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Find vintage costumes at Chicago Toy Show

A local antiques dealer and toy collector will display and sell hundreds of vintage, boxed dime-store Halloween costumes at the Chicago Toy Show in St. Charles.

The costumes can be viewed and purchased at Ecker's booth at the 44th Chicago Toy Show from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22, at the Kane County Fairgrounds, 525 S. Randall Road, St. Charles. Show details are at www.chicagotoyshow.com.

More than 600 exhibitors will display and sell all categories of fine antique and collectible toys, dolls, action figures, playthings, and holiday heirlooms. The show will feature a new layout, with toys and dolls displayed in several exhibit halls and two food courts.

Since the mid-1980s, South Elgin resident Chris Ecker has been accumulating inexpensively made Halloween costumes manufactured from the 1940s through the 1980s.

"I recall going into the Ben Franklin store with my dad every fall and being mesmerized by the shelves of brightly colored boxes and hanging displays of Monstrous and Heroic costumes made by Ben Cooper and Collegeville costumes," Ecker remembers.

"The '60s and '70s were a great time to be a kid at Halloween if you were into pop culture and superheroes."

Characters in the collection range from the traditional witches, ghosts, and devils to popular toys like Barbie and G.I. Joe, pop culture icons like Jackie and John F. Kennedy, television and cartoon characters like Morticia Addams and Boss Hogg from "Dukes of Hazard," and licensed Universal Monsters.

As far as value is concerned, Ecker says, "Some are as inexpensive as $10 to $15, although some are so rare and in such nice condition they will command a heftier price tag - in the hundreds of dollars. You have to remember, these are 30- to 50-year-old, cheaply made fabric and vinyl costumes meant to last only one night. That any of these still exist astounds me."

To learn more about the Vintage Halloween Costume Vault, visit www.facebook.com/Vaultkeeper/.

  Susanna Vitale of St. Charles looks over a Fisher Price Family Play House during the 43rd Chicago Toy Show at the Kane County Fairgrounds. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com, 2016
  Shane Donovan of Ottawa takes a selfie with Boba Fett and a Stormtrooper during the 43rd Chicago Toy Show in St. Charles. This year's show, which takes place Sunday, Oct. 22, will feature hundreds of vendors selling antique and collectible toys, dolls, action figures and related merchandise. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com, 2016
  Visitors search the offerings at the 43rd Chicago Toy Show at the Kane County Fairgrounds, St. Charles. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com, 2016
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