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, Volume 2: NEW! Volume 2 of The Halloween Retrospect is anticipated for release December 2023! Content for the return of THR book series for vintage Halloween collectors is complete, and the author is finishing up the final steps toward offering the new book together with poster and timeline card inserts. Availability will be announced on the THR website in the near future.  In the new edition, the library’s archivist is excited to announce a feature article working with an incredible archive of material located at  Framingham History Center . In that very town of Massachusetts, home to Dennison's historic operations, the archive houses a treasure trove of company material (that were gifted back to the organization from Avery). The resulting article (with THR’s typical detail) discusses the mysteries surrounding Dennison’s long line of autumn-themed publications (with some amazing revelations provided by documents of the archive). And all of this ties...

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 Like a bit of everything these days, a collectibles onlooker might wonder if second-hand markets are touched by the effects of social (dis)information, as we find ourselves led  down the garden path  toward curious acquisitions.  (Other entries discussing the jumbled landscape of assumption, visibility, and resale include: Bloody Paper Cuts ,  Time Capsule Ghosts ,  Yesterday's Prices at Today's Auctions ,  Diecut Bubble? ,  Diecut Bubble 2 , as well as entry one which outlined issues of market engineering -  Sane Halloween Observers ). While the activity of resale itself is not in question, we are however in an era when experts and promoters tossed out the conflict-of-interest rulebook to instead shake hands with sellers (not always with examination of wares) at the crossroads. Overall result - altered, improperly dated, and mis-identified items reaching escalated prices without censure. Example ...

Sane Halloween Observer As more and more vintage Halloween (the stuff no one was said to have retained) continues to crawl out of the woodwork, there have been haunting miscalculations of authenticity of paper items during the past few years, and the 2018 season is sadly no different The problem seems to be a continuing knowledge gap about what a diecut actually is, and how to spot either fakes and/or altered pieces. And this season was again proof that  as a buyer  you need some good initial knowledge of true vintage (in any medium) as apparently both field expert and recommended seller prove that nobody is perfect. As a subject introduction, I would point you to an earlier entry that introduces the concept and process of the diecut:  Halloween Diecut Quiz . While in the entry that follows here, I will show you examples of true diecuts. I trust that once you know how to spot true paper, you should in theory be able to recognize the opposite. In our first occ...

Sane Halloween Observer Does excluding the knowledge of other fields in turn affect our current understanding of certain vintage collectibles? I would attest that while each of us may have familiarity to large catalogues of past imagery (for example vintage decor images by Beistle, Dennison, Gibson, etc.), we should also ask if we (myself included) fully understand the historical context of their appearance. For example, do we know the full extent of design processes, merchandise production, and business operations ---- all of which are extremely important to properly assess time-capsule discoveries of Halloween items. If we ignore external and/or related variables we might create a powerful but incorrect interpretation. Just to play devil's advocate (with  no reference to current listings ) what follows  is historical fiction  that assumes  minimal  yet practical knowledge of the past employees of Gibson and Dennison. Note that  photo...