The Glow That Won't Go Out: The Complete Collector's Guide to Vintage Holiday Blow Molds

The Complete Collector's Guide to Vintage Holiday Blow Molds

by Curtiss Wayne Andrews

Audiobook $9.99

They priced them at fifty cents. Nobody bought them. That was twenty years ago. From the late 1950s through the 1970s, vintage holiday blow molds — those hollow, glowing plastic figures from Empire Plastics, General Foam, and Union Products — defined Christmas on American front lawns from coast to coast. Then tastes shifted. The figures ended up in thrift store bins, priced at a dollar or less, while the people who knew what they were quietly kept buying. The revival came fast and hit hard. Today those same figures sell for $150 to $400. TikTok thrift haul videos featuring vintage Santas rack up millions of views. Collector communities with tens of thousands of members have formed around the shared pursuit of matched reindeer herds, complete nativity sets, and the rare Halloween finds. The Glow That Won't Go Out is the first comprehensive book ever written about vintage holiday blow mold collecting. Part cultural history, part field guide, part love letter to a tradition that refused to disappear — this is the book the community has been waiting for. Inside all ten chapters: The Complete History — From the post-war plastics revolution and Don Featherstone's pink flamingo through the golden age of production, the decline of the 1980s, and the remarkable 21st-century comeback driven by social media and a generation of new collectors who discovered blow molds on TikTok & television Manufacturer Identification Guide — How to identify Empire Plastics, General Foam, Poloron Products, Union Products, and smaller makers by their marks, plastic weight, paint style, and construction details; how to spot reproductions; and what separates a $30 find from a $300 treasure Iconic Figures A to Z — The sack Santa, the nativity scene, the choir boys, the reindeer herd, the candles, and every major figure in the Christmas canon — plus the Halloween witch, the ghost, the jack-o'-lantern, Easter bunnies, Thanksgiving turkeys, and the deep cuts most collectors don't know exist Display, Restoration, and Care — Arrangement philosophy, anchor figures, the choir arc, GFCI safety, cord replacement, weatherproofing, the paint question, warm-spectrum LED vs. incandescent bulbs, and proper off-season storage Collector Stories — Real accounts from the community: the exciting hunt for a rare teddy bear blow mold, the marriage proposal spelled out in vintage candle figures, notes from the world's biggest blow mold auction & more The Full Holiday Year — All holidays and the ultra-rare figures most collectors haven't started chasing yet The Future of the Hobby — Preservation challenges, new production, the restoration community, documentation resources, and what you can do right now to ensure these figures survive another generation Complete Glossary — 52 terms from Attic Mint to Yellowing, covering manufacturing, condition, collector shorthand, and the major manufacturers This book is for you if: You have been collecting vintage blow molds for years and want the reference guide the hobby has never had You found your first piece at a thrift store or estate sale and want to understand what you have You saw blow mold content on TikTok, Instagram, or a holiday decorating show and want to know where to start You inherited a collection from a family member and want to know its history and value You are a student of American material culture, post-war suburban history, or vintage holiday aesthetics The factories that made these figures are closed. The original molds are almost certainly gone. What remains is what was made —and what the collector community has preserved, documented, and kept glowing against all reasonable expectation. Put yours out. Plug them in. Let the neighborhood see.

Get this book:

Also listed on: paperbackdeals