Monday—April 28th, 2008

   ANNOUNCEMENT: Halloween folk artist Greg Guedel has canceled his web sale originally to be held on April 30th. The sale has been rescheduled for Saturday, May 24th. Click here or on the photo below to go to Greg’s site for more info.

Monday—April 14th, 2008

   ANNOUNCEMENT: Halloween folk artist Johanna Parker, will be having a websale on Sunday April 20th beginning at 2pm MST. Photos of the pieces available will be uploaded to her website at the beginning of the sale. Items can be purchased by either calling or emailing Johanna during the sale. Click on the photo below to go to the websale page.

Sunday—April 13th, 2008

   While browsing the web, I ran across this previously unknown site selling vintage Halloween style T-shirts designed by Richard Miller of Spookshows.com. There are new shirts that I haven’t seen before and they are quite awesome! I want to buy practically every single one! You can check them out here.

Thursday—April 3rd, 2008

   SITE UPDATE: Happy April everyone! I have made a few updates to the site including some minor changes to the Die Cuts page, as well as adding some new photos and information to the Silver Age Die Cuts page. Well, I guess spring is rolling along. Hope everyone is having a good one so far!

Saturday—March 29th, 2008

   UNSCRUPULOUS EBAY SELLER: Normally I try to reserve this blog for positive things, but all week I have been bugged by something and I can hold my tongue no longer…

   The seller ‘oldicemen’ on eBay currently has an auction open (at the time of writing) for a supposedly vintage German devil candy container. Any seasoned collector knows that these items currently being sold from Germany are in fact reproductions and were probably made last week. Normally these items get no to very few bids which is as it should be. Unfortunately that is not the case this time. For one reason only: This lying creep of a seller actually has the gall to use Mark Ledenbach’s name in the auction description implying that not only is Mark his friend, but that the item was personally examined by Mark and given his stamp of approval. This is NOT true! It is a blatant lie, fabricated to fool novice collectors into bidding. Worse, the ruse seems to be working. As someone who genuinely is friends with Mark Ledenbach this makes me angry. Very angry. I don’t like it when people abuse my friends. This is out and out fraud and an affront to Mark’s good name and reputation. I pity the poor soul who wins this item only to find out down the road that it is a fake. Not to mention that when compared to authentic German candy containers it’s easy to see that this item lacks any personality. One potential bidder even asks outright in a question if the seller means Mark Ledenbach author of Vintage Halloween Collectibles wanting to know because he is a novice collector.(who obviously values Mark’s opinion) —to which the seller replies ‘yes’. That’s right oldicemen…destroy this person’s faith in what should be a fun and fullfilling hobby. I hope you’re forced to use the money you get from this sale to remove a boil from your butt.

   Also frustrating is the fact that eBay's system is set up in such a way that it is extremely hard to blow the whistle on sellers like this. There is no way to warn bidders of the seller's fraudulent claims. The item can be viewed here for the next 90 days or so until the page is removed from eBay. I feel better having gotten this off my chest.

Friday—March 28th, 2008

   I recently found this interesting witch head die cut on eBay. It is part of a series of seven or eight designs that are usually printed as small 5"x5" pieces. This particular one is quite large measuring 11"x11" or so. While I have always liked the die cuts from this set, the manufacturer and date of origin remain something of a mystery. I have heard these attributed to Dennison, but that doesn't seem quite right to me. I can find no manufacturers mark on the small ones I have and Dennison usually marked their products. Nor can I find any reference to these in any of my books on Halloween collectibles. I estimate that they are most likely from the mid to late 1960s. Perhaps we will never know. I really like the strong graphics and bold colors used in these decorations.

Sunday—March 9th, 2008

   I have always thought those 3D Stereograms were really cool. While it can be a bit of a challenge to learn how to master “seeing” them, once you do, it becomes almost laughably easy, thus providing hours of fun. Leave it to me to find a Halloween Stereogram on the web! Can you see the JOL rising up out of the fall leaves? Maybe it's the Great Pumpkin…

Thursday — March 6th, 2008

   It’s happening again...the mysterious occurence which I have decided to dub the “Mushroom Effect” (sounds like a sci-fi movie). That seemingly strange phenomenon when a very rare Halloween item suddenly starts popping up repeatedly on eBay in a very short span of time. I discussed this in a past blog entry. This time it’s the rarely seen three-paneled German die cut Fireplace Screen—an item which hardly ever comes up in normal circumstances. There have been three of these in just the last two weeks. Oddly enough, two have come from Baltimore albeit from different sellers. I wonder what item will be next up for the M-Effect.

   On an unrelated note, I have also made some photo updates to the Vintage Lanterns page.

Wednesday — March 5th, 2008

   I’M BACK! Just like good ole Arnold...Well, another new year has begun and here we are again at the start of another cycle leading up to that big far-off day in October.

   I hope everyone had a wonderful winter, and that 2008 has been a good year so far. My Halloween “mojo” really came out of hibernation with a vengeance this year! It didn't just wake up lazily and yawn...it jumped out of bed like it had already had ten cups of coffee...on or about March first. That said, I have begun to update not only this blog again, but have already made some major changes to the website itself. There are new pictures on the Folk Art page, showing some different pieces. I've also added some Dennison die cuts to the Golden Age Die Cuts page, which also includes an entirely new section devoted to Gibson products. I felt that was an addition that needed to be made...So, welcome back everyone and enjoy! The blog should now be regularly updated through early November.