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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   The joys - and variety - of Halloween collecting    List Brenda McNeilly Next   Halloween collector loves the season By Brenda McNeilly They are the Ghosts of Halloweens Past.   Paper mache jack ‘o lanterns with expressions frozen in eerie mid-howl; composition candy containers in dark and fantastical shapes; embossed die-cuts; weird and wonderful veggie figures and glorious crepe panels of orange and black.   I can't tell you why I love Halloween the way I do, only that I always have. I remember row-upon-row of Gurley Halloween Candles in the local Woolworth’s, and the Dennison die-cut witch, JOL and skeleton that mom brought out and hung on the wall each October.   I remember the smell of the inside of my old plastic Halloween masks, pumpkins toasting, and the exquisite perfume of crisp fall leaves on those rare few days when it filled the October air. Oh yes, and the halcyon sugar haze of a trick or treat bag overflowing with peanuts, chocolate, gum, apples and sugary goodness! These are smells like no others.   I can tell you, that even as Halloween is a very social holiday, it's an introspective and personal thing for me that usually “happens” some time before Halloween proper. It will take place on some quiet, solitary evening while walking home under lonely street lights, listening to the whirring of fall leaves as they skim across the sidewalk, and spotting the pumpkins on steps, waiting patiently to be carved and lit to welcome trick-or-treaters on Halloween.   For years I collected what I could in Canada, die-cuts, the (very) occasional American made pulp jack o’lantern from an antique show, ceramic pieces and paper decorations. The Halloween market in Canada was lean compared to the U.S. I practically slept with Stuart Schneider’s book, ‘Halloween in America’, on my pillow. Others on the subject followed, and I bought them all, the Campanelli book, several books by Pamela Apkarian-Russell. I coveted the pictures of things I dreamed of, but thought I could never have.   Then I discovered eBay.   eBay was my gateway to finding the museum-quality Halloween collectibles I'd seen, and only dreamed of owning, in the pages of Schneider’s book, and in the Martha Stewart article credited with ‘starting the vintage Halloween craze'. I was able to acquire some of the actual pieces that had thrilled me in the best-known books on Halloween collectibles, in some cases, from the authors themselves. I have never tried to collect everything, amass the biggest collection, or even buy multiples. I've collected pieces that I love, pieces that thrill me, and every year I bring them out.   It's an October ritual in my house, unpacking and taking out these ‘old friends’. I love their imperfections. I am very aware that somebody from the late 1800s to the 1950s loved these pieces enough to take special care of them and I respect that. One piece that I have a soft spot for is an American paper mache JOL. It's not particularly rare or mint, but it does have a small child’s writing on the bottom that reads “for mommy”. I imagine the lives that swirled around these nostalgic pieces of North American history and wonder what those people were like and what they dressed up as for Halloween. Are they still alive today?   I consider myself the temporary custodian of these pieces, and as such I am happy to share my collection with you. I've chosen some of the most interesting pieces. Not necessarily the most valuable, but pieces I love the best. Also since the Wayback Times featured my collection in their Out to Lunch column two Octobers ago, I've made a point of showing different or newly acquired items.   Composition Veggie Man Candy Container, Germany, ca 1920   One of my favourites is a 9” tall German made composition veggie pumpkin headed man, with a tiny “mini me” on top. His head removes to reveal a candy container within. He's kind of like a Halloween “Hop on Pop” concept piece if you grew up on Dr. Seuss like I did.     Winged Devil Bat Diecut, Germany, 1935   One of my rarest pieces is a large embossed German Devil-Bat die cut. My friend, author, fellow-collector and the leading authority on vintage Halloween today, Mark Ledenbach (halloweencollector.com), explained “It is exceedingly rare, made for only one year, 1935. Many of the diecuts made around 1935 were much more exotic and were sent only to Canada.” Mark estimates the value of a restored one at $3,000. Yikes. I picked this up at a Christie Antiques show for $150 after artist Matthew Kirscht told me this was the piece that influenced his Halloween art more than any other. Sold.   Full-Bodied Pulp Cat Lantern, American, ca 1940   Styled in egg-carton pulp, which funnily enough was intended to be illuminated with a candle (!) these cats are very rare and seldom found without damage.   Burley Winter Stoneware JOL, American, 1925   The Burley & Winter art pottery company produced 2 now-rare Halloween items in my collection. One is a large orange JOL with lid, which came with 3 iron chains and a hook, from which it was hung from a porch or tree. The lid removed to insert a candle. Imagine the effect at night! The second was a smaller JOL with candle opening at the bottom, on a pedestal base.   German Accordion Bottom JOL, Germany, 1910   This is a sizable piece at 8” tall without accordion. Again, the accordion bottom unfolds to reveal, you guessed it, a candle holder in the centre at the bottom. Needless to say, most paper mache and composition lanterns failed to survive and went up in flames, contributing to the rarity of surviving pieces.   The Ghosts of Halloweens Yet to Come There is a new generation of Halloween folk artists. Inspired by German and American vintage pieces, each adds their own unique fingerprint. They are leading a renaissance of the Halloween art genre, and creating the future collectibles of Halloween.   The high watermark is artist Matthew Kirscht (shiverbones.com/matthewkirscht/). Matthew hails from New Orleans, Louisiana, grew up on horror comics and was profoundly influenced by vintage Halloween. His masterwork is the “Hellfire Lantern”. I've long thought the Beistle Company should get wise, hire Matthew, and put themselves back on the Halloween map, as they were in the golden age of Halloween in the roaring 20s.   Lori Rudolph of Oshawa, Ontario, creates dark and crazy composition figures of an extremely high quality (retrorudolphs.blogspot.com/).   Christopher Klingler creates Halloween art that is almost mathematical in its precision and geometry (designsbyck.com/).   Junkerjane crafts amazing monsters, witches, ghouls and voodoo dolls out of pre-loved fabrics and buttons (junkerjane.blogspot.com/). So as the torch of Halloween is passed from one generation to the next, ask yourself, what tradition will you carry on, what new one will you start? And which of these talented modern Halloween artisans will be featured on the pages of “Halloween Collectibles, 2050” as the seminal Halloween art influences of their time?     Return to top of page   This Is Publishing © 2011 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster