SPRING BROOK TWP. — Gino Rosini rolled up to Jones Auction House on a remote stretch of highway with an open trailer of plastic figures that looked cheerful despite being packed tightly together. He drove almost two hours to drop off vintage blow molds. Customers will be driving even farther to bid on them on Nov. 15.
Jones Auction House’s twice-yearly sales are almost certainly the biggest auctions of vintage blow molds in the country, said Curtiss Wayne Andrews, a California collector who wrote a book on blow molds. He hopes to make it there someday. “It seems like an amazing place.”
The hard plastic decorations were everywhere in the ’60s and ’70s and then brought down from the attic by fans of vintage decor.
The auction house sold a rare black Christmas train for over $3,000 not long ago. But most go for far less.
“People see them as plastic decorations, but there’s people who really want these,” said co-owner Eric Jones. His company kind of stumbled into the blow mold market and usually handles estate sales and other kinds of collectibles.
Eric Jones sorts through one of the shipping containers of blow molds at his auction house on Oct. 7, 2026. (MELISSA JANOSKI/STAFF WRITER)
A few of the blow molds awaiting auction, seen on Oct. 7, 2026. (MELISSA JANOSKI/STAFF WRITER)
Nick Antidormi is restoring some blow molds for sale.
(COURTESY OF NICK ANTIDORMI)
Show Caption
1 of 3
Eric Jones sorts through one of the shipping containers of blow molds at his auction house on Oct. 7, 2026. (MELISSA JANOSKI/STAFF WRITER)
The autumn auction is the biggest of two annual events. More than 1,000 items will be on the block for customers who want to complete their set of reindeer or are on the hunt for the rare Tasmanian Devil. The preview begins at 9 a.m. and sales begin at 10.
“For the blow mold sale, I’ve got to take all these tables out and everything and put more chairs, so we have all the room,” Jones said. Blow mold auctions can draw 200 to 400 bidders.
Refurbished
Rosini’s lot of blow molds were duplicates from his 300-piece collection. The retired facilities manager decorates his own home with blow molds and enjoys touching up the paint, but doesn’t sell the ones he restores.
“They’re fun. It’s a hobby of mine. I’ve always enjoyed painting. I used to paint classic cars, so I transferred that over to painting blow molds. It’s kind of like therapy for me.”
Blow molds are still being made in new and reproduction designs and can be found at big-box stores, hardware stores and online. The Jones brothers sell Halloween reproductions made for them from a vintage mold, available online and at the auction house.
Andrews, the author, said most collectors think older is better. “Those are kind of the more treasured ones,” he said.
Nick Antidormi, who lives in Spring Brook Twp., has been going to the Jones auctions for a decade. The hundreds of blow molds and other decorations he puts out each Christmas season landed him a spot on “Hoarding for the Holidays” on HGTV last year.
He is consigning a handful of his own creations at the auction. He touches up old blow molds, sometimes changing color schemes to create one-of-a-kind pieces. He was able to find a handful of old but unfinished blow molds from the defunct company General Foam and is putting a fresh look on the vintage pieces.
“Painting them a little different actually makes people want them more,” he said.
Erin Baress of Scranton agrees. The experienced crafter does business as E & R Crafts. “You are able to create new things and that makes them rare,” she said. She used an airbrush paint system to give a Santa a green makeover and gave a Nativity-scene Joseph a lightsaber. Both will be on the block at the Jones auction.
She loved the decorative pieces as a child and was glad to see them resurface. They look better than their inflatable counterparts, which collapse when the fan is turned off, and mesh figures that fade. “I really like the blow molds because one, they are vintage, and two, they can be restored,” she said.
She’ll also be at the auction, to see if anything catches her eye.
If you go
What: The Jones Auction House blow mold auction, offering more than 1,000 of the hard plastic decorations called blow molds. Most are Christmas decorations, but there are Halloween and Easter decorations and some oddities of all sizes. Look for vintage brands such as Empire Plastics, Union Products, General Foam Plastics, Beco Products and Poloron Products. Local artisans also consign their own creations.
When: Sunday, Nov. 15, at 10 a.m. The preview begins at 9.
Where: Jones Auction House, 1100 State Route 307, Spring Brook Twp., near Scranton. The drive takes about an hour from Hazleton and 80 minutes from Pottsville.