Old Halloween Stuff-Who's a collector- and show your finds thread.

[jimm]

How does one usually tell the vintage from newer stuff. I want to start hunting!

[horror1o1]

How does one usually tell the vintage from newer stuff. I want to start hunting!

for the most part you just gotta get a feel for it. Go with your instincts and don't over pay. Go to thrift stores this time of year.

[ramsey37]

Here's all my Halloween blowmolds to date:

The one on the far right is a recent reproduction, the other three are all vintage.

These are my Rushton Scarecrow Sam dolls, probably from the 1950's-1960's. I have a fourth one, but he needs some minor surgery before he'll be presentable. Rushton specialized in vinyl-faced dolls and stuffed animals, and they also did many seasonal toys for Christmas, Easter, and Valentine's Day. As far as I can determine, Scarecrow Sam is as close as they got to doing Halloween dolls.
George

[vintagehalloweentoys]

How does one usually tell the vintage from newer stuff. I want to start hunting!

I can give you a few suggestions....There's basically nothing that's made of tin anymore when it comes to noisemakers. Most of the companies printed their names on items. Kirchhof, J Chein, U.S. Metal Toy Mfg., and T Cohn are the most well known makers of the tin toys. Rosbro, E. Rosen, A.J. Renzi, Clinton Toy Corp., Empire Plastics, Bayshore, Blinky, Fun World, and Topstone Rubber Company all made lots of the plastic toys and blow mold lights.

About 95% of the newer stuff is all made in China, and usually marked China. If you see a "Made in USA" marking, chances are good that it is an older item (Empire Plastics and A.J. Renzi only went out of business about 10-15 years ago). There are a couple American companies that still make stuff (General Foam Plastics is one).

Today a lot of stuff is very cute, and not meant to scare kids. A lot of the vintage items have a more creepy look to them.

Beistle and HE Luhrs were the kings of cardboard Halloween decorations....I'm not into them as much collecting wise, but some early stuff (pre 1960's) can fetch a very high price for the right items.

If you ever have any questions on an item, you can always email me, and I'll try to help you evaluate it. And I hope it's OK to say this, but you can take a look at my website (I've got dozens of pictures and prices on there).

[Ghost]

After my grandmother passed away I was helping my mom clean her place and managed to get all of her old Halloween decorations.

Here are some vintage tin shaker noise makers with witches.




This tin noise maker has a crank lever that twists around making a screeching yowling cat sound. The black cat tin noisemaker spins around and clicks.



I even kept some of her cupcake toppers.






Grandma's house was always last on our trick or treat route (after several neighborhoods, and the mall) and she always had something special saved just for us. It was usually in a paper treat bag, I saved some of them.




I have seen this Pumpkin blow mold lamp with witch hat all my life and these were my very first pumpkin trick or treat pails. They have always been a part of my Halloween. When my sons were old enough to carry a pail they carried these too.





This is a cool ceramic ghost lamp that has been with my family for several Halloweens and some random pumpkin containers and characters..




So I have been seeing a lot of lame "shrunken heads" in stores these past few Halloweens. Everything from decapitated clowns to witches and vampires. I have yet to see a good reproduction of a shrunken head like I remember were sold when we were kids. The only thing that came even close was one for Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean costume accessory kit and it was also lame and disturbingly pink with white hair. Back in the 60s it seemed like every hot-rodder had a rubber shrunken head hanging from their car's rear view mirror, or at least so my dad tells me so. My dad had a cool one bought in the 60s and I bought one in the 80's that was not as cool with its over-sized nose but was way better than the junk out there today.




I got to thinking, what happened to my old one? I went in search in my dad's camel backed old sea chest we lovingly refer to as the monster box as that is where all of the Halloween masks and costumes were stored over the years. Bingo! I found my dad's but mine was nowhere to be seen. Oh well his was cooler anyways. It was in pretty sad shape though. The lips had been sewn and re-sewn shut multiple times over the years and the rubber molding of the face was losing its shape. The hair had mostly fallen out or been cut due to multiple irremovable tangles from being tossed around over the years. My dad had painted and repainted it several times with the paint flaking off and the last paint job had some unsightly eyebrows reminiscent of Groucho Marx. So an over haul was in order. I repainted it and added some little embellishments like shark teeth, bones, and shells of course sewed on some new hair. I was about to put eyebrows on it but then realized of course that most Amazonian indigenous tribes pluck or shave their eyebrows and that the Shuar tribe of the Jivaro Indians that made shrunken heads rubbed all of the facial hair off anyways. The end result is a little more stylized than a real shrunken head and I also added some war paint. I was pleased how it turned out.

[jimm]

Thanks for the info, I'm sure there's a few choice vintage pieces at Moms still. I've seen a few displays at antique collectives with items for sale too, just need to eduficate  myself a bit.

[vintagehalloweentoys]

Ghost....Great collection!! I especially like the crank up siren with the witch. There's one for sale online right now, and that was the first one I had ever seen.

The shrunken head looks fantastic as well!

[scott_of_smeg]

Anyone have any vintage Universal Monsters jointed die cuts?

[Splitty]

That shrunken head is awesome. 
Man, I don't have any vintage Halloween pieces (just past few decades), due to errr.... being raised in a religious household. And yet, Halloween is one of the most fun holidays. Even tho I never get to decorate, I ferociously guard my bits in a storage shed 'just-in-case'.

I'm really enjoying the pics everyone is posting!

[bigbud]

Here's a Hallmark Halloween Ghost Whistle I've had forever. Tried real hard to find some more info on it, but I couldn't. 99% sure it's Hallmark, but either the markings are too small or there aren't any. Makes a neat SHEEEEEEOOOOOOO sound when you blow and pull out the pumpkin slide. His age is turning the white a mellow yellow color. You blow on his toes ( no comments, Scatter)..

[vintagehalloweentoys]

Hey bigbud, that's a neat ghost whistle you've got there. I haven't seen one of those before. As far as the blowing on toes goes, it could have been designed worse. I know there's some old Batman squirt gun out there where the trigger is where his male anatomy should be.

[Earth 2 Chris]

My mom managed a Hallmark store for over 10 years, from the late 70s to the late 80s, and while that particular item doesn't ring a bell, the pumpkin is very similar to other pumpkin figurines I have from Hallmark.

Chris

[Ghost]

That shrunken head is awesome. 
Man, I don't have any vintage Halloween pieces (just past few decades), due to errr.... being raised in a religious household. And yet, Halloween is one of the most fun holidays. Even tho I never get to decorate, I ferociously guard my bits in a storage shed 'just-in-case'.

I'm really enjoying the pics everyone is posting!

Thanks Splitty!

[bigbud]

My mom managed a Hallmark store for over 10 years, from the late 70s to the late 80s, and while that particular item doesn't ring a bell, the pumpkin is very similar to other pumpkin figurines I have from Hallmark.

Chris

hi ya Chris! If you ever get a chance to show those pics to your mom I'd sure like to verify the ghost whistle being a Hallmark. It definitely dates back to the mid 70's when Hallmark started gearing up production of Christmas ornaments and the small sculpted items for Easter, Halloween and Valentines.....Bud

[Earth 2 Chris]

Well, unfortunately my Mom passed on nearly 12 years ago. But I do have some similar pumpkins that came from Hallmark stashed with our Halloween decorations. I'll be digging those out in the next few weeks and will be sure to post some pics of them here.

Chris