Thursday, October 30, 2014

Pumpkin Surprise

A number of companies were making blown-mold plastic decorations in the 1960's including Bayshore Plastics, Empire Plastics, Union Plastics and General Foam Plastics.  Sometimes it's hard to find information on who made what and in many cases, the same forms were used by multiple companies.  Below are a few of my examples found at garage sales over the years.


The Witch pumpkin on the left is unidentified though it's very similar to one made by Empire.  The Haystack Pumpkin lamp on the right was made by Bayshore, Empire and General Foam.

To my knowledge, the Cat Pumpkin lamp was only made by Bayshore.

Unknown manufacturer

The following blow-mold jack o' lanterns don't light up and measure about 4"x6".  I would guess they were candy containers or may have once held a light (more on that in a bit).



This last one was definitely a candy container as it still has the tag from a local now-defunct confectioner called Mavrakos.  They had the best peppermint patties.


Everyone's favorite Batgirl hold one of these pumpkins along with the bag from my first Countdown post.


This Jack O' Lantern has no openings on it and also measures about 4"x6".

Then today while I was at an estate sale during lunch, I found this one:


As you can see, this one actually has a stem which plugs the hole on top.  What's more, when you pull out the stem, it's actually a light that runs on one "C" battery.  The best surprise is what I found inside:


I believe the two on the right are candy toppers and the Jack O' Lantern is a really small candy container (or maybe just a toy).

I also found the original instructions and manufacturer, Tico-Toys.


There isn't much information on Tico-Toys, but they appear to have manufactured other Halloween candy containers as well as these awesome Monster Bike Buddies:

Image via etsy

And finally, I found these last, rattling around in the bottom of the pumpkin.  I would guess they are hors d'oeuvre toothpicks.





And finally, some larger blow molds I found some years back.


You can view some other Halloween pieces by Empire here.

2 comments:

  1. Those are some good looking finds. Excellent collection you have there.

    ReplyDelete