Dahmer ‘Murderabilia’ FAQ: Part I

Often criticised for glorifying perpetrators and being an affront to their victims, ‘murderabilia’ has long been a controversal topic within True Crime.

“[It’s] just filthy and sordid, collecting stuff like that,” said Marc Klass, whose 12-year-old daughter Polly was kidnapped and murdered by serial recidivist Richard Allen Davis in 1993. “Purchasing it, trading it, selling it, having anything to do with it makes me want to go and take a shower right now.”

Andy Kahan – a Crime Victim’s Director in Houston and long-time crusader against notoriety-for-profit – agreed. “I’m a firm believer in free enterprise and capitalism,” he once said, “but I’m also a believer that no one should be able to rob, rape, or murder and turn around and then make a buck off of it.”

Not everyone is as disturbed by the idea, however.

“From a psychological stand point, it’s a great insight into somebody,” said one Indiana-based collector in 2000. “I have a letter from [Son of Sam killer] David Berkowitz [and] he asks about what age a child would go to Hell… To me, it’s really fascinating, considering what he did.¹”

Another collector in Vancouver – who’d spent over $45,000 on his serial killer collection (including a crucifix hand-crafted by Ed Gein) felt similarly. “At first I would say it was a morbid curiosity [that drew me to it],” he told the ‘Ventura County Star’. “Now I would say the attraction is more like analysing this stuff, really playing the detective role.”

Regardless of whether one finds it acceptable or abhorrent, Jeffrey Dahmer relics often intrigue those who are interested in the case – both collectors and researchers studying such things from afar – and concerns range from people being ripped off to facts becoming muddled through forged documents, myths, and misidentified artifacts.

From how to identify fake pieces to how (and why) real ones can be obtained in the first place, below are 13 frequently asked questions pertaining to Dahmer murderabilia.

---

What is ‘murderabilia’ and how does it connect to Dahmer? • Who collects this stuff? • Why do people collect this stuff? • Where can I buy Dahmer relics? • Wasn’t all of Dahmer’s stuff destroyed? • What is a ‘Holy Grail’? • How much do Dahmer items usually sell for? • What are some fake Dahmer pieces? • How can you identify a fake Dahmer letter? • How can you identify a fake Dahmer envelope? • How many people did Dahmer write to in prison? • Are the Ambrosia wrappers on the market really from Dahmer’s time at the factory? •

---

What is ‘murderabilia’ and how does it connect to Dahmer?

A portmanteau of ‘murder’ and ‘memorabilia’, murderabilia refers to collectible artifacts related to serial killers and other violent offenders.

Including:

• Letters sent from a perpetrator to pen pals or attorneys
  
  
• Artwork made by a convict during their incarceration or whilst on death row
  
  
• Official court documents
  
  
• Clothing worn by perpetrators (before or during prison)

As one of the most infamous serial killers in American history, artifacts pertaining to Jeffrey Dahmer have long been highly sought after in the realm of true crime collecting.

Notable Dahmer relics include:

• Letters sent from Dahmer to various pen pals while in prison
  
  
• Yearbooks from his middle school, high school, and time in the military
  
  
• Documents detailing his time at Columbia Correctional Institution
  
  
• Rubble collected from the demolition of the Oxford Apartments
  
  
• Timecards from the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, where he worked as a mixer
  
  

There have also been many items retrieved from his prison cell and apartment, along with various personal, legal, and familial materials held onto by Lionel Dahmer and later sold via Cult Collectibles’ ‘Dahmer Basement Collection’ and True Crime Collective’s ‘Jeffrey Dahmer Collection’ between 2022 and 2025.

