Vintage Halloween Collectibles Research (1900-1979)

Retro Fab Halloween: Wonder what great references exist for the vintage collectibles of Dennison's vintage ephemera? I often find it's best to look back at some of the original material of the era, and collectors are lucky that Dennison produced a ton of promotional material we can use today as primary sources.  Yes, in it's day, Dennison publishes a long string of annual Halloween-devoted books to help sell their products - from the  Bogie Book  of the 1910-1920's, to the later 1920's Halloween-themed editions of  Parties and Party Magazine , to the somewhat strained hurrahs in the 1930's with seasonal titles like The Halloween Book  (see Dennison Halloween Number) . And the company kept active well into the mid-century and beyond. However, for collectible guidebook  The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 2  a cut-off date was necessary to fit contents of an 11"x17" fold-out poster: "Dennison's Halloween 1909-1935 Autumn Publications & Serial ...

Decoding Vintage Serial Numbers: Vintage Halloween products are full of unsolved mysteries, even for those of us who examine all the data in this era's survey books as made available to collectors. This is one reason The Halloween Retrospect publications take a different approach, rather than repeating second-hand sources but instead dig into marks and clues heretofore unexplained, finding answers through research methods. One of the ongoing mysteries THR feels needed solving, is appearances of the cryptic serial number that visibly codes Dennison publications for many decades (see third image below). And just look at all these publications for Halloween alone (directly above and below) with Bogie Book , Parties and Party Magazine for autumn, and all those additional prices lists and pamphlets! Shouldn't we know more about  what makes them rare, rather than coincidental sightings (whether in antique shops, flea markets and yard sales, used bookstores, etc.)? Collage of...

The Halloween Retrospect: It sounds a bit funny to say, particularly for those who think Halloween is anything but normal  - but in this instance it's a bit of word play on a meaning few use these days, when a "normal school or normal college [was] an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum." ( wikipeida ). So, circling back to that title, Normal Halloween , this is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a time when vintage Halloween products (fun and spooky) abounded in the pages of the vintage catalogs that supplied those instructors.  Get the classroom ready for Hallowe'en, The Bogie Book. (1926) There is more to read about such things in a blog entry titled  Bogie Book Ad, 1926 on The Halloween Retrospect website. Yet for a full perspective see “Normal Halloween: Holiday Novelties & Early Twentieth Century Youth” in the printed book ( via Etsy checkout ). The article discusses vintage Halloween products availabl...

Sane Halloween Observer As a tip to new collectors, when able, consider this --- introduce yourself to certain items from a collector's stash  before  bidding and/or spending the big bucks on true vintage. If you don't have a local collector at hand, then looking around the market may offer other options: an antique store, an annual holiday/antique show, or an online venue. From personal experience, I madly craved  celluloids  for the amazing details; however, once I held (directly from a collector's shelf) these small objects with their seemingly light, fragile and generally dissatisfying material my yearning was tempered. I'm now content admiring most celluloid collectibles in photographs until the right opportunity. Dennison's Bogie Book 11th Ed. (1923) One collectable series (shown above) that offers an option for pre-collecting observation is the 1910's-1920's  Dennison's Bogie Book ( holiday idea booklets showcasing the manufacturer's p...