this charming design was produced then. I had never seen this one before. I regret missing this listing.
1/31 Update: I contacted the seller, zipstoys, on the off chance they might have another one of these fantastic place cards. To my pleasant shock, they had one more. I purchased it for $200 total, with shipping and tax.
3 OLD HALLOWEEN BLACK CATS & JACK-O-LANTERN PRESSED PAPER PULP HANGING ORNAMENTS
The buyer of this lot of three German diecuts got a bargain. If these had been listed under “Vintage Halloween” rather than “Old Halloween” they would have received more action. The seller might have seen more, too, by listing them separately. The one on the right, the distressed maid with bangs, is the star of the lot. That alone should have reached what the entire lot brought.
Gurley 3-D "Burn Through" Jack-O-Lantern Black Cat Vintage Halloween Candle
This is certainly one of the better of Gurley’s small form factor candles, but I’m surprised that it fetched $45. These typically change hands at sub-$20.
Vintage 1940's Halloween Devil Lantern 2 Sided Cardboard
This is an example of what I strongly dislike about sellers on eBay. They know just enough to mistakenly think that any piece of vintage Halloween, no matter how poor the condition, is worth a fortune. This seller is offering this not uncommon devil head lantern produced by Dolly Toy for a whopping $249. Just look at the condition. There are significant pieces missing and an irregular hole at the bottom. The seller claims there are creases on the corners but they are all intact. That’s not what their photos show. This item perhaps could be bought for parts for no more than $30-40.
Hello Blog Readers,
At the repeated suggestion of a close friend and fellow Halloween collector, I decided to join Instagram yesterday. I don’t have much content up in just the one day, but will add some each day. If you’d like to see what I post, please look for “markbledenbach” on that site. (I may change my user name if I can figure out how to do it!)
MBL
Vintage Halloween Decorations
The star of the lot is the German porcelain teacup, grouped with three items FAR below in caliber and desirability. The buyer got a true bargain!
Vintage Halloween Embossed Flying Witch Die Cut Germany 1920s/30s
This is one large diecut, measuring ~16” high by ~14.5” across. The comment I want to make is about condition. This large highly embossed decoration is in what I would consider “normal” condition. I’ve been a collector since 1988 with a penchant for condition, but sometimes it is too easy to forget that such examples in near mint or better condition are truly rare, and a pleasant surprise when you see one. I sold the example in my book on page 178 in May 2020 for $302 when I judged the condition as not being high enough for it to remain part of the collection. Was that dumb? No. Condition is key for me, perhaps more so than with many other collectors. Each of our condition thresholds differ. I try not to lose sight of the fact that vintage Halloween items were generally not viewed as things to be saved/preserved, hence the rarity of near mint or better pieces. When I first looked at this listing I thought that the condition was only “good,” but that was a reflex based on my threshold. The reality is that virtually all collectors would find this example a totally acceptable candidate for their collections - and that is the way it should be.
I spent last weekend in the greater Los Angeles region attending a toy and advertising show in Glendale, with fun forays to visit collectors in La Verne and Whittier. There was virtually no Halloween at the show except those items you’d fully expect to see at a show. That really underscored how rare items are for our fun hobby. I look around at my collection and am thankful I’ve been able to find what I’ve found. I hope you do the same for your collections.
Dennisons Bogie Book Halloween 1926 Vintage How to Entertain Costumes Party Idea
The 1926 Dennison Bogie Book is arguably the most common one of all. If you are going to see one for sale it will invariably be this edition. The later Bogies and their differently named brethren become much less of a rich resource for archivist collectors like me. The detailed annual offering of wares shown in the earlier Bogies disappear, replaced by illustrations and other generic pablum. Dennison moved the detail to the Price List pamphlets, so these elusive publications become much more of a resource to those interested in understanding what was produced when. The collecting market has finally awakened to this reality as prices for the Price List pamphlets have escalated. (I feel they have much more room to run.)
The price for this edition, even in very-fine-plus condition or better, typically never reaches the lofty height this listing is requesting.
