One market segment that has been hotter than hell is retail candy boxes. Not too many years ago boxes for Baby Ruth, Milky Way and Butterfinger candy bars would bring ~$20-35. Those days are gone - not sure if forever but certainly for the time being. This result of $160.50 for a nicely designed yet fairly common box is typical of the prices I’ve seen lately. I sold a rare box for Clark Bars for $300 early this year. It sold within an hour or so of its listing on my For Sale page.
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
Vintage Halloween Paper Covered Gift/Candy Boxes 1950s? Pumpkin
I’ve wondered about these boxes over the years. One sees the same pleasing design again and again, so how many years were these distributed? When were they distributed? I speculate that locally-owned candy shops throughout regions of the US could order these generic seasonal boxes from some industry-specific wholesaler for their customers - customizing them upon purchase of a filled box with stickers or inserts containing the name of the shop selling the candy. Readers, what do you think? By the way, this listing ended with the seller accepting an offer of $70.
RARE Original Vintage Halloween Decorations Box for Set of German Diecuts, 1920s
Here’s a true piece of ephemera - a box from the 1920s that originally held a dozen of the detailed, heavily embossed diecuts that Germany produced from ~1920 through 1935, pre-WWII. These boxes seldom come available, especially in this bright, intact condition. I think the average retailer would not sell the boxed sets but only the contents, separately. Perhaps a few retailers did, but I think these boxed sets were sent by the Germans or the host of wholesalers used at that time to the retailer, which would then discard the box and sell the innards. I’m speculating here, but feel this is likely considering how few such boxes surface. This is a high-end item that collectors, and especially advanced collectors should covet.
06/30 Update: Although the final price was $770, which is a lot of cash, I was surprised that this didn’t bring more.
Vintage Halloween OH HENRY! TRICK OR TREATS 40 COUNT CANDY BOX - AS IS!
Not that long ago these perfunctorily designed candy boxes wouldn’t have brought much. I was surprised to see this box, in quite poor condition as described by the top-notch seller, fetch nearly $48. I wonder what candy boxes with interesting graphics and in near-mint condition would fetch?
1950s Halloween FANNY FARMER Flying CHOCOLATE WITCH Candy Box Vintage Container
This is being offered in an auction setting with a minimum opening bid of $225. Really? This is a great example of sellers offering items with an inflated, wide-eyed view of what items will bring. I can see this pleasing example of Halloween ephemera selling for $75-95. Remember, this is the box only. The seller has listed the witch container in a separate listing with an opening price of $105.
Super Rare Vintage Antique Halloween Store Candy Box Display Advertising
The seller has set the opening bid at $169.99. Granted, this box from a little-known candy company is rare, but is it worth even the opening price? The imagery isn’t memorable or unique. I question how noticeable it would be in a display case, especially given the space it would consume. It will be fun to see if this item with an out-sized opening bid price gains traction.
02/23 Update: The seller has changed the opening price to $129.99, still too high.
HALLOWEEN INVITATIONS/ W BOX
This seems to be a nice collection of unused Whitney invitations, with a box included. Whitney, which permanently shuttered in 1942, didn’t have a methodology for filling their boxes. It seems they would randomly fill each box with 10 invitations. Sometimes the contents were identical, sometimes there were two of each design, sometimes three of each design plus a kicker - you never knew. I’ve seen many such boxes over the years. I will see five of any of the cat designs to one of any of the witch designs, meaning the Whitney witch invitations are much harder to find than any of the cats.
01/28 Update: This sold for $145.50.
Old Halloween Name Cards in Original Box Witches Pumpkins Children
All of these small paper items were produced by Hallmark, except possibly one. Which is the odd duck?
04/02 Update: Thanks to all those who replied! The standing girl at the lower left is almost certainly not something produced by Hallmark.
VTG 1940s HALLOWEEN JAMBOREE CANDY BOX WITCH BLACK CAT BATS TRICK OR TREAT
This is one of the nicest candy box designs I’ve seen with so much going on and so much energy. It is a truly pleasing design. Others felt the same way given the ending price and accounting for condition. The box was produced by the Jamboree Sales Company of Los Angeles, CA during the 1950s.
Vintage W & F Quality Novelties Wax Party Candy Box Pumpkins 1949 Store Display
Extant boxes really add to the knowledge of when items were released and how they were marketed. W&F was the corporate precursor to the Gurley Candle Company. This seems to be from around 1949. The graphics are more lively than other W&F boxes I’ve seen. This is a box I’ve not seen before.
VINTAGE ROSEN HARD PLASTIC HALLOWEEN CIRCUS SET 4 ORIGINAL BOX CANDY CONTAINER
I typically don’t pay much attention to the hard plastic segment as I’ve never collected it, but I learned something from this listing. Who would have guessed that Rosen sold these four pieces together as a “Halloween Circus?” The existence of the box, tattered and beaten up as it is, adds significantly to the knowledge of how these companies sold these once low-priced items. I’m sure Rosen never guessed what kind of prices they’d bring decades later on the secondary market!
10/21 Update: This lot fetched $565.
Antique Whitney's Halloween Novelty Spinning Place Cards w/ Fortune BOX ONLY
This box is that rare Whitney non-postcard item actually marked. Even though this box is empty, it makes a great display piece. As I write on page 273, “The contents are fairly plain, consisting of twelve place cards, twelve wood spindles and two sheets with six fortunes per sheet.” The box is in nice shape with a single break along one long edge and no distressed corners. This is worth acquiring.
1920's Antique German Halloween Die Cut Candy Box-- Rare & Hard to Find
This is just a poorly married item. Some untalented end-user simply glued a tatty German diecut to a box. The arched-back black cat diecut doesn’t even fit on the box top properly. This seller, one of the earliest collectors on the scene, really should know better. It is disappointing to see this kind of junk listed as something worth collecting. It has decorative value only - nothing approaching the price this seller is dreaming to get.
Vintage Halloween Invitation Box Only Jack O Lantern Pumpkin Orange Black
This is a really great box. I've not seen it before. The JOLs along the edges and the use of the fat font are reminiscent of Dennison. However, Dennison was disciplined about marking their goods, so I tend to think it wasn't produced by them. (By the way, Dennison wasn't perfect about marking their items. A few, like the "Whoopee" diecut on page 144, escaped the factory unmarked.) This box has super graphics and would have made a splendid addition to my collection. I wish I had seen it in time!
VINTAGE DENNISON HALLOWEEN BOX-GREAT GRAPHICS-AS FOUND
This is an exceedingly rare Dennison bob bob box that was first advertised in their 1919 Bogie Book. They issued two designs with the same stock number, H49. (Both can be seen on page 262.) Although I now have the other design, this box featuring sprites has eluded my avaricious grasp. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be satisfied with the condition of the one on offer.
