Vintage Don Post Studios mask thread

[kolchak]

Seeing Gries' post of great Don Post masks made me think  it would be cool to have a thread of various vintage Don Post masks from collections here at the UMA. I know there are a lot out there. Remember, this thread is for vintage pieces only. Here to start it off are a couple of sets from my collection -

1970s Pat Newman sculpted Karloff Frankenstein with original hands. They ran sets like this until Bill Malone sculpted the `second version´hands that went out in `74:


And I don't think I've ever posted a pic of this set. Original vintage 'second version' Newman sculpted Mummy with matching vintage hands. This set is from the mid `70s. The hands were sculpted by Bill Malone and came, as the mask did, covered in fuller's earth.

[Toy Ranch]

Define "vintage".  When I think of vintage Post, I think pre-Savage Eye.  Others may think pre 90's.  Not sure where the late 70's and 80's masks fall in the realm of "vintage".  When did DP lose the Uni license?  Seems like the Savage Eye Uni masks started about '76 or '77? 

[kolchak]

I meant really vintage original finishes more than era. Personally I don't collect Don Post past 1979/80 - but a cool 89 Universal Florida Mummy, for example, would be great here ;-)

[raycastile]

When these Don Post threads come up, I always feel like I don't have much to contribute. But I do have a few vintage DPs. (My definition of "vintage" is anything at least 20 years old.)

Here's some glamorous photography:




You won't find better pics in National Geographic.

Let me hit you with more awesome photography:




My good old Skull:



That actually is a pretty decent picture, I think.


Some old pics that I've posted many times before:

80s Yeti



70s Erik (black latex)



Sinistre with Phantom factory finish

[Toy Ranch]

This was the first licensed Universal Monster item.  It is the grandfather of all Universal Monster toys, masks, etc.  And it's the only copy of this mask still known to exist.  They were first made in 1948, and into the mid or late 1950's. 

A magazine article (Life?) from the 50's states that over a million of them were made, but that number is likely highly inflated. A small shop with a handful of employees making them all by hand would have a very hard time turning them out in those numbers, although I'm sure it seemed like a million at the time. US Population in those years was around 150 million people, and when you take away the very old, the very young, recent immigrants (most of whom would not be as interested in popular culture items like monster masks), the very poor (who might not be able to afford things like this, albeit these were not expensive items), it doesn't stand to reason that even 1 in 100 people owned one of these.  But they were popular, and their popularity led to more masks and more licensed Universal items.

The neck bolts were separate pieces of rubber that fit in the holes under the ears.  They are often missing in photos of people wearing this mask.  The sculpt is very rudimentary, not much more than a rubber sack, but I consider it to be a very special and important rubber head sack.

[Gries]

Excellet thread!  I have to take more but I did have these to contribute. 

[slasher]

Great thread. I love old Don Post masks. Keep um coming. 

[frankenstein73]

That emmett kelley mask is very cool!

[Haunted hearse]

I recall buying a new Don Post Mask around 1980, but it didn't have a "How to care tag" attached.  When did Don Post Studios start placing those on their masks?  I thought about buying a skull mask on Ebay recently, but the color and tag seemed different from the one I had, which was like one of the "Halloween 3" masks.

[Toy Ranch]

Don Post has used no tag or different tags at different times, and I don't think there is a definitive tag guide.  Obviously a tag might be damaged and be removed by a retailer, even on a new mask, or a customer trying one on might take the tag off if it was bothering them.   Although tags can be useful in dating Don Post masks, they are easy to put on, so a recently made mask with a vintage tag is not unheard of.  Latex type, thickness, and color, paint scheme, hair color and type (if any) and sculpt differences are much more relevant for dating Don Post masks. A tag (if present) is at most a final piece of the puzzle.

Those skull masks have been made in different versions since 1967.  The 1967 year is in the sculpt for them, but a mask made many years later might have the 1967 date on it.  Complicating things a bit, some fans of H3 put Silver Shamrock tags on their masks. 

[Toy Ranch]

This Glenn Strange mask (calendar version) was a 1998 pull from the original Pat Newman mold as a test for the eventually resculpted Calendar reissue series.

[Sir Masksalot]

I meant really vintage original finishes more than era.

This old thread of kolchak's seems to be the best place to share early collection pics of
the first Don Post masks I ever owned. It all started in the 1960s with their budget-priced
800 line, the only ones my Dad was willing to buy for me >

     

After getting my first job at the family business, I was soon spending all my hard-earned money on DP masks >



     

     

     

'Lots more to follow, check back again soon.

[Sir Masksalot]

'More of my first collection pics from the early 1970s >

     

     

     

Hey, aren't we supposed to be wearing these things?

[Doh!]

I'll play! I have the Don Post Skull from 1976 and Chewbacca from either 1977 or 78 (not sure when it was released but I got it new at the time):







I'll admit, Chewie looks a bit derpy here. Maybe I should look at getting him foam-filled before it's too late.

[Sir Masksalot]

Chewbacca from either 1977 or 78

'Fun pics, Doh. Chewbacca masks were already in stores by summer 1977. The hairwork on our early copies was superb.
DPS used at least four different fibre types on them.