Vintage Antique Beistle Halloween Decoration Lantern. Very Rich Colors!
It is nicely refreshing to see a quality item or two amongst the endless river of dreck that eBay has become. Sadly, eBay has become a waste of time for serious collectors. There is just too much crap to wade through now that the holiday categories have been ill-advisedly collapsed into one big, frustrating jumble. However, I digress…
This lantern is a sight for sore eyes. I love the rich coloration and the seemingly perfect inserts. Yes, the top connector shows wear and the bottom has become separated, but the former doesn’t matter much (It is more important that it is actually present.) and the latter can be easily mended by any competent restorer.
I applaud this seller’s style for starting this precious item at 99 cents rather than starting the bidding at an already fully valued sham price. (Too many sellers engage in this dodgy stratagem that fools no one.) The same seller has a great Beistle Jack-O-Lantern Fortune Game up for auction. Be sure to check it out.
01/21/Update: The euphoria of seeing such a nice item amidst the crapola almost certainly prodded this ending price to an unsustainable high of $3,627.11!
vintage Halloween plastic PUMPKIN JOL WITCH CAT CANDY HOLDER container
It seems that hard plastic has been on a bit of a tear of late, but even so, this result is surprising. (Values for blow molds from the 1960s have moved sharply upward during the last ~2 years - a related market segment.) There are a handful of hard plastic items that are nearly ubiquitous - and this is one of them. Seeing this fetch $50 is startling. Typical pricing is $20-30.
I’ve never collected hard plastic, as the market segment generally doesn’t appeal to me. However, I have grown fond of most of the Kokomold line from Elkhart, Indiana.
VINTAGE ROSEN CANDY SUCKER DIE CUT HOLDER HALLOWEEN CARD TRIX TREAT OWL BAT POEM
The once ubiquitous Rosen Trix or Treats cards are seen less frequently these days - a statement I’ve been spouting for the last few years about vintage Halloween in general. Know that all three of the Rosen sets plus their assorted variants are commanding strong dollars. These two great cards comprising the eBay lot are from the first such set Rosen produced, a set of six that I’ve called Set A. Sets B and C are comprised of five cards each - and the dimensions of these cards are smaller than any card from Set A. Set B cards with their blue backgrounds seem to be the most coveted - with the dancing skeleton card from this set commanding the strongest dollars, followed closely by the graveyard card. You can see all of these cards on pages 90-92.
2022 Auction - Early Information
Hello there and Happy New Year!
My annual auction of vintage Halloween items will end on Sunday, March 6th. There will be around 110 lots this cycle to tempt collectors at every level. Stay tuned for more details over these next few weeks.
Best, MBL
Vintage 1930's Whitney Halloween Black Cat on Fence w Moon Place Card
This place card is only one of a complete set of six. The set was produced by Whitney during the early 1930s. All are scored so that the sides can bend inward allowing them to stand upright on a table. The opening price of $45 seemed aggressive, but it already has a bid. It will be instructive to see what this fetches.
Bertoia Auction Results
Bertoia Auctions conducted their Fall Sale in mid-November. They had a very nice selection of vintage Halloween items, at least four of which sold through Morphy Auctions in September 2010. From the results, one could safely conclude the market has considerably strengthened over these eleven years.
Bertoia lots 1151, 1152, 1193 and 1194 sold in 2010 through Morphy for respectively $3,163; $1,610; $4,312 and $3,738. Here are the 2021 results without the 20% buyer’s premium realized for these lots in the same order: $10,000, $1,500, $15,000 and $11,000!
Another lot, 1148, was placed on the cover and realized an astounding $21,000 without the buyer’s premium.
Another lot, 1181, was a winking JOL candy container. It is only the second I’ve ever seen aside from the one in the collection. Even though it appears as if the nose of this lot may have been replaced, it still fetched $5,500 without buyer’s premium. When examining the photos there seems to be a color mismatch at the base of the nose and where the nose attaches to the face.
Morphy has an auction with a nice selection of vintage Halloween that will go under the hammer on December 2nd. Two of the items come from my collection and are designated as such.