York Ghost Merchants

Friday Preview: Online release - The Vintner (Original size). Batch of 5,000. £19 + postage. The Bowler Hat entry period will be from 10am Monday 10th to 10am Tuesday 11th August.
In England, a vintner historically referred to a wine merchant rather than a grape grower or winemaker. These merchants were powerful figures who controlled the import, regulation, and distribution of foreign wines—especially claret from Gascony and Bordeaux in the Middle Ages. They formed one of the Great Livery Companies of the City of London, known as the “Mistery of Vintners,” established during the reign of King Edward II.
The Vintner is made in tones of green with traces of yellow, the colours and patterns are fluid. No two Ghosts are the same and some of the variants are shown in the images.
Each Ghost is accompanied by a randomly selected card from The Alphabet of People, Professions & Places which is a series of 24 collectible cards.
If you would like to be in with a chance to purchase, please visit The Bowler Hat page on our website between the specified times and click on the image of the Ghost which will take you to a form where you can enter your details. Simply visiting the page will not enter your details for the draw. Not all who enter the draw will be successful, notification either way will be received by the end of Wednesday 12th August, please check your spam and junk folders if you are unable to see your email in the inbox. Those successful will receive a single use payment link and have 48 hours to make the purchase. We are unable to accept expired payment links. More information on the process can be found on The Bowler Hat FAQ page on our website.
THE DETAILS YOU ENTER WITH WILL BE USED FOR SHIPPING. ERRORS WITH ENTRY ADDRESSES AND EMAILS CAN LEAD TO DELIVERY ISSUES- Please double check auto filled details and update these as needed.
These Ghosts will take up to 5 weeks to be made and sent in order of purchase, your order will be marked ‘Pending’ until we dispatch.
There will be Ghost Week news at the end tif the month.

In the high summer of August, we unveil the second tranche of Carte Blanche Ghosts.
The first versions of The Butterfly Collector and The Culpepper Collection Ghosts will be sold through the Guild Room from today.
Butterfly Collector/Pearl Bordered Fritillary - Polished black body, handprinted butterfly in waterproof ink. £76
Culpepper Collection/Hollyhock - Bone white body, hand painted Hollyhocks in an assortment of flower colours. £70
Unlike Black Box Ghosts the Carte Blanche Ghosts are not limited editions. Instead, they will be illustrated in weekly batches in the small workshop above the Shambles shop by Mrs Humphreys. The Ghosts within each range will all be different but will be clearly identifiable as a particular Carte Blanche Ghost collection. They will be introduced into the Guild Room as a collection for a number of months before being superseded with a new collection. The base of every Carte Blanche Ghost made by Mrs Humphreys will be stamped with a black kraken, signed & year dated. There is also a CB monogram on the reverse of the Ghost above our crest.
The intention is to offer more variants of collections and new styles over time and with older styles being reintroduced.
From 3rd August Guild Room guests will be able to buy one of each style if they wish, this is on top of the current restriction of three rare & unusual Ghosts. Carte Blanche prices will vary according to size, design & complexity. This month we will also have Cartogrophers and Shipping Forecast Ghosts in Tye Guild Room while stocks last.

Ghost Week VII, Saturday 24th October - Sunday 1st November.
We are pleased to announce this year’s programme of events. 
The list of all events has been published to the Ghost Week page of our website. This is a list of the dates & times of each event. See the link in our bio.

On 27th August we will update the page with full event details with prices, ticketing links (if applicable),age suitability guidelines, and accessibility information. Tickets will be on sale for certain events from the end of August through event partners directly. 
Accessibility appointments for the Shambles and Dispensary will be made available on the booking calendar on Tuesday 1st September. There will be no Guild Room appointments on Wednesday 28th October during Ghost Week.
We have some wonderful events and some beautiful Ghosts on offer this year and we very much look forward to welcoming new visitors and seasoned Ghost Week veterans alike.

