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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

RARE Antique Vintage Halloween Diecut & Crepe Paper JOL Table Decoration Germany

This micro-segment of the overall market, German crepe and cardboard table top decorations, has really come into its own these last five years. Before that, you could barely give these kinds of things away. The Germans cleverly designed thin lithoed paper appendages and glued them onto a simple orange or black crepe sleeve. Once slapped together, they were sold for pennies. The few I’ve kept around for any length of time stood due to the sleeve bottom being filled with tissue paper or bubble wrap.

Vintage Halloween crepe paper DECOUPAGED on canvas panel

I appreciate how clever this fine seller is to find ways to preserve the under-rated artwork found in so many crepe paper designs. It seems the Golden Age of crepe bolts was during the later teens and into the twenties. I recently acquired a large collection of vintage paper, including much crepe paper. Being a market segment I’ve not previously spent too much time learning about, it is fun seeing some of the clever designs printed back then.

antique Witch Halloween candy container

The workmanship of this container is so poor that I feel this is something made in Japan not Germany. The hands, rather than being composition, are merely clumps of spun cotton. The drab swaddling of crepe paper throughout also denotes a lack of finishing skill so unlike most German-made items. Being an item made in Japan, the overall value doesn't approach this seller's opening price of $300. 

04/16 Update: The market is typically uninterested in such items, shown by the seller has relisted this with an opening price of $150 or a BIN of $200. I feel fair market value is $80. 

Antique Halloween Crepe Paper Candy Bag Trick Or Treat By C.A. Reed Co Vintage

This vintage bag produced by Reed has nothing going for it - it is simply orange crepe with a sewn black section and a formed bottom. This sort of generic item is not coveted by collectors and typically wouldn't rustle up even $5. However, the seller, mesmerized by the age perhaps, has slapped a BIN of $99.99 on it. It conjures the opening words to a melancholy Anne Murray tune, "Dreamin, I must be dreamin..."