Fireworks from the past

[RocketRev]

Those "snake like things"...... makes me realise I'm getting old! I forget there's a whole generation grown up not knowing what Jumping Jack Crackers (otherwise known as Squibs, I think) are..... it must be 30 years or so since they were banned in the UK! I've many memories of seeing youths dropping them on the ground at public displays and of the spectators trying to dodge them..... you wouldn't want one to jump up your trouser leg and go "bang" there! So there was an advantage to young boys wearing shorts in those days, after all! Used in clear spaces they were great fun..... but sadly, like other fireworks of erratic flight, they got banned.

Jumping Jacks weren't made of ordinary quick match..... even with the pinches, Quick Match varieties burn way too fast. I think something more like the slower burning traditional Catherine Wheel stuff was used..... not coiled, but folded so that when it burnt to the fold you got a bit of a bang and the thing would jump off in another direction - hence the common name "Jumping Jack Crackers".

[bert0027]

thanks for telling us that rev.come to think about it tho i feel old now because i can just about remember them and they were banned in 1976.

[ChrisB]

Funny how they always seemed to pick on the most nervous among the gathered throng to chase !!

ChrisB

[Venger]

So are all these old fireworks actually worth anything, I mean some of those pics of really old stuff, does it have a value ?

[gunpowderplot]

yes they can reach prices of hundreds of pounds for the more special types ie flying saucers etc .and posters .can you imagine a retail fireworks of 7.5 pence selling for £180!! i must have been mad

[Venger]

[gunpowderplot]

mad mad mad

[bert0027]

it is mad when you think in 1983 a size 20 rocket would cost around £3.60.now you would pay around £200.makes you think when all the dead fireworks was put on the bonfire or put in bins.

[bert0027]

http://www.ukfr.com/fireworks-forum/...1&d=1268909382

[Mixologist]

Originally Posted by bert0027

it is mad when you think in 1983 a size 20 rocket would cost around £3.60.now you would pay around £200.makes you think when all the dead fireworks was put on the bonfire or put in bins.

£200 is a bit steep!!

The rarer rockets i have, i have paid around £50 each for which i consider to be a reasonable price. Rumpus was £60 but i dont know anyone else with one and i know some people with Huge, more like house filling collections.

Again the standard Aeroplane with wooden wings, very very unusual (possibly unique in that style) and Fidos Table bomb Dog Kennel.
I have been offered £240 for the plane with wooden wings... flying things seem to be worth more compared to other things.

On average i go for about a tenner a firework unless i think it is something really special. The newer 80`s onwards kind of stuff you can pick up for a few quid a piece if your lucky.

I have some more odd stuff, i will dig out and take some snaps of in the next week or so...

I would love some original boards, but i was cash strapped the last time i found 8 MINT 30`s standard ones so they went to a friend!!!