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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Rare Kirchhof Vintage Metal Halloween Noisemaker Detail Design

This noisemaker is one of the hardest Kirchhof tin items to find - and I say that even though another one sold within the month. That one seemed to be in far lesser condition and brought the still surprisingly low price of $129.12. Kirchhof sold this as one of a pair. I feel this is the more interesting of the two. Turn to page 204 to see the other design.

02/18 Update: This brought $357, much more in line with what this typically brings. The other one mentioned above was a true outlier, even given the lesser condition.

Vintage Gibson Embossed Halloween Seals Jack-O-Lantern IOB Germany

As I write on page 264, “These may be among the first boxed sets of seals Gibson issued. Unlike all other Gibson seals I have seen, each of the seals…is marked on the reverse, “Gibson Line Made in Germany.” I assume this was a very short-lived association …. “ The example in the collection doesn’t have a quantity sticker, so the fact that this listing shows the box held 35 seals is good information.

Vintage Halloween Party Invitation Black Cat [4x5]

This is a beautiful invitation - by size alone a real stunner. I’ve only seen this a handful of times in 30+ years of collecting. There were matching tally and place cards produced as well to round out a three part set. The maker is Masters. These designs were produced under Masters’ Unique Line label. It’ll be interesting to see what this sells for during this slow time of the year.

02/05 Update: This sold for a respectable $110.27.

Vntg Art Deco Halloween Scorecard Bridge Tally Booklet Unused The Buzza Co.

Pickings have been slim for months on eBay, but there have been a number of lots sold even within the last week that brought far less than they should have. Then I see this lot. Great tally in great condition - but is the price sustainable at $74?
There are a few hardy souls that brave the slog through eBay Halloween garbage listings. They have been rewarded by being able to scoop up the few nuggets at decent prices, but overall the first quarter of the year is the worst time to list vintage Halloween items. There seems to be more crap now than I remember in past post-Christmas listings. I’m hoping this will change soon. There is little to write about.

Halloween Vintage KATZY PARTY Game, Early 1900's, "Pin the Cat", Envelope

Although the graphics are excellent and the game not-often seen, I don’t consider this to be a game made expressly for Halloween. There is no imagery except generic black cat pin-ons - no JOLs, no witches, no nothing - that lends credence to the idea this was made for anything other than a generic Katzy party.

Early Antique Halloween Jack-O-Lantern Scare Crow Die Cut Standing Decoration

This seller has at least three listings of items I’ve not seen before. This is one of them. I believe this was produced by a regional paper manufacturer with quite limited distribution - certainly not by one of the bigger names like Beistle or Dennison. I like the artwork and the simple colors. If condition was better and there wasn’t that post-manufacture applied bit of crepe I’d be a bidder.

01-25 Update: This sold for $37.00

1933 Vintage Halloween Etta Palmer Wotsie Witzie Fortune Teller Game Decoration

I would classify this game as having only the most tangential of connections to Halloween. Except for the broomed witch, there really is none. Some collectors specialize in collecting fortune telling games, and a precious few are truly Halloween related, but the vast majority either have no connection or the slimmest of connections to Halloween. Just as a nice piece of colorful art, I can see the modest value this item fetched - but that price is also a judgement from the market that classifying this item as a Halloween game is incorrect. The Fortune Crystal Game is another example of an item often wrongly classified as having a Halloween connection.