Including:

• Original Polaroids taken of Lionel and Jeffrey in the CCI visitors room
  
  
• Books signed by Dahmer after they were sent to him in prison
  
  
• Letters, postcards, photographs, religious tracts, bookmarks, catalogues, and other received prison mail
  
  
• Carbon copies of property receipts and disbursement requests
  
  

• Copies of official case documents (inc. psychiatric reports)
  
  
• The original notebook Lionel used to write notes in during his son’s trial
  
  
• Original photographs taken by the Dahmer family (documenting Jeffrey’s graduation, childhood, et. al)
  
  
• Letters sent from Dahmer to his Grandma during his time at Ohio State and in the Army
  
  
• Original 8mm home movie reels featuring Dahmer as a child and young adult
  
  
• Original cassette tapes featuring private prison phone calls between Dahmer and his father
  
  
• Condolence letters sent to Lionel and Shari Dahmer following Jeff’s own murder
  
  
• Original VHS tapes featuring news and trial coverage, recorded directly by Lionel Dahmer or sent to him by various media outlets
  
  

Artifacts like press photos, contemporary newspapers, and magazines featuring coverage of the case may also be considered Dahmer murderabilia to some degree.

Other commercially available items such as books, trading cards, figurines, pin badges, stickers, and T-shirts that feature Dahmer’s image or examine his crimes do not typically fall under the category of ‘murderabilia’ – although they often form part of a wider Dahmer collection.

[ back ]

---

Who collects this stuff?

Although studies show women are significantly more interested in true crime media, men are more likely to collect murderabilia in general.

However, those who solely collect Dahmer items overwhelmingly tend to be women.

[ back ]

---

Why do people collect this stuff?

While some people collect murderabilia (Dahmer or otherwise) for shock value or the kick of provocation, many attribute genuine historical value to such items and view them as a way to tangibly enhance their understanding of a case.

Documents like letters sent from an inmate in prison, for example, can give a deeper insight into a perpetrators state of mind, incarceration, or crimes (if they share details of them).

Other reasons people may wish to own dark artifacts include:

EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES

• “I find that bringing significant pieces of Murderabilia into the classroom, like a painting or a letter, really sparks the analytical aspect of class conversation,” said a Criminology professor and collector based in Ilinois.
  
  “Students, often ones I have not heard from much previously, show a keen interest in the psychological and historical insight of the items. They are great sources of educational value.”
  
  

RESEARCH

• Even figurines and t-shirts can provide an understanding of the killer’s place in parody and pop culture, while more serious items – like documents and newspapers – often feature rare content and insights into the case
  
  

MORBID CURIOSITY

• In a 2018 article for the New York Observer, one reporter noted that there’s a certain “ice in their veins” chill people feel when confronted with a Pogo the Clown painting done by serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
  
  “For many collectors, these paintings feel dangerous and offer the kind of adrenaline rush you can’t achieve just by watching or reading about killers in the abstract,” they added. “[Because] it has been touched and created by pure evil.”
  
  

THRILL OF THE HUNT

• For some, obtaining a rare piece can be exciting and create a sense of accomplishment when adding more elusive items to a personal collection, especially items connected to a case as significant and grandiose as Dahmer’s
  
  

Desiring ‘A ‘SPIRITUAL’ OR ‘PHYSICAL’ CONNECTION to Dahmer

• “A gal who brought one Dahmer letter from me years ago was trying to contact Jeff spritually, and she thought the letter would be a means to that end,” one collector of over 30-years recounted. “She was some super hardcore JD fanatic. Super bizarre… I saw the same letter eventually went up for sale again, so guess she wasn’t able to contact him after all and let it go!”
  
  

Enjoying COLLECTING IN GENERAL

• Many murderabilia collectors also collect items pertaining to their other hobbies and interests – like sports, music and film memorabilia, comic books, or other oddities (skulls, bones, taxidermy, etc.)

Even acclaimed forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz – who interviewed Dahmer for 18 hours before testifying that he was legally sane under Wisconsin law – owned a complete set of Serial Killer Trading Cards and a handsaw-wielding miniature figurine of French serial killer Henri Landru, ‘the Bluebeard of Paris’ – which stood beside a little washtub filled with the blood and severed limbs of his latest victim. 

