The Severed Lantern
Sane Halloween Observer
Case of the Mutilated Heirloom or Tear up the Panes! Here, Here!
Mystery One:
We are probably still some hundreds of years (one hopes) before bits of vintage Halloween are treated like pottery sherds and bone fragments. There are enough (and more showing up all the time) intact versions of these mass-produced items that there is simply no need for anyone to be out in the field panning for fool's gold... and yet, here we are...
The story begins that in April 2020 the following lot was purchased at the incredible bargain price of $33:
Halloween lot of mixed-date items as sold for $33 to re-seller.
(Not to scale. Candlesticks removed from images).
If you notice, tucked away in the back, is a lantern described in rough condition, but given that the great skeletons were described in ok condition this lantern doesn't look too rough and seems at least intact when we zoom into the image. Note - the owl pane with latch and hinge is a small inset of the larger frame, allowing this design to open and close.
(Before:) Vintage Halloween Lantern
Surely, resold in the rough without intervention would have been welcome by innumerable collectors, and as more valuable, and perhaps even repairable? We may never know what prompted such extreme action - but the state of the lantern now - is as scraps with parts now missing for example the latch (as seen in the image above) and for sale as five different listings. Do you suppose any of these newer listings will be called out by said guide writer, when it has never proven so in past?
(After:) Remaining pieces of what was, until recently, more complete.
Mystery Two:
In one camp there is a very staunch belief, and no one will tell them otherwise, that WWII basically wiped out all paper product imports of such imagery, once and for all. At least one vocal (and often belligerent) guide writer is in this camp - and therefore others without evidence follow in that belief. This camp basically tends to lump all German diecuts to even earlier dates under the 1920's umbrella, or ever-mysterious one-season sale in Canada. What year was that exactly to have produced such one-time abundance?
The other camp has been assessing new information from the past (both here and abroad) and challenging standard assumptions. Yes, there were German diecuts before WWII (see Timeline for Witches) but there is also very reliable information now that some German diecuts were being manufactured and sold well into the fifties, sixties and seventies as has been seen in this blog for the last few years (despite the scorn that comes from the previously mentioned camp).
See earlier entries holding just some of the catalogs with diecut items from relatively recent times:
Halloween in Germany (1955)
Ornamenten Groteske (1960)
Dead Skeletons (1974)
Halloween lot of mixed-date items:
perhaps contemporaries of one another?
We've got a real mix here. Camp One would have us believe we have some 1920s skeletons with a similarly dated lantern all from Germany, and then a collection of mid-century U.S. items say 1940s to more recent. It's plausible, and perhaps why so many believe this with little facts offered by those who would be guides. Camp Two though might look at this and say, yes, we have some items made in the U.S., and we can agree on this as documented in English language catalogs, however. as for the German items, information (in German language catalogs) is telling us a much broader story of dates and the retail market of the past.
Narrenfibel 1955
Narrenfibel 1974
As per the blog entries above, we have since seen that press-pulp painted diecuts were being sold in West Germany as seen in catalogs from 1955 to 1976. The skeleton is there, as are many other supposedly super-rare pieces from that 1920's, one-season in Canada lot. But now add a new clue. The skeletons (as per the description of the original $33 sale) and the lantern (as seen in the image below) are both stamped with a post WWII identifier: "Made in Germany, USSR occupied."
German skeletons marked Made in Germany USSR occupied.
Lantern panel detail of internal stamp:
Made in Germany, USSR Occupied.
Collectors of other items, like cameras, tell us: USSR Occupied Germany remained the official term for East Germany in West Germany into the sixties to early seventies ("OCCUPIED GERMANY" Engraved Cameras). And as you will see below this is true of these goods sold in the United States. So it does NOT correlate to just four years 1945-1949 before the GDR (1949-1990). That the occupied moniker was used for so many decades, this syncs with the fact we have catalogs from West Germany selling goods, like the skeletons (1955 to 1976) that are appearing with this mark, together with the fact that we know paper manufacturing was still thriving in parts of East Germany, see Ghost Cellar Jazz (1965). Need more proof? Check out the U.S. court record below when, around 1959, violin importers were illegally removing "Germany/USSR Occupied" labels to replace with "Made in Germany."
- In the Supreme Court of the U.S., October Term 1959: Notice the date of 1959! Do a search through this with derivatives of this text string "Made in Germany USSR Occupied" for an interesting read full of intrigue having to do with removal of labels from imported violins.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/2qA7gDyNGxAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Germany%20USSR%20Occupied%22
- Federal Trade Commission Findings, Opinions, & Orders 1963: And here we are in 1963. Another matter at issue with Praktica cameras that may not have been clearly marked with required Germany USSR Occupied designations.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/pDitesIxPMgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=USSR%20OCcupied
- Soviet occupation zone: "Soviet zone" and derivatives (or also, "the so-called GDR") remained official and common names for East Germany in West Germany, which refused to acknowledge the existence of a state in East Germany until 1972...."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_occupation_zone
Examine that lantern again...
It is most definitely NOT from the 1920's (as the reseller AND guide writer would have us believe) nor is it probable it came from a narrow window of four years 1945-49; it is instead more likely, based on all the evidence, sold after WWII up through the 50's, 60's, and perhaps 70's. Of course complicating this story is that there is evidence of reproductions of this lantern - so we really need to be cautious in dating this item - but does that mean we fall back to the 1920's rather than look at the cold-war market reality that came later...?
Vintage Halloween Lantern
(Made in Germany USSR Occupied)
Another quality of this lantern - its depth. Compared to some very old diectus it has less detail in the embossing, but more than a modern reproduction. Is it possible less depth and detail in certain diecuts is yet another clue to age? Some of the designs that are perceptibly flatter are some of the very same we see in the catalogs from 1955 to 1976. The skeletons, for example, don't use deep embossing for detail but rely more on the inking. And we do see in U.S. produced embossing that diecuts suffer a loss of depth over the lifespan of their production. Could this be happening here? Could it be this is not as old as we think, and if so, does it lessen the tragedy that this lantern was snipped to bits for some quick cash?
So, do you have any more clues to offer or, better yet, some answers to the mysteries that surround the severed lantern?
***
05/17 UPDATE: Sadly one winning bidder, perhaps unaware (?) to the nature of their purchases, was determined to win all lantern scraps at $378.50. The recommended re-seller (at no time editing the listings) and guide writer (at no time alerting readers of issues) were fine letting this play out in the collectible market. If there is ever proof that certain vanguards of collectibles information are not stewards for all vintage Halloween collectors, this is that week.