Remember when candy would come in fun little spooky cool plastic containers at drug or convenience stores, even when it wasn't Halloween? The Mr. Bones red plastic coffin? Or this mummy sarcophagus?
This one still has it's candy: cobras, skulls, and my favorite design is the vampire emerging from his coffin (nearest to bottom).
I bought this from a very interesting 'estate' sale.
I happened to be perusing the antique section of Craiglist as I do on a very frequent basis and saw a new ad pop up "All must go!". There were just a few photos but it was clear the owner was a collector and a hoarder. The sale was being run by appointments and I happen to be the first one to call! I asked a gal pal to tag along because Mr. Husband would still be at work. I thought my friend would get a kick out of going on a vintage scrounging adventure but I also didn't want to be alone for safety reasons. The owner of the vast accumulations was a 70 year old man, Ron, who lived in a huge two story house, every room nearly full to the ceiling. His primary collection was Coca~Cola stuff which I have zero interest in but that was certainly not what he was limited to. There were 1980s toys, mid-century Christmas, antique apothecary items, 70s clothing, rare and highly collectible ceramics, billions of old post cards, various true antiques (ex: an early 1900s refrigerator), so much stuff packed everywhere in teetering boxes and piles. There was a weird people dynamic going on in this home amongst all of the visual clutter too. The owner had a friend helping him, Joe, that was younger than me, but apparently they have been friends for quite awhile, both collecting Cola~Cola stuff. The other people in/around the house I found out were squatting there not paying rent for the guest house on the property and looked quite shady. I think it may have been his son but stories I was being told were all very...odd. We learned Ron's wife had been a pharmacist, Joe had a PhD in chemical engineering and he had his own house built as a 1920 replica along with being outfitted in period antiques. We learned that Ron had been taken advantage of by a local antique dealer and was never paid for the things that were selected and taken. We rummaged for about a hour and a half while Joe escorted us around since Ron had mobility issues. Joe was also there to help with price quoting because Ron's suggestions over rivaled even those of ebay. The house was just so full and overwhelming I can't remember very many details of stuff we saw but I do remember seeing a gun laying out in full view. I am not a gun expert but as far as I am concerned if it doesn't have a bright ass orange tip, I don't want to be anywhere near it. This one was all black and was probably a pellet gun but still it made me a bit nervous. As we were finishing up gathering our piles of stuff (and dodging many little chihuahua dogs and their piles), Ron asked if we wanted to see what he had in his bedroom. Hello! Red flags! I glanced in the room and saw a gun on the bed! I made my way in the opposite direction and told my friend under my breath that there was a gun in there. Ron called again from his room and my silly friend went in there! I stood back for awhile until it seemed to be safe and I kinda poked my head in but I am the overly suspicious type and I don't like to get myself backed into a corner. I did get to meet a box full of new born inbred puppies while in there. It also turned out it was an empty antique leather gun holster on the bed. Ron and Joe turned out to be super sweet people and we spent another hour chatting with them and looking through Ron's amazing collection of Florida post cards.
My friend and I bought about 20-30 bucks each of stuff but it certainly made no dent in the copious amount still in the home. I bought a vintage stuffed Santa, a child's plastic mug with monkeys on it, a few Christmas ornaments, 2 Christmas stockings, a rubber kewpie doll and this candy container, not a lot for 20 bucks but as I mentioned before his prices were a bit high for me. I do wonder sometimes if "All must go!" ever happened.
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