Vintage Halloween Collectibles Research (1900-1979)

Halloween Collector Guides THR - a year in review As of late June 2024 (almost a year since the first book) there will be  three volumes  of The Halloween Retrospect  ( and a new art survey book added below as of September ) for the Halloween collector to add to their shelf of vintage references supporting that collection of visual survey books. THR is full of informative research articles that focus on certain market items as seen in the pages of various primary sources (mainly ~550 catalogs of consumer/vendor materials 1900-1979) and other archive materials across the United States (such as Framingham History Center for THR, V2 or Hallmark Archives for THR, V3 ). Guidebooks for the vintage Halloween collector with a focus on vintage research through vintage sources. If you are just now encountering The Halloween Retrospect archive library and its in-house publishing, please see the Home page (for introduction and a list of numerous blog entries) or check out variou...

Hallmark Vintage Halloween Collectibles Part 3: 1970's As with  Hallmark Halloween Part 1: 1950’s  and  Hallmark Halloween Part 2: 1960’s  the final entry considering the history of vintage Halloween collectibles by Hallmark (Ambassador, etc.) comes to a close with  Hallmark Halloween Part 3: 1970’s   All entries are part of a study by the archive librarian to get a better grasp on assembly, honeycomb, and pop-ups pieces created by Hallmark Cards, Inc. (1950-1980). This is all in regards to a research article (on a different topic of The THR, V3 to appear in THR’s bookstore ). As with  “Decrypting Dennison: Serial Number Guide Featuring Autumn Publications” (THR, V2) , this entry into "later years" is pursued to exhaustively verify changes over the decades. Shown here (and above) are details from a pop-up book  A Visit to a Haunted House (1972) by Hallmark.

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 ...

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...

Catalog Books & Archives: The archivist/librarian has been on a two-week excursion visiting museums, but is back now to catch up on a couple of recent entries over at The Halloween Retrospect concerning various archives and books that are available to people researching the vintage markets. Vintage Halloween Catalog Book First, I wanted to recommend to anyone who is really starting to dig more deeply into the actual data of vintage Halloween collectibles, this 2003 publication by Ben Truwe The Halloween Catalog Collection: 55 Catalogs from the Golden Age of Halloween . It's chockablock full of pages from vintage Halloween catalogs ranging in years circa 1900-1979 - and there is more about this book and author in the blog over at The Halloween Retrospect: see Truwe's Catalog Book .  While previously available in both book and compact disc, it sadly appears it is out-of-print in all past formats. The only manner of finding a copy currently is trying to find one in the overhe...

The Halloween Retrospect: Looking for a way to show this poster insert, a 1926 advertisement, that comes with The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 1 , a remnant from the interior of a vintage weather forecaster came to mind. Yes, the poster is real, it's just the interior here that is conjured - a tongue-in-cheek take on websites with those oh-so modern interiors advertising fine art.  March's Halloween Page (1926) as a poster in a haunted house. There is more to read about such things in a blog entry titled 1926 Halloween Poster  on The Halloween Retrospect website, that includes a bit of information on the tools that were used to re-create this advertisement as a poster print, as well some more images of those fun weather forecasters. Vintage remnant of The Weatherman Jr. And for those interested in purchasing a copy of The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 1 , the listing is currently active on Etsy . I thank you too for buying on that platform, as this allows me to inspect eac...

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...

The Halloween Retrospect: A new chapter here at The Sane Halloween Observer is ready! If you slogged through the last entry ( What Next? ) you read the news that this blog will move toward support of recent project  The Halloween Retrospect  archive library, for subject matter that very much aligns with that already found here. In fact, not only did some blog content originate here to be expanded upon in print, there's most likely a tidbit or two in way of interesting facts, items, or images left out of print that will instead find there way here.  The author has finally ordered a small initiating batch from the printer, and these should go on sale during the shortening days of summer as we head into the 2023 fall season! Keep an eye on the THR website, particularly the  Publications page, or to learn more about The Halloween Retrospect here's the About page. ( Update : available now as of July 26th ). Cover art for The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 1 by Bindlegrim ...

Sane Halloween Observer: If the date on the back-end of this editor is believed, this draft began in the first half of the year 2021. At that time, it didn’t seem too distant from the previous entry of May 2020 yet this publishes nearly three years later! While conspicuously quiet on the front-end of the blog, it is not due this author’s decreased attention concerning vintage Halloween collectibles. In fact, I have been busy developing a different approach on the topic, directed less on updates/entries via the internet but to instead pursue a more traditional and satisfying reunion with the tactile world.  2019-2022 Beginning in autumn 2018, I returned to university studies, coinciding with dwindling entries in 2019, for who could possibly write one additional word between the constant discourse and papers required from a degree. In those educational pursuits, (cued from my multi-mixed media background in art, design, web development and database interactivity), I delved into a con...

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...