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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Happy Halloween 2022!

Hello Faithful Readers,

The season is barreling to a close for 2022. I’m sure most would agree that it simply flew by.

I’m beginning to gear up for my March 2023 auction of vintage Halloween items. I’m really happy with the line-up. Stay tuned for more details.

Happy Halloween! Mark

VINTAGE Halloween Winking Pumpkin Candy Container. Bottom slideds off.

This isn’t a vintage item unless you define vintage as being less than ~25 years old. The candy container in the collection on which this item is based measures 4.5” high by 3” across. (The felt tip on the nose of the actual winking JOL candy container is even reproduced here, testifying to the lack of artistry by whomever produced this.) This item has only modest decorative value - no true vintage value.

ULTRA RARE Vintage Halloween Horrible Witch Decoration Crepe Skirt Beistle 30-31

Although this was the first and only time I’d seen that coloration of the crepe skirt, I still fell down when I saw this result, plaintively moaning that our hobby has been captured by the well-heeled. Not many collectors can drop nearly $8,000 on something like this. (Now, the end result was warped by two uber-aggressive bidders. Remove those bids and this item would have ended in the ~$2,200 range. I wonder if either bidder ever really expected to pay that much for it? If not, the result nicely illustrates the risk in placing sky-high bids on eBay.)

This same seller has yet another one of these listed now, albeit with different crepe colors and in unrestored condition. What will it fetch?

If someone wants mine, I’d be delighted to sell it for $5,000.

NMINT Vintage Halloween Mechanical Wheel Witch Game & Fortune Card Beistle 1930s

Ah…the vagaries of eBay. This same seller sold a Wheel Witch game on August 24 for $2,025. Just a scant sixteen days later one in arguably better condition sells for just ~27% of the first listing. (What must the buyer of the first listing think?) With all the duplicates being listed this season, be sure to ask sellers if there will identical items listed. If so, just hang back for awhile.

Vintage Halloween Diecut Small Black Cat face with hat, Germany

I was surprised to see this diecut garner so many bids and dollars. Both ears should have sharp points. The ear on the left as you look at the diecut seems blunted. In any event, the Germans produced at least three versions of this diecut. The hats on each differ. One looks at you (this one…), one looks down and one looks to one side. The one looking down is exceedingly rare. I’ve only seen it once - when I purchased it.

Vintage Halloween die cut Black cats Germany

This seller states that they have been a collector for over 40 years. I wonder, then, why they have such an exalted view of value. The lot is being offered for a BIN of $575, with an option to make an offer. These are quite common. A fair offer would be in the $200 range.

Vintage Halloween Dennison's Bogie Book, 1925 Suggestions for Halloween Booklet

This post is less about this particular Bogie Book listing than about Dennison Bogie Books in general. Dennison was clever in that they tried to speak directly to end consumers by giving them decorating ideas, maximizing the utility of the crepe, seals, cut-outs, illuminated silhouettes, etc. that Dennison was so fecund in sending to market. Once a consumer’s head was filled to bursting with ways to enhance their planned event, Dennison would allow individuals to send in their own orders directly to the firm. Of course, if a consumer wished to browse a retail establishment, Dennison had stand-alone “brick and mortars” and also supplied their wares to generalized stationers.
The Bogie Books helped this strategy along AND Dennison made money on them, selling them for a nickel or dime depending on the year. Today, when Bogie Books come available, their typical condition is what you see with this listing - truly used. These nearly annual publications were a wealth of information for those long-ago consumers and for today’s collectors an invaluable source of knowledge of what Dennison made available over the years.
Dennison’s business strategy didn’t emerge fully formed. Their first Bogie Book, in 1909, seemed a tentative effort - so tentative, in fact, that they didn’t see the commercial possibilities of these publications for three years. (There seems to be only a single copy of the 1909 Bogie Book extant. You can see it on page 135.) From 1912 through 1917, a Bogie appeared each year. 1918 was a miss almost certainly due to WWI. From 1919 through 1926 the annual publications were titled Bogie Books. After that, Dennison couldn’t seem to settle on a title blithely flitting from one to another.
Not all Bogie’s are created equal. In terms of very specific information on what was being produced with what stock numbers, the best ones are from 1914-1922.
The rarest copies before the 1920 edition are, in order, 1909, 1913, 1912, 1914, 1916, 1915. (I have yet to find a 1913 edition for the collection.)
There are even masochists like myself that torment themselves with a quest to collect the envelopes in which the Bogies were mailed to consumers. I have assembled almost a complete collection after many years.