Four vintage Halloween decorations are worth hundreds of pounds, Country Living reports

Country Living lists four vintage Halloween decorations collectors seek

Country Living has named four kinds of vintage Halloween decoration that can be worth hundreds of pounds, in "4 Vintage Halloween Items That Are Worth a LOT Today" (external source). Its prices are in US dollars. They are shown here in pounds, with the original in brackets, at 74.8p to the dollar.

The feature opens by saying that "there’s nothing quite like the kitsch of retro Halloween memorabilia".

Tin noisemakers and pulp lanterns

According to the feature, Charles Kirchhof, a German immigrant, founded the Kirchhof Patent Co. in Newark, New Jersey, in 1852 and entered the Halloween market in 1928 with a trademarked tin ratchet. The company went out of business in the 1960s.

According to Country Living, tambourines with black cats, devils, pumpkins and witches are valued at about £75 to £225 ($100 to $300), and horns, kazoos, clickers and clappers as much as about £280 ($375). It says rarity and condition affect the value, and that rusted items or those with missing handles are best avoided.

On pulp jack-o’-lanterns, Country Living quoted the Antiques Roadshow appraiser Leila Dunbar. She said German papier-mâché lanterns were exported to the United States from the early 1800s, and that US companies began making pulp lanterns in the 1930s. "with a candle inside, many of the masks went up in flames", she said, which is why many older pieces did not survive.

According to Country Living, intact lanterns with angry or impish expressions and their original paper inserts are valued at about £150 to £225 ($200 to $300). It says one devil lantern with its original paper mask recently sold for more than about £750 ($1,000).

Paper decorations and Steiff cats

The Pennsylvania party goods company Beistle was the most prolific maker of paper decorations in the first half of the 1900s, including honeycomb table decorations. Country Living says rare pieces, such as an intact witch and cauldron or the 1930 Devil Dancer, are valued at about £335 to £485 ($450 to $650), and later pieces from 1970 to 1980 about £7 to £37 ($10 to $50).

The feature also showed plush black cats by the German toy company Steiff. The appraiser Bene Raia of Raia Auctioneers said: "A Steiff black cat can be identified by its arched back, pink-stitched nose, whiskers, and bright green glass eyes."

It says a pair of cats shown is worth up to about £300 ($400), and that larger animals are worth more and that collecting interest peaks around Halloween. All Steiff toys had a trademark ear button, it says, and without it authenticity is hard to prove.