Over the last two days Bertoia Auctions held their Holiday January 2026 event, with a very nice selection of vintage Halloween. Although they had very few diecut lots, one held an exceedingly rare Dennison item that I was lucky enough to snap up for a good price. (Now, keep in mind like all auction houses there is a buyer’s premium. In this auction it was 20%. One of the buyer advantages to my auction is that I have never charged a buyer’s premium, only requiring a book purchase for entry eligibility. My auction’s publicity will start in about a week. The preview period will begin February 18.)
Candy containers saw strong results as did hard plastic and German porcelain. I’ve included the lots I found notable below.
The first photo shows one of the lots on which I was the prevailing bidder. The triple-witch head Dennison diecut is one I’ve only seen one other time. It is worth the entire lot price and more.
The second photo shows a porcelain lot. The plate at the left was the star of the lot. Very few exist. Every one I’ve ever seen has wear like the one from Linda Morrow’s collection.
The third and fourth photos show stellar results for two of the most difficult to find items from the large output of such wares made between 1908-1932. The item described as a sugar shaker is actually a hat pin holder. (See my book’s errata…)
The fifth photo shows just how strong hard plastic has become - especially for items produced by Kokomold. (It pains me that Bertoia misidentified the maker as Rosbro.)
The last photo shows one of the many folk art items in the auction created by Jack Roads. Jack, who died in 2019, was a Sacramento-area art professor and creator-extraordinaire who I was lucky to know for many years. I bought one of his skittle sets (a better one than in the auction, in my opinion) from his estate for $500. I wasn’t surprised that many of his items did so well!
