Happy Halloween To All!

This has sure been a good season. Sellers on eBay have offered many great items over these last few months. The best lot was the complete and pristine set of NOMA JOL lights offered by hrlpjr. It sold for a tad over $5,000. I was glad to learn that it went to one of my favorite collectors who happens to live in Massachusetts. I’m always happy to see stellar items go to stellar collectors.

Thanks for being a regular reader. I’m going to allocate more time to updating the site. (This has been such a busy season that I am despairing that it is all over for 2024 in mere hours.) I want to add to my Acquisitions section. I will also be adding ~30 items to my For Sale page in the next two weeks, so stay tuned.

Have a Happy Halloween! MBL

#77 Vintage Halloween Dennison's Bogie Book Original

The seller doesn’t point it out anywhere in the listing, but this is a hardcover version of Dennison’s 1919 Bogie Book. I don’t believe I have ever seen a hardcover version of this issue. It went for a song relative to its worth. Sellers who rely on simply stating “See the photos” or words to that affect, annoy me. Take the time to describe the item fully, yet minimally. Most sellers want the most they can get for an item. This goal is at cross-purposes with stating next-to-nothing about the listing except, “See the photos.”

Vintage Halloween 1930 Beistle Black Cat Jack-o-Lantern Bat Nut Cup

It’s not every day that you see this Beistle nut cup come available. As I write on page 221, I suspect this design was issued for a single season, in either 1930 or 1931. They were sold in envelopes of four with a stock number of 760N. This seller is stellar. I have had many thoroughly positive interactions with him over the years, so I don’t understand the feedback left on a transaction involving a Kokomold item. You can deal with him with confidence.

Beistle Beistle’s Halloween Party Helps Fortune Telling Game Antique Rare HTF

Beistle enveloped items are having their well-deserved moment in the sun. Beistle was clever in that they very often used the same concept and items but wrapped everything in new packaging. They issued this game in both enveloped and boxed sets. The envelopes are more common. This listing is appealing in that there is double collateral and three extra JOLs. What’s not to like?

ULTRA RARE ANTIQUE MCLOUGHLIN HALLOWEEN HAND OF FATE FORTUNES TELLING GAME

I was visiting with good friends who happen to be collectors of vintage Halloween memorabilia when this lot ended. We all stated what we thought it would fetch. We were all wrong - all of our predictions were too high. Why did this exceedingly rare, eye-catcher of a game bring such a low price? The seller took great photos - even including a video. The lid is stunning - especially with that brilliant blue circle. Whoever the buyer was has to be quite happy they acquired such an item at a real solid value. I wish I had been a bidder!

German Miniature Jack O’ Lantern Dual Handled Vase Vintage Halloween

I’ve received many, many inquiries as to whether I concur with the seller’s conclusion this vase was produced in Germany. I do. I own the same item with slightly different and somewhat finer detailing indicative of the fact that this line of products was made at different small facilities over the long run of general production from 1908-1932. As I write on page 119, “The Japanese seem to have copied only a few items: the lidded teapot, the lidded sugar, the creamer, plain waste bowls and medium-sized cups without handles.” Then, “…none of the rarest, most unusual items were made by the Japanese. Marked or not, and most weren’t, these will always have been made in Germany.” I’ve been exceedingly busy this season, else I would have posted earlier.

10/26 Update: This sold for $2,938.88!

Very Rare Beistle Vintage Halloween Party Centerpiece -Owl, Scarecrow, Black Cat

Beistle produced only two table top centerpiece designs in 1955. Both are quite coveted and typically bring far more than this one brought. Condition certainly contributed to the ending price, but time of year may have played a part as well. As I write on page 233 about these centerpieces, “It, for me, represents the last gasp of the best of Beistle’s iconic imagery before the blandness and silliness of their later designs ran rampant.”

Rare Vintage Halloween Rosbro Black Witch Riding Rocket Read Description

This plastic item was actually produced by Kokomold. It sold for $1,175, not $1,400 as eBay inexplicably shows. Even so, that is a lot of money for something so compromised. Kokomold arguably was the firm producing the most avant-garde designs - designs today that are highly coveted. (Try getting your hands on their coach for less than $2,000!) As with anything else, buy items in the nicest condition possible. The buyer of this paid an aggressive price for an item in far less than “fine” condition.

Vintage Halloween Tin Noisemaker Bat Ghost Pumpkin Skellington Bats

The buyer wasted money on this item. This isn’t a vintage noisemaker. Restoration Hardware sold a set of three designs back years ago when Restoration Hardware was fun. This has decorative value only - and nothing approaching $43.99.

Vintage Halloween Singing Moon Beistle Diecut 1935 SAMPLE Look

I’ve never understood the attraction of this diecut. (Another design from the same set is a donut and cup. That, too, leaves me cold.) Great companies like Beistle can’t always hit home runs. No organization does. However, sometimes the strike-out is so spectacular that I wonder if the Art Director at the time was sacked for poor judgement. This design rivals the Dennison frog diecut for having little logical tie-in to Halloween iconography.

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DENNISON GUMMED Seals SILHOUETTES 12 PACK Owl USA Diecut

Dennison boxed goods have been on a tear of late. There was a time perhaps as recently as 2022 when the interest in these little gems of superb design flagged somewhat. (Dennison boxed goods was a market segment I avidly collected very early on. I long for those days from the early 1990s when complete boxes in near-mint or better condition would be offered for $20. I vacuumed up every one I could find.) This design, a tuxedo owl, was first offered in 1928 with a stock number of H842.

Vintage Halloween Curtiss Baby Ruth Tricks Treats Good Goblins 1955 Candy Box

One market segment that has been hotter than hell is retail candy boxes. Not too many years ago boxes for Baby Ruth, Milky Way and Butterfinger candy bars would bring ~$20-35. Those days are gone - not sure if forever but certainly for the time being. This result of $160.50 for a nicely designed yet fairly common box is typical of the prices I’ve seen lately. I sold a rare box for Clark Bars for $300 early this year. It sold within an hour or so of its listing on my For Sale page.

RARE ANTIQUE GERMAN HALLOWEEN LARGE WHITE GOBLIN JACK-O-LANTERN PUMPKIN LANTERN

WOW! This sure grabbed my attention. What a magnificently designed lantern. I have never prioritized collecting German lanterns but this is one I would love to have in the collection. It is early as the unsettling design was meant for parties thrown by and for adults. The bidding is already active on this lantern with 9 bids placed to nearly $1,300 with more than five days to go. Even though this isn’t the optimal time to sell vintage Halloween, I suspect this will zoom well above its current level. I applaud this seller for employing a spare description style.

10/15 Update: And zoom it did - to a stratospheric $5,179.76!

RARE VINTAGE HALLOWEEN PULP CAT CANDY CONTAINER PAIL

This rarish cat head candy pail was produced later than many lanterns. The closed eyes and the bright (at least at time of manufacture) yellow highlights are indicative of this being produced during the late 1950s and perhaps through ~1962. This petite pail probably would enhance a display even though the condition is more toward the rough end of the spectrum.

10/15 Update: This fetched $713.

ORIGINAL VINTAGE ANTIQUE HALLOWEEN ROSBRO PLASTIC PULL TOY PIRATE CLOWN 7 1/2"

I have gained an appreciation for hard plastic these last few years. I had an opportunity to purchase a large collection out of New York state last year that contained a good number of vintage hard plastic items. I retained several Kokomold hard plastic designs - the topmost tier in the hard plastic market segment. Manufacturers like Rosbro occasionally hit above their weight with designs like this drumming pirate bank. This is one market segment that has rarely flagged over these last few decades.