Halloween Feature Story

Scaring Up Some Memories Collectors are batty about vintage Halloween décor.

The Halloween decorations that dot front lawns and porches in the county have become frightfully sophisticated.

Electrified and inflatable, today's monsters, ghosts and goblins soar through the air, light up the night, shriek on cue and wave to passersby.

If all this scary technology leaves you feeling a bit nostalgic for a cardboard skeleton and a few honeycomb tissue paper pumpkins, you're not alone.

Gerard Arduino of Cedar Grove has collected Halloween memorabilia for several years and says there are thousands of baby boomers like him, searching for a piece of the past.

"About 10 years ago, there was a resurgence of the old stuff really coming back," he said. "I thought (Halloween) is really catching on again. I got into it myself then. It became a passion of mine."

Arduino is the author of "Holiday Love and Madness: Scenes from My Italian Childhood," which incorporates stories from his childhood with photos of his extensive collection of holiday decor from the era.

"I grew up in Bloomfield in the '60s and '70s. Halloween was very different then. It was safe and innocent," he said.

"For the book, I used my mom's collectibles that we kept and (more that I) acquired over the years, intertwining them with stories of the family. The collectibles were like the backdrop, the scenery (for the stories).

"(The decorations) have character. They remind everyone of their childhood. People will see them and say "I had that when I was a kid' or "I remember those.' I get all (of) that kind of feedback," he said.

Arduino has his mother to thank for his interest in collectibles and his collection. The decorations his mother handed-down make up a good portion of his collection.

"We lived in a four-family house (with several other relatives). My cousin's birthday party was always before Halloween. My mom even saved the plastic pumpkins filled with candy. She saved a lot of (decorations)."

Arduino still uses them to decorate his home for Halloween.

"As we speak, I'm looking around in my living room. There are paper decorations and those plastic light-up pumpkins. They're still around," he said.

Over the years, he has added to his collection of vintage Halloween fare and picked up a few re-creations as well.

"I don't go bid on things like a true collector," he said. "I've bought a few things I remembered my mother having and we lost."

Whether trying to recapture a simpler time or pursuing a passion, boomers such as Arduino are responsible for the surge in the rare Halloween collectibles market, he said. The rarity of such items also may explain the high prices.

"Unlike Christmas decorations of old that would be packed away carefully, regarded as family heirlooms, Halloween decorations from as early as the 1920s were generally used to decorate a themed party and then discarded without a thought," he said.

"For this reason, today, for example, an original 1930s jointed skeleton paper cutout, in mint condition, could be worth as much as $125 compared to its original price of a mere 5 cents," he said.

Some of the most sought after Halloween collectibles were made in the '20s and '30s, according to Arduino and Terry Kovel, a collectibles expert who, along with her husband Ralph Kovel, has written more than 95 books about collecting.

"At first it was the Papier mache pumpkins and witch cutouts from the '30s. They (sort of) started it," said Kovel, who also writes a syndicated newspaper column and publishes a newsletter on antiques collecting. "Anything with a pumpkin or black cat, people collect."

"The things that get the most play in regular auctions are Papier mache things from that era. I had bought them for my kids," she said. "I paid $5 for them. Now they are hard to find and worth about $200." Ceramic cookie jars and pumpkins with a hole in the bottom for a candle are popular auction items too, she said.

The Beistle Company of Shippensburg, Pa., and The Dennison Manufacturing Co., now known as Avery Dennison and based in Pasadena, Calif., produced some of the most popular collectible Halloween items.

Beistle is still in business and with the recent popularity of its vintage items, has reissued some of its holiday creations for today's buyers.

"Beistle started (with Halloween) in the 1920s," Arduino said. "Some of that stuff can cost $1,000 (now). They are made from thick, heavy cardboard and were (considered) very scary then."

In those days, he said, Halloween was considered more of an adult holiday, celebrated with parties and costumes.

"Beistle made party hats, lanterns — a bunch of things that were party-themed," Arduino added. "All of it was made in the United States and sold in 5- and 10-cent stores. I remember going to Woolworth's and buying these cutouts and Halloween costumes. You don't see that anymore."

Also in demand, according to Kovel, are items made from celluloid, an early, highly flammable, plastic.

"Celluloid items, things from the '50s. Bags used to collect candy. Anything you can think of," are a hit with collectors, Kovel said.

Old costumes, she said, also are big. Most sought after are homemade or adult costumes that have some historical value. "Homemade costumes are very popular because they are so rare. We bought a Halloween costume that was an orange and black dress with homemade black ruffle trim," Kovel said. "All over the dress are donkeys and elephants and the names of candidates, because the election is so close (to Halloween). That's the kind of thing historical societies and collectors like."

The more delicate the article, the more rare, and of course, the more valuable.

Crepe paper costumes made by hand with an instruction kit sold by Dennison are an unusual find, she said. "They had booklets that told you about what you could make for the holidays. (The crepe paper) was ruffled and stitched and made into a witch or something.

"Honeycombed decorations (are also difficult to find). That stuff is really perishable," Kovel said. "You can find them on the Internet, but your best bet is searching church sales, moving sales and neighbors emptying their attics. That's where you get your best crack at it."

Both experts agreed, condition is everything. Look for items in mint condition.

"You've got to watch the way (paper items) are put on the Internet," Arduino said. "Sometimes people will take a picture of a reproduction and sell it as the real thing. On the back it says "2004," but from the front, you can't tell. It's buyer beware. You have to know your stuff."

Feeling priced out of the Halloween collectibles market? Start your own trend, Kovel recommends.

"Think of all the special candy wrappers they've suddenly come out with for Halloween. Kids can start with that," Kovel said. "I think that the things that are the least expensive to save would be trick-or-treat bags and pumpkin-y things, such as those squishy pumpkins made of foam," Kovel said. "Those are fairly new and will probably be highly collectible. Anything you can date is a good thing to collect."