[ back ]

---

Where can I buy Dahmer relics?

There are several online marketplaces for murderabilia, including Canada’s Cult Collectibles and Floridian Supernaught.

Other Dahmer items (historical and commerical) can be found on various sites, including (but not limited to):

• eBay
• Etsy
• Mercari
• Amazon
• Marketplace

Collectors will also often network together and buy, trade or sell within private circles.

[ back ]

---

Wasn’t all of Dahmer’s stuff destroyed?

No, not all of it.

On June 26, 1996, many of Dahmer’s previously inventoried possessions were transported just outside Illinois and bulldozed at a waste disposal site.

The refrigerator and freezer where various body parts had been found, Polaroids of victims in various stages of mutilation, a VHS copy of Exorcist III, kitchen utensils, the 57-gallon vat that had soaked human torsos in acid, drill bits, power tools, and two gargoyles were among the items retrieved from Dahmer’s apartment and purchased by Milwaukee real estate magnate Joseph Zilber to halt a proposed auction of the property.

Concerned about the spectacle and publicity such an event would attract, Zilber raised $407,225 for the victims’ families, who had planned to take the auction money as compensation for the loss of their loved ones.

Dahmer himself had also opposed it.

“I wouldn’t want the property falling into the wrong hands and being used for exploitative purposes,” he told attorney Thomas Jacobson (advocating for the auction two years earlier). “Like these people who came up with the damn baseball cards and [Hart Fisher’s Jeffrey Dahmer: An Unauthorized Biography of a Serial Killer] comic book.”

Announcing the destruction of the property, Zilber shared his hope that “this will allow us, once and for all, to close the book on Jeffrey Dahmer.”³

However, other items of Dahmer’s were sent to the FBI for research and training purposes, while the Milwaukee Police Department held onto any that might have been needed for lawsuits over their handling of the case.

Many more had been retained by Dahmer’s father, Lionel, such as clothing, furniture, an unfilled prescription for Halcion, a coffee-ringed gay-interest zine – and even his old bus timetable.

Lionel had donated some of Jeff’s posessions to charity, burnt numerous paper items in his fireplace, and thrown other things away. Yet, being a noted hoarder and still attached to reminders of his eldest son despite the crimes he had committed, held onto many more over the years.

Even when an aging Lionel tasked his caretakers with destroying more things, a vast array of case documents, home media, and private artifacts – like Jeff’s old army footlocker – were kept.

Between 2022 and 2025, many of these items (as well as numerous things from Jeff’s time in prison and various posessions of Lionel’s own) were sold across murderabilia sites Cult Collectibles and True Crime Collective, after a housekeeper of Lionel’s reached out with permission to sell for personal reasons. The price of these items ranged from under $100 to upwards of ten thousand – and suddenly made the White Whale of the muderabilia realm a lot less elusive.

Other items connected to the case have also made their way onto the market: including the original shrine drawing Dahmer drew for assistant attorney Wendy Patrickus⁴ (sold in 2025), and the glasses Dahmer had worn at the time of his arrest, which he had given to lead attorney Gerald Boyle to hold onto (also sold in 2025).

[ back ]

---

What is a ‘Holy Grail’?

A collectors ‘holy grail’ refers to their most coveted piece, the item they’re most proud of owning, or the item they found most difficult to obtain due to its scarcity or monetary value.

The term is often used subjectively, and one persons grail may be worth a lot less (or a lot more) than someone elses in terms of sentiment or cost. It may also be more or less difficult to obtain – depending on what it is.

For example, a collector living outside the US – where logistics and shipping costs can make Dahmer items harder to obtain – may view newspapers covering the trial as their grails, when posessing even just one thing from the era would mean a lot.

Another collector may have scrimped and saved to afford a one-off piece – like a specific family photo or Dahmer’s termination letter from the Ambrosia Chocolate factory – or may have sunk a lot of time and effort into tracking down a particular zine⁵ or document.