Friday Preview: Online release -The Dipper (Little size & polished). Batch of 2,500. £15.50 + postage. 5x3x2cm. The Bowler Hat entry period will be from 10am Monday 20th to 10am Tuesday 21st July.
Picking pockets was a widespread Victorian crime, which was known as ‘buzzing’ or ‘dipping’. A pickpocket was a ‘dip’ or ‘dipper’, a ‘wizz’ ,’buz’, or ‘foist’. There was a hierarchy of pickpockets – a basic sneak thief was a ‘gonoph’, and a more skilled one was a ‘tooler’, and their accomplice, was a ‘stickman’.
The Dipper is a little polished Ghost in more muted tones of oxblood & blue which merge together. As with all of our releases, no two Ghosts are ever the same and some of the variants are shown in the images. Each Ghost is accompanied by a randomly selected card from The Alphabet of People, Professions & Places which is a series of 24 collectible cards.
If you would like to be in with a chance to purchase, please visit The Bowler Hat page on our website between the specified times and click on the image of the Ghost which will take you to a form where you can enter your details. Simply visiting the page will not enter your details for the draw. Not all who enter the draw will be successful, notification either way will be received by the end of Wednesday 22nd July, please check your spam and junk folders if you are unable to see your email in the inbox. Those successful will receive a single use payment link and have 48 hours to make the purchase. We are unable to accept expired payment links. More information on the process can be found on The Bowler Hat FAQ page on our website. On the last release we experienced some issues with sending emails to some Microsoft linked accounts (Hotmail, Outlook and Live addresses), we have been assured that this problem has been fixed and payment links should be received by all those who are successful.
THE DETAILS YOU ENTER WITH WILL BE USED FOR SHIPPING. ERRORS WITH ENTRY ADDRESSES AND EMAILS CAN LEAD TO DELIVERY ISSUES- Please double check auto filled details and update these as needed.
These Ghosts will take up to 4 weeks to be made and sent in order of purchase, your order will be marked ‘Pending’ until we dispatch.

Preview -Charity Raffle: Dia de los Mu***os Ghosts, 2020 Prototypes.
Raffle tickets are now on sale ,48-hour early bird ticket bundle incentives.
These two very rare hand painted Ghosts were made as experiments/prototypes in a batch of three by Mrs Humphreys in the summer of 2020. We decided that they were not quite right as production Ghosts but feel they are the perfect Charity Ghosts to release in this searing summer heat. There are two Ghosts as prizes for the two selected winners of the raffle. They are painted in gouache and sealed, both are dated, signed & stamped on the bases. There are some small marks on both Ghosts as there were made as prototypes.
The “Raffalls” are open to people outside of the UK although if an overseas winner is selected at random then they will be responsible for covering any shipping costs. UK winners receive free postage (or collection) from our offices if appropriate.
Multiple ticket purchases have equal opportunity for success as ticket numbers are selected from the entire range of tickets purchased, including individual tickets purchased as part of a bulk buy. Tickets are available now, go to www.raffall.com and search “Dia de los Mu***os” or click the link in our Stories. We are not responsible more conducting the draw, winners are selected completely at random on the Raffall platform.
Winners will be notified by Raffall immediately after the draws are made on Friday 3rd July. For the funds to be released to the charities, all winners must press the ‘accept’ button located on their Get Prize screen that is accessible via the claim button located on their winning tickets. We are raising money through this raffle for The Gathimba Edwards Foundation, they are a small, registered charity based in Scotland (Registered Charity No. SC044869 ) They are building brighter futures by improving the quality of life for children and their families in Kenya and north-east Scotland throught education, shelter & wellbeing.
86% of money raised will go directly to the charity (after the 9% Raffall commission & 5% Ghost Merchants apportionment). Thank you as always for your support, kindness and generosity.
Good fortune
TYGM

