Dennison small paper is on fire. This well-designed place card was first issued in 1926 with a stock number of H463. These were sold singly; they weren’t packaged. I don’t think this ending price is sustainable even though this place card doesn’t surface in complete condition often. For some reason, many of this design too-easily separates along the scored line, resulting in two fragments. If you have one that has never been folded, don’t fold it. Why take the risk of it separating?
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
E. Rosen Company Pumpkin Pops Mechanical Countertop Display, mid-1930s
eBay is generally such a wasteland that it is bracing to see a truly high-quality item properly included in their Vintage Halloween category. This is only the third time I’ve seen this complete item offered for purchase, but those three times involve only two different complete examples. What do I mean? Well, the first time I saw this great Rosen mechanical design was in 1997 when it was auctioned. I acquired it then for the collection. The second example was sold in late 2015. This second example is now being offered for sale again.
Rosen didn’t produce many mechanical lollipop holders. They are all ingeniously designed with fun graphics. In my opinion, the best one is the Spooks Pop mechanical with the haunted house as the central image and ghosts popping up from the bushes. I feel this is the next best design. (You can see the ones in the collection on pages 116-118.)
Any collector with an affinity for the best in paper would be proud to have this item as a centerpiece of their collection. It will be fun to see where this ends. It deserves some big dollars. By the way, I have concluded based on some information contained on the bottom of a Rosen Valentine Pops box that the Rosen mechanical and non-mechanical "Pops" boxes were not meant as retail countertop displays, but were actually sold to the end-consumer. I included this new insight as part of the errata for my book maybe two years ago.
05/14 Update: This item brought $1,444.69.
1940`s Witch In Cauldron Tally Card By Dennison
Sometimes the way eBay reports ending prices is misleading. This is an example. A casual browser would assume this Dennison item sold for $500. When you dig a little, one discovers it sold for $200, still a hefty premium to what this design typically fetches. Dennison introduced a trio of these “Novelty Tallies” with mechanical action in 1928. (They can all be seen on page 258.) This witch emerging from her cauldron is the most interesting of the three.
1921 HALLOWEEN NOISE MAKER BLACK CAT witch marks bros boston 7 1/4 inch
Here is yet another seller ignorantly brimming with confidence by offering this relatively common Marks Brothers horn for a BIN of only $666. (I guess they also feel as if they are clever by picking that number.) I just shake my head in wonder and move on.
Large Antique German Electrified Jack O Lantern
Here is a good example of unwarranted optimism. This seller is offering this forgettable item as a BIN for “only” $2,495! I value it at maybe $125 on a good day.
Set of 6 Vintage Antique Halloween Diecut Stand Up Cards
Wow! The seller has to be thrilled beyond their wildest dreams. The buyer, paying ~$264 each, surely is less so.
1930's PRINTED PAPER-FACED TAMBORINE w/TIN RIM-7" in Diameter
The version shown on page 213 has a decorated rim whereas this one has a plain rim. I’m surprised there would be two versions of such an economically made design. I would love to know for sure which firm produced this tambourine. Several collectors have mentioned that they’ve found this tambourine design as part of a Collegeville “gypsy” costume from the 1930s, but I’ve never been able to independently verify that Collegeville included such items with their costumes.
Vintage Halloween Die Cut Place Card 1920s OWL Crescent MOON Grave Tombstone
I guess this has to be a Halloween item, but it sure doesn’t have the expected shades. It looks almost like a celebration of spring with its bright Easter colors. Whatever firm produced this seems to have walked their own creative path.
Vintage Halloween Witch With Fire & Broom Celluloid Viscoloid Toy Rattle; Great!
Hands down, Viscoloid made the most memorable designs in celluloid. The array of stunning colors used and their unsurpassed molding sets Viscoloid items apart from all other makers. (Just look at those cheekbones!) I’ve not seen this particular witch before. It’ll be fun to see what price this fetches.
04/25 Update: I was staggered at the ending price of $2,938.88.
Halloween Noisemaker Litho Tin/Wood Black Cat JOL Witch Pumpkin Old Vtg
This Bugle imagery is typically seen on a rectangular shaker or a clicker, so this form, a clanger, is unusual. The form drove the price. Given how big the image actually is, this form suits it far better than either the shaker or clicker forms. I received a lot of email asking me about the item, so I wasn’t surprised at the ending value.
1920's L.E. Smith Glass C0 Jack O Lantern Halloween Pumpkin Candy Container JOL
I like the seller’s no-nonsense “just-the-facts-ma’am” description. Often, less is more. These glass JOL’s were cold-painted, which is why they very seldom surface in such pristine, original condition. Although these aren’t particularly rare, I can’t recall seeing one in such nice shape in a long time, totally justifying the ending value. (The bonus is that I learned something from reading about the item!)
6 VINTAGE 1920's-30's Dennison HALLOWEEN Party Cut-Out Decoration OWL on branch
This set of six Dennison owl cut-outs was sold in a glassine envelope for a single year, 1922. For that year, the stock number for the set was H-48. Beginning in 1923, the same cut-out in the same quantity was sold in a slide box with a different stock number, H-99. Subsequently, I’d say this glassine envelope form of packaging would be significantly harder to find than the slide box packaging. You can’t go wrong with the seller, one of the finest purveyors of vintage Halloween on eBay.
04/23 Update: This sold for a relative bargain: $128.50.
Unique Vintage HALLOWE'EN Stunt Game Boxed Card Set *16 Stunts* Beistle
This seller slapped a BIN price of $150 on this rare boxed game and it was gone in 20 minutes, a great indication of how much the seller left on the table. This is a desirable game produced by Beistle in two versions in 1931-32. One was a boxed set like this one while the other was an otherwise identical enveloped set. The stock numbers were different - 876 and 875, respectively. Neither surfaces much.
Vintage Halloween Porcelain Devil Ashtray RARE
Outside of the complete set I’ve owned since 1991, this is the first time I’ve seen this ashtray. (You can see the set on page 130.) I bought the set from a show in North Carolina in 1991. When I began to research what it was all about I found a book on “country store collectibles” that had the plate, humidor and match holder shown, but no ashtray. The photo’s caption said it was from the collection of Mary Lou Holt. I found a way to contact her to ask about the ashtray. Her initial response was that there wasn’t an ashtray. I offered to send a photo - and did so. Maybe a week later Mary Lou called to say how excited she was to now know there was an ashtray as part of the set. She told me that there were only ten plates made and speculated that there were only 10 ashtrays made since she had never seen one before. Mary Lou and I became friends. She was a great source of knowledge on many collectibles topics, including vintage Halloween. She passed away a number of years ago. I miss her still.
04/18 Update: This brought $201.50.
Vintage Halloween E Rosen Tweety Pops Black Cat Candy Container Tub 1950s/1960s
This listing is a good illustration of how design sensibilities changed (degraded?) from the 1940s through the 1960s. Take a look at the Halloween Owl Pops bucket on page 51 from the late 1940s. It is much more intricately detailed with more subtle colors. The bucket up for auction now is from sometime after July 1963 as it has a zip code. The imagery is cute, colors are bright and the entire thing is forgettable.
04/11 Update: I was surprised that this item brought $127.50. It seems like a lot to pay for something like this.
04/16 Update: The same seller listed another one of these which sold today for $102.50. I think that price is still too much for this.
