Tips and Online Resources for Collecting Vintage Halloween Items

Whether you are an experienced collector looking for a new niche or a novice just beginning a fascinating hobby, vintage Halloween items of all kinds represent a great collecting opportunity.

You can start small with a tiny investment and broaden your collection as you go.More importantly, you can choose from hundreds of different kinds of items from masks and postcards to noisemakers, costumes, jewelry,decorations, statuettes,  table decor, paintings, books, and more. There is so much to choose from, you are bound to find something that piques the collector in you,

The best thing to do is to learn by doing. Seek out and buy a few Halloween goodies. You will soon discover what appeals to you. Read books, talk to dealers and established collectors.  Read up online and soon you will be immersed in the fun of Halloween all year round.

Halloween has been celebrated both in North America and the British Isles for centuries. You can read more about the history here. The holiday really became commercialized and popular in America in the 19th century. It is easy to find old postcards, posters, noisemakers and costumes and decorations from this era on to the present day. A collection is simple,inexpensive and fun to start.

As with most collecting, rarity and condition set the price. Thus the older the item, the more likely it is to be rare, and the more pristine the condition of the item( whether old or new) the more it is worth in dollars and cents. Start by checking out your own attic and garage. You never know what you will find there-- possibly you already own the basis for a great collection.

Check out yard sales, rummage sales, and at local flea markets too.You can learn a lot about Halloween history and the history of Halloween collectibles in general while you are putting together your own targeted collection. Later you can go on to rarer and more expensive items.Talk to dealers-- they love to chat and pick up any books you find on the subject that might help you.

Whatever you choose to collect, remember that condition and rarity are the biggest factors in determining price. It is easy to be fooled by restorations and duplications so be careful. You'll find some good books available from Amazon to help you. You can order them below-- and there is plenty of information available online as well.

An obvious place to start is ebay.com . You can learn a lot by browsing both current and completed listings for " Halloween collectibles".By the way, if you find some Halloween goodies in your attic or garage, you can easily check their value by looking them up on ebay to see what similar things are selling for there. But ebay is far from the only game in town. Bonanza.com is the new hot auction site. Check it out too.

Here are a few more sites that I would also recommend, especally for the neophyte collector.

Old Postcards. com is a wonderful place to find vintage Halloween postcards. It is also an excellent place to check prices-- the prices here are always fair and the descriptions and photos up to sruff. You can buy here with confidence.

Etsy is a fabulous place to look for vintage Halloween jewelry and even recent handmade items that will one day qualify as vintage

Vintage Halloween is another useful site for collectors. It has a shop where you can buy all sorts of vintage items plus a fabulous blog. It's a great place to browse.

The Halloween Collector This is a serious site for the serious collector of Halloween memorabilia. It is full of terrific information and also offers some items for sale-- mostly at the higher end. It is definitely a site to spend some time on. Take a look at the very informative blog as well.

While you can start your collection without much of an investment, you should know that rare and desirable items, such as late nineteenth century candy dishes, constumes, and statuary can command hefty prices.  At a recent auction, a vintage Halloween lantern in the shape of a human foot which was expected to bring two or three thousand dollars, sold for  $10,350-- not exactly chickenfeed.  The more you learn, the more fun you will have and the more lucrative your collection may potentially be.  There is a certain pleasure is knowing that your collection is growing in value, but the real joy is not in how many dollars your Vintage Halloween collection is worth.  The real joy comes from the fun of collecting itself. So Happy Halloween, and if vintage Halloween memorabilia is your thing-- happy collecting all year round.