Vintage Halloween Scaredy Black Cat Lidded Paper Mache Decor

Someone spent $125 on what is a purely decorative object that could have been made as recently as last week. Be careful!

Vintage Candy container -Halloween-Germany

This is an obvious reproduction. Does it even have decorative value?

VINTAGE 1927 HALLOWEEN DAISY PUMPKIN FACE RING TOSS GAME IMMACULATE VERY RARE

This isn’t the real deal. This game was reproduced a few years ago. This seems to be a better quality fake. Except for the copied graphics, nothing is right about it. The thickness of the box and its height are wrong, the lack of a manufacturer’s name (It should be Schacht Rubber Manufacturing Company.) is wrong, the laughably flimsy rings are wrong. Be on guard for fakes. This hobby is too expensive to waste money ignorantly.

03/15 Update: You have to love this seller. Once he learned that this item was a reproduction, he immediately ended the listing and relisted it as a reproduction - no fuss, no muss. He also had an excellent sense of humor about it. Read his verbiage in the relisting. It will bring a smile to your face. He writes: “I’d like to get $100 for it, but I’d also like to be dating Emmy Rossum.” You just have to appreciate there are still people in this world who approach situations that aren’t advantageous to them with a ready quip. Bravo!

New Old Stock 1950's Chalkware Halloween Cat & Moon Germany

This is not a vintage item. It was made by Radko within the last 10 years or so. It is distressing to see that somebody wasted their collecting dollars on something that has decorative value only. People: This hobby has become pricey enough that one MUST do their research before buying anything. Go to one of the tabs above this post and buy a copy of my reference, Vintage Halloween Collectibles, 3rd Edition. 

VINTAGE PAPER MACHE BLACK CAT FACE JACK O LANTERN PUMPKIN Halloween Decoration

Thanks to the sharp eye of a regular reader, I can convey to you that this is a reproduction made during the 1990s by Seasons Gone By. Notice the flat bottom - an easy red flag for collectors as authentic vintage items have a ring pressed into the bottom. 

WONDERFUL VINTAGE GERMAN DAPPER BLACK CAT ON PUMPKIN CANDY CONTAINER

As the seller intimates, this is a reproduction. (I could tell the moment I saw the photo.) As written in the caption of the real deal shown on page 69: "Reproduced versions of this container with a smaller pumpkin base were made beginning in the mid-1990s. These new versions tend to be heavier and lack the detailing of the originals." This item has no collectible value and is certainly worth nothing close to what this seller has established as the opening price. 

08/16 Update: I was sorry to see some poor sap wasted $172.38 on this reproduction. 

Metal Halloween Devil Face License Fob

This is a reproduction with zero collectible value. The authentic items were made by the National Colortype Company of Bellevue, Kentucky and are so marked. Vintage ones have an open back and were made of steel not aluminum. 

08/04 Update: This ended up selling for $21.05. 

Vintage Paper Mache Halloween Pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern Insert & Handle 5 1/2" Tall

This fake was made off-shore within the last few years. The curly handle was the first give-away, followed by the faux crackled finish and the bone white base of the fake when the surface color is removed. The interior has a finished texture, quite different from the authentic examples. The buyer should get their money returned. 

old Vintage Paper Mache clay? Halloween BLACK CAT CANDY Bucket Antique MARKED HS

This item was made by Stamm House no earlier than the mid-1990s. They were known for their solid craftsmanship. Based on old molds, their designs characteristically featured strong detailing, bright inserts and faux wear. Although these new items definitely have good value in the secondary market, $89 seems an excessive price to pay when the truly vintage item the mold was derived from can be had for not much more. 

Antique PAPER MACHE HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN w/PAPER INSERT

Unfortunately, the buyer of this item flushed money down the drain in the belief that this was as described - antique - when it was made in the last 10-15 years. This is one of the styles issued by Jamieson Studios of Canton, Ohio. Their output was and is higher-end, but that can't overcome the fact that this is a decorative item with no vintage Halloween value. (By the way, why would anyone bid on this with such a astronomical shipping cost? I have hefted the one in my folk art collection and it is pretty light-weight!) 

Vintage Halloween paper Cats Musicians

This are not vintage items, but designs that have been recently revised and released by Beistle. There are at least two ways to immediately know these are not vintage: they are double-sided and the white backgrounds were never part of the original designs. These have minor decorative value only. 

VINTAGE ORIGINAL HALLOWEEN PAPER MACHE' JACK O' LATERN W/ WIRE HANDLE

Unfortunately, someone spent $38 on this reproduction. This is not a vintage pulp JOL. It looks like a quality reproduction, perhaps one done by Stamm House, but it is a reproduction nonetheless. Things to note: the fake wear patterns, the overly thick bale, the unfinished bottom and the fact that it is not pulp. 

vintage RAINBOW MAN candy container GERMAN 1930's halloween

This seller has been selling items that he purports to be from the 1930s for years. I have yet to see a Halloween item he has ever offered that I believe was made prior to 1995. These slant-hatted cylindrical things first began showing up around 2000. They have modest decorative value only, nothing close to what this poor soul paid. This seller, landerstoys, has long been one with whom I choose not to do business. 

Beistle made a vintage version of this that is on the light weight cardboard stock so typical of non-embossed diecuts. This fake was printed on thick cardboard and has a cloudy appearance. These have been peddled by sellers like trappedintheshadow and curiousimp, both of whom have long been on my list of those with whom I choose not to business. 

Here are five of the eight JOL designs that have plagued the hobby since they were imported from Germany ~1995. Items from this faux set have fooled many collectors. Don't be one of them. The size and subtle design details immediately differentiate these from the rarely seen authentic items. Although they were imported from Germany, they were all made during or after ~1995. 

This reproduction/fantasy item was in the vanguard of such items that have plagued the hobby for the last few years. Authentic wind-ups and mechanical Halloween items are VERY scarce, and when they do surface they are almost always in shabby condition. Virtually every such toy I have seen these last few years is either a reproduction, a fantasy item or is a marriage between vintage Halloween elements and a non-Halloween body or mechanism. Interestingly, only one or two sellers have been peddling these types of items for significant dollars. How did these same dealers get such a trove of wind-ups and mechanicals?  I think I know the answer. Be VERY suspicious when buying such items.