Friday Preview: Online release -The Alchemist. Batch of 3,000. £19 + postage. 8x4x5cm. The Bowler Hat entry period will be from 10am Monday 8th to 10am Tuesday 9th June.
Alchemists were a diverse mix of individuals united by intellectual curiosity. During the Middle Ages and the Tudor period, alchemy in York and across England was viewed as a blend of natural philosophy, early chemistry, and mystical practice.
This Ghost is characterised by its vibrant colours and complex markings achieved with a four-colour palette. Crazed blue reveals bolts of orange which blend into pools of sulphurous yellow and hot pink. As with all of our releases, no two Ghosts can ever be the same and some of the variants of this are shown in the images. Each Ghost is accompanied by a randomly selected card from The Alphabet of People, Professions & Places which is a series of 24 collectible cards.
If you would like to be in with a chance to purchase, please visit The Bowler Hat page on our website between the specified times and click on the image of the Ghost which will take you to a form where you can enter your details. Simply visiting the page will not enter your details for the draw. Not all who enter the draw will be successful, notification either way will be received by the end of Wednesday 10th June, please check your spam and junk folders if you are unable to see your email in the inbox. Those successful will receive a single use payment link and have 48 hours to make the purchase. We are unable to accept expired payment links. More information on the process can be found on The Bowler Hat FAQ page on our website. On the last release we experienced some issues with sending emails to some Microsoft linked accounts (Hotmail, Outlook and Live addresses), we have been assured that this problem has been fixed.
THE DETAILS YOU ENTER WITH WILL BE USED FOR SHIPPING. ERRORS WITH ENTRY ADDRESSES AND EMAILS CAN LEAD TO DELIVERY ISSUES- Please double check auto filled details and update these as needed.
These Ghosts will take up to 4 weeks to be made and sent in order of purchase, your order will be marked ‘Pending’ until we dispatch.

We are extremely proud to introduce a new category of Ghosts; The Carte Blanche Collection.
Carte Blanche Ghosts will be illustrated & produced by Mrs Humphreys under the role of ‘Paintress’. This is a term that was used in the 19th and early 20th centuries when factories frequently employed women as “paintresses” to painstakingly hand-decorate ceramics. 
Mrs Humphreys was our first staff member and served as a shop Merchant from 2019. In 2022 she became our e-commerce Manager, overseeing all releases online and the associated customer service, Miss Attwood took over this role in April. However, as you may be aware, Mrs Humphreys also produced many of the in-house illustrated Black Box Ghosts over the last 7 years notably; The Kraken, The Black Kraken, The Poison Garden, The Lost Woodland, The Wallpaper Ghost (yet to be released) & many Ghost Week Charity special releases.
Unlike Black Box Ghosts the Carte Blanche Ghosts are not limited editions. Instead, they will be illustrated in weekly batches in the small workshop above the Shambles shop. The base of every Carte Blanche Ghost made by Mrs Humphreys will be stamped with a black kraken, signed & year dated. There is also a CB monogram on the reverse above our crest. 
The first two Ghosts will be available in The Guild Room only initially: The Cartographer-Original size & The Shipping Forecast- Little size. 
Influenced by medieval maps, The Cartographer was inspired by the markings produced when we made The Messenger Ghost. Details have been added with pen, ink & gold accents.
Shipping Forecast Ghosts - The idea of a ship on the Ghost was first proposed by Mr Bloodworth back in the very early days. We have been exploring this idea for a long time, and we are very pleased that this has finally come to fruition.
The intention is to offer more styles over time, with Carte Blanche Ghosts eventually present in The Shambles Shop. 
From 3rd June Guild Room guests will be able to buy one of each style if they wish, this is on top of the current restriction of three rare & unusual Ghosts. Carte Blanche prices will vary according to size, design & complexity. The Cartographer £66, Shipping Forecast Ghosts £28.

Friday Preview - Bone White Custom Etched Ghost  #6.
 Batch of 1500.£53 + P&P.
 This is the sixth time we have offered bespoke text option on a York Ghost.  The Ghost is a plain bone white which may contain small flecks of pigment, this is a characteristic of a handmade Ghost.
The Bone White Custom Etched Ghost will be a Bowler Hat Release. The 24-hour entry period will be from 10am Tuesday 26th May to 10am Wednesday 27th May BST, custom messages are not required at this stage. This will be the only custom etched release of the year.
 Be it a message of love, a special date or a cryptic phrase, the choice of the etched text is entirely yours (we will not accept orders that we deem to cross a line and are created to purposely offend).
 Personalised text can be engraved into the back of the Ghost up to a maximum of 22 characters, including standard punctuation, spaces between words count as a letter. Tests have proved this to be the extent of allowable message. We do not recommend using capital letters other than for initials and the first character of the phrase or word. We include @ & as standard characters and only use the scripted font shown in the images. Please, do note the capital Q which has an unusual style.
 Those successful in the Bowler Hat Draw will receive an email on Wednesday containing a single use payment link. This link will take you to the order page and this is when your custom message will be required, the links have a 48-hour expiry period from the time that they were sent.
 Your message must be entered into the message box which appears on the order page, exactly as you require it to be etched. We cannot be held responsible for any spelling mistakes or typographic errors. Whatever is written in the custom message box will be etched onto your Ghost. If a message has been entered incorrectly unfortunately it cannot be altered, and the only outcome is to offer a refund and cancel the order. It might be prudent to type it out and double check the spelling and character count in advance, this way you can just copy and paste it into the custom message box when placing the order. We expect to have all orders shipped by the end of June.

We are pleased to announce that the third production batch of 300 Tannery Ghosts will be for sale at The Guild Room on Friday 10th July from 9am.
Recipe 03 has been made using dying & steeping processes in combination with an English meadowgrass wrapping and has resulted in batches of Ghosts which have some beautiful markings. The wine dyes produce an array of colours; some Ghosts are rich plummy purple while others are earthy, dusty brown, a few have indigo blooms & bruises. When each Ghost was unwrapped from its grass layers it revealed the surprise within and held colours and patterns unique to its making process. The Ghosts are lacquered with a UV sealer to finish.
There will only be Tannery Ghosts to buy from The Guild Room on Friday 10th July and for that day only. Recipe 03 is priced at £68 per Ghost. Strictly one Ghost per customer.
Tannery Ghost boxes include the recipe number, batch, manufacture date, merchant signatory & stamp. Following feedback from our 2025 events we have made some changes to the ticketing process for our 3rd Tannery sale.
Tickets for this Tannery event will need to be obtained in advance via the booking calendar on our website (similar to booking a Guild Room appointment), and not on the day as was the case last year. Booking slots will be available on the calendar at 6pm on Thursday 28th May. We are hoping that this system will give an opportunity to attend for those travelling some distance and who need to make travel plans. It should also be beneficial for those who may struggle to stand or queue. As before, all tickets will allow entry to the Guild Room at a specific time. Each group of ten people will get ten minutes to choose and pay for their Ghost. Because of the change of procedure for this event we have updated our Tannery Ghost Sale page which can be found under The Guild Room page on our website. To all those who are interested in attending we strongly recommend that you visit this page in advance and read the information carefully, there is an FAQ section which we hope will be helpful.

The Silver Guild Coin Ghost- Charity Edition.
This year we are making a number of rare & unusual Ghosts for charity raffles.
The first raffle is from a very small edition of Silver Guild Coin Ghosts. Five pewter Guild Coins from the Guild Coin Trail last year have been plated in high purity silver; they are set in the body of a pure polished black Ghost (Original size). There are two Ghosts as prizes for the two selected winners of the raffle.
Raffles are open to people outside of the UK although if an overseas winner is selected then they will be responsible for covering any shipping costs. UK winners receive free postage (or collection) from our offices if appropriate.
Multiple ticket purchases have equal opportunity for success as ticket numbers are selected from the entire range of tickets purchased, including individual tickets purchased as part of a bulk buy. Ticket bundle opportunities are offered as early bird incentives this weekend, until 5pm on Sunday. Tickets are available now (5pm Friday 15th) until 5pm on Tuesday 26th, go to www.raffall.com and search Silver Guild Coin Ghost or click the link in our Stories. We are not responsible for conducting the draw, winners are selected completely at random on the Raffall platform.
Winners will be notified by Raffall immediately after the draws are made on Tuesday 26th May. For the funds to be released to the charities, all winners must press the ‘accept’ button located on their Get Prize screen that is accessible via the claim button located on their winning tickets.
We are raising money through this raffle for Nuzzlets, they are a small, registered charity based near Great Ouseburn, York. The organisation specialises in rescuing unwanted animals and providing animal-assisted therapy and education for young people. It primarily serves children with disabilities, special educational needs, and life-threatening illnesses across Yorkshire
86% of money raised will go directly to the charity (after the 9% Raffall commission & 5% Ghost Merchants apportionment). Thank you as always for your support, kindness & generosity.
For those in York this coming weekend for the “Gathering”, we wish you a wonderful time.
TYGM