October is not just the start of "Spooky Season", it's also the start of blow mold season! Like me, you may have fond childhood memories of these lighted plastic pieces glowing in windows and yards during the holidays. Halloween and Christmas are by far the most popular holidays for blow molds, but you can also find Easter, Thanksgiving, even the Fourth of July.

The blow mold process is similar to that of glass blowing. The first plastic blow molding machine was developed by Enoch Ferngren and William Kopitke, two inventors who sold the equipment and patent to the Hartford Empire Company in 1938. Blow molds started gaining popularity in the 1940s, and have been produced

ever since. 

 

Here are a few of my favorite Halloween blow molds 

 

 

Like many collectibles, older designs can be harder to find, and it seems that prices have risen significantly in the last few years. There are multiple clues to look for when determining your blow mold's age. Many blow molds are marked on the bottom with a company and even a year. More common brands found in our area include Empire, Union Products, General Foam Plastics Corp, and Bayshore. If a blow mold has a barcode, it was likely made in the 1970s or later. The light cord can't always be used as a dating clue as those are easily replaceable and available for purchase at stores like Walmart or Michaels. 

This website is a great resource for dating your blow molds: https://blow-molded.com/

New blow molds can still be found today at stores like Lowes and Ace Hardware.

~ Mallory ~  

 

Mallory's instragram is Secondhandchic_pgh and you can follow her here https://bit.ly/3QvcwWi , between blog posts.  She also makes some of her finds available for sale, check out those offerings on https://linktr.ee/Secondhandchic    

 

Check out the weekly estate sales at  -  PittsburghEstateSales.com