Halloween rarities are prized treats in Morphy’s Sept. 11 auction
Illuminating Halloween papier-mache lantern shaped as a grinning foot with comical faces on each toe, 7½ inches tall, estimate $2,500-$3,500. Dan Morphy Auctions image.
DENVER, Pa. – Ask any collector of Halloween, Christmas or other seasonal antiques and they’ll tell you that every day should be celebrated like a holiday, whether the calendar says so or not. On September 11th, Morphy Auctions will offer collectors 890 reasons to celebrate in a fantastic Holiday Auction featuring rarities from several renowned specialty collections. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide the Internet live bidding.
The first 42 lots in the sale are from a wonderful collection of Halloween candy containers and lanterns assembled over the last 20 years by Connie and Jay Lowe of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The rare, early German-made items in this collection are of superior quality and are completely fresh to the market.
“Having the opportunity to acquire pieces from a collection as fine as Jay and Connie’s does not come along very often,” said Morphy’s CEO, Dan Morphy. “There are so many highlights, it’s hard to predict which ones will do best on auction day.”
Surely the list of top lots would include: a whimsical foot-shape lantern with a great face and painted faces on five toes, a veggie man posing on a cucumber candy container, veggie and fruit male/female candy containers, and veggie Halloween man with moveable glass eyes and radish arms – possibly the only known example. Other stellar lots from the Lowe collection include a veggie man with a removable candle candy container on top of his head; and an apple head with bobbing-tongue candy container.
Other outstanding Halloween collections were the sources for a rare set of celluloid Halloween nodders, mint with original box; and a delightful black man riding a pig candy container. The entire Halloween section for the sale is filled with hundreds of other lanterns, candy containers and die-cuts.
A beautiful selection of Christmas antiques includes many special pieces, such as a Santa candy container and clockwork nodder, a clockwork Santa and bear family set in a winter scene, Santa on an elephant nodder, and a polar bear.
The acclaimed Bob Lenz collection is represented by hundreds of glass ornaments (including kugels and free-blown glass examples), Japanese and German Santas, celluloid Santas, chocolate molds, and German and Russian Dresdens. Among the rarest of the Dresden designs are a Russian troika (sleigh pulled by three horses) and a battleship with four smokestacks.
The auction inventory also includes a marvelous array of Easter, Thanksgiving and patriotic holiday items from fresh to the market collections.
This auction is all treats, no tricks – and online bidding is easy through LiveAuctioneers.com.
For additional information on any lot in the sale, call 717-335-3435 or e-mail dan@morphyauctions.com.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Halloween veggie man candy container with bobby’s hat, 9½ inches tall, estimate $3,000-$5,000. Dan Morphy Auctions image. Halloween veggie man with movable glass eyes, 17½ inches tall, possibly the only known example, estimate $10,000-$20,000. Dan Morphy Auctions image. Rare Christmas candy container of Santa holding fir tree and carrying basket of ornaments, 15 inches tall, estimate $3,000-$5,000. Dan Morphy Auctions image. Dresden Christmas ornament replicating a battleship with four smokestacks, highly detailed, estimate $4,000-$6,000. Dan Morphy Auctions image.
