Night Shine Monster Patches question

[Mike Scott]

Great stuff, Adam! I love seeing an old monster item that I've never seen before!

What is the first pic of, if you know?

[Mike Scott]

Interesting that the backer card is only used as a display.

I'm wondering if that card was originally meant to be used like that, as it was printed on both sides.

[raycastile]

The card is designed to be the primary packaging for the patch. But did it end up being used that way?

[Mike Scott]

The card is designed to be the primary packaging for the patch.

Really! That's a large card to item ratio! So the box in the pics is not an original display box?

[raycastile]

Really! That's a large card to item ratio! So the box in the pics is not an original display box?

You're losing me. Anyway, I'm saying that the double-sided card is obviously designed with the idea that the patches would be sold on those cards. But it looks like that was not how they were sold, at least not exclusively. Obviously, the patches were sold loose in those boxes, and the cards were used as display pieces. I wonder if they started out selling the patches on cards and decided that was not cost-effective, then switched to the boxes. But they didn't print those backer cards with the intention that they be glued to the inside of a box lid, or stapled to a sign. If they had been created for that purpose, they would not have been double-sided.

Bob and Joe should know if those patches were ever distributed on individual cards, or if the backer cards were only used for displays.

I wonder if the backer cards could have been used in vending machines? They're just the right size for a gumball machine window display. Those patches seem like the kind of item that might have been sold in gumball machines.

[skully]

Hi All.  Well,  I was the one who actually found quantity of these things,  about a dozen or so boxes of them.  I sold some to Mark Karpinski, a good friend at the time.   They were found in an old store in York,  I kept about 3 full boxes, along with the display that went with them.  But, I sold them years later to the great monster  collector Virgil .  They were really unique, plain cardboard type boxes with cardboard  "shelves"to display them.  Topstone mask images.  I thought they might have been from the late sixties, because the toys that were found with these were that vintage,  along with these, there were several original MPC  Barnabus Collins Dark Shadows kits found.

[Monster Bob]

They were sold out of the display box as shown, and they were also sold individually on that card.

[Mike Scott]

They were sold out of the display box as shown, and they were also sold individually on that card.

That seems to make the most sense.

[Hepcat]

Then again, in those days, guys at toy shows thought Karpinski and I were insane for asking more than $100 or $200 for any monster item other than a kit....

The irony is that model kit prices have stayed relatively flat or have even fallen in the last twenty years as a result of all the reissues. A lot of other monster stuff though may have gone up in price since then.

[raycastile]

Thanks for chiming in, Skully. And thanks Bob for clearing up how these were packaged.

I don't think I know the great monster collector Virgil. He sounds like a creature of myth. Is he a member here? Maybe I know him by a different name.

I remember the days when monster toys were second-class citizens in the collecting world, and the people who collected them were treated condescendingly by mainstream collectors (as if there was anything "mainstream" about toy collecting in those days).

[frankenstein73]

I do remember being looked down on for even asking about monster toys,like I was wasting thier time,but I got some really great deals back then. I traded my old star wars,  and gi joe stuff for monster toys through Toy Shop dealers. And They felt like they were getting the best end of the deal! I actually Kinda miss it. It was a blast  going through the new Toy Shop with my highlighter when it came out. Maybe not so much on making all those long distance calls. Lol
wish I would've saved all those papers, I think I still have one or two floating around.

[Hepcat]

I traded my old star wars ... for monster toys through Toy Shop dealers. And They felt like they were getting the best end of the deal!

Oh smart move on your part! Trade what's hot and pricey, to get what's not- and then wait!

[skully]

I agree with many of these things that are being said about collecting monster toys.  Back in the day, I always got first crack at whatever Mark Karpinski  found,  he and his wife Betty always traveled the show circut.  I remember foundly when the MPC Horror-scopes were found, along with a speaker head even being found still every now and then, with an original box!!!  I can't even begin to tell you of all the great monster toys I once owned, not to mention all the original artwork too,  only to wish I had them back now.  I still have a pretty good collection, but nothing what it once was. The great pieces are so hard to find now, the horror-scopes were considered expensive back then,at 300 dollars!!!  Mint sealed!!!  The 90's were a great time indeed to collect monster toys, there were still "pockets" of them to be found, but, not any more.  I once owned the best speaker head , with the original felt tabs to put on the bottom of it, and even the original 1964 newspaper that was wrapped in the box!!  I sold it many years ago for the then unheard of price for 1500 dollars. Can you imagine??-----------