A grail may also be an item that has never been on the market and never will be (like the original 213 numbers from Dahmer’s apartment door), but which one can only imagine owning.

For others, plane tickets to Milwaukee may represent the culmination of their Dahmer research.

Gaining access to unreleased tapes (like those recorded between Dahmer and attorney Wendy Patrickus, or Dahmer and Dr. Dietz) can also considered a holy grail – even if access were digital and the original copies remained in the hands of their creator.

[ back ]

---

How much do Dahmer items usually sell for?

A general rule is that any item is worth only what someone is willing to pay for it, or what someone is happy to sell it for.

Even with murderabilia being a fairly niche community, there are often set expectations for how much certain Dahmer items will go for within it. However, these figures are not set in stone or always adhered to, and some sellers outside the true crime circuit may have little idea of just how much collectors would be willing to pay.

Nevertheless, a general ballpark⁶ for certain items is as follows:

• Handwritten⁷ envelope (sans letter): $1,500 – 2,000
  
  
• A one-page handwritten letter (sans envelope): $2,500 – 3,000
  
  
• A one-page handwritten letter with envelope: $3,500 – 4,500
  
  
• Press photos depicting Dahmer: $100 – 250
  
  
• Newspapers covering Dahmer’s arrest or trial: $50 – $200 (depending on content)
  
  
• Original family photos: $1,500 – $2,000
  
  
• Original copy of the out-of-print Dahmer Detective⁸ by Patrick Kennedy & Robyn Maharaj (2016): $50 – $200

An item listed for a substantial figure is no guarantee that it will sell for that, and certain murderabilia sites will often inflate their prices to a point where items remain unmoved for years until someone negotiates a deal or is eager enough to finally pay the asking price.

Dahmer’s senior yearbook has also been up for sale several times over the years, with prices dramatically ranging from $500 to $6,000. Murderabilia dealers will always sell these books for considerably more than former Revere High School students or those outside the ‘community’ will⁹ – and even handwritten pieces from Dahmer have (very) occassionally fallen onto the market for less than $1,000 when the seller is desperate to move them and indifferent to the value they currently hold for many.

Although Dahmer still remains one of the most expensive true crime figures in the collecting industry.

[ back ]

---

What are some fake Dahmer pieces?

Numerous fake Dahmer pieces have circulated the market over the years – with some even making their way into museums.

Cut autographs (including envelope snippets) are the most common form of Dahmer forgery.

Examples of other fake Dahmer pieces include:

^{NOTE: Owning – or even exhibiting – a fake Dahmer piece does not necessarily mean someone is knowingly involved in a scam. However, those who aggressively double down, refuse to discuss provenance, or respond with personal insults when questions are raised or discrepancies noted are generally considered red flags. Fraudsters are often quick to openly mock or attack critics while refusing to link to the evidence those critics have presented, for fear their supporters might realise the piece in question does not hold up under scrutiny after all. Others may attempt to argue against their critics’ conclusions, yet remain unable to address the specific evidence itself.}

[ back ]

---

How can you identify a fake letter?

There are two ways to identify a fake Dahmer letter:

• Handwriting¹⁰
• Content

If one seems off, the other likely will be too.

HANDWRITING

Dahmer used two types of handwriting: A lavish cursive and a simple print.

Dahmer’s print was characterised by compact, sans-serif letters. Including:

• Straight bars on his capital I‘s
• Squat, tailless lowercase a‘s
• Closed capital D‘s, with little to no extensions
• Y‘s with straight, right-leaning moderately angled tails (descenders)

Dahmer’s cursive featured notable traits such as:

• Capital D‘s with no extension beyond the bowl
• A tendency to use lower case a‘s at the start of sentences
• Open capital T‘s
• Looped bar on capital H‘s
• A consistent right slant

Some forgers may be able to replicate certain letters better than others, but there will always be some indication that a letter wasn’t really from Dahmer.

One known forger – responsible for several fake pieces that have circulated over the years – has a tendency to open, overextend, or curve certain letters, and often adds tails to their lowercase a’s. In contrast to Dahmer’s straighter, more compact, closed print and tailless a’s, this indicates that their muscle memory cannot be suppressed long enough to consistently replicate another person’s hand.

^{Numerous discrepancies between Dahmer’s hand and several pieces produced by the same forger 🚩}

Other indicators of a fake letter often reflect conflict and hesitation in its execution:

• Tremors and shaky lines — forgeries are often drawn rather than written, producing uneven strokes instead of smooth, fluid ones
• Irregular spacing — clustered or overly spaced letters and words as the forger focuses on individual characters rather than overall rhythm
• Signs of retouching — strokes that appear thicker in places or traced over
• Hesitation marks — ink blobs or breaks in the line of writing
• Lack of natural flow — writing appears stiff rather than continuous
• Inconsistent slant — variation in letter angle across the text
• Underlying pencil guides — faint lines visible beneath ink where tracing has occurred

Even if it can be hard to articulate the exact reasons why Dahmer’s real writing fails to match a suspicious document, a quick side-by-side comparison can be enough to satisfy one’s instincts:

^{Fake (L) and Real}

Some may try to argue that a persons penmanship can look completely different on any given day due to one of several variables (writing tool, mood, injury, haste, etc.). However, while this may be true for less-luicid criminals like Charles Manson and Ed Gein, Dahmer’s hand was pretty consistent – even when he admitted to writing while tired, depressed, or injured:

Even when there are slight variations, each of Dahmer’s pen pal letters has an overall uniformity that is recognisably him.

CONTENT

Examples of sketchy Dahmer content include:

• Details that don’t match what’s known about his life or time in prison.
  
  One fake letter claimed Dahmer might soon be in the disciplinary unit and would not be allowed to write from there – despite Dahmer already having been in the unit on the day the letter was supposedly written, and having sent several letters at that time.
  
  Another had ‘Dahmer’ gushing about the recipient’s upcoming “wonderful wedding night” and how marriage must be “a wonderful experience” – when his lifelong disdain towards the concept of marriage was repeatedly documented
  
  
• Graphic or gleeful descriptions of his crimes – when Dahmer didn’t take any kind of joy in recounting them and didn’t discuss them directly with his pen pals
  
  
• Style which doesn’t match Dahmer’s voice – be it too clipped, contrived, literary, or (even for a man who once sent the first three verses of ‘A Picture of Me Without You’ to a gal pal) overwrought.
  
  Phrases from some fake letters include: “I hope you enjoy the natural beauty as you progress towards the wonderful wedding night”; “The magnitude of my crimes is finally settling in now”; “I have been having some problems with some inmates. They don’t seem to like me much for some reason. I guess that’s fine”; and the sign off: “Still my own demon – Jeff”
  
  
• Given his notable homosexuality, any sexual desire expressed to women

Dahmer also had several habits which often characterised his letters. Including:

• A tendency to put titles and emphatically stated phrases in “quotation marks”
  
  
• A tendency to mispell writing as ‘writting’, cigarettes as ‘ciggaretts”, and to acknowledge when he wasn’t sure about a word via an inquiring ‘sp?’
  
  
• A tendency to misuse apostroph’es
  
  
• A tendency to repeat soliciations, anecdotes and observations word-for-word across several letters – making it more suspiscious if one has a letter describing something in a way drastically different to how he’d recounted it elsewhere, and not neccessarily indicative of a forgery if something appears to have been directly lifted from another letter
  
  
• A zealous use of exclamation marks when talking to penpals he was particularly comfortable with (like Mary and Barbara)
  
  
• Often signing off with a string of hugs and kisses (oxoxo!!) to his female penpals
  
  
• Boyishly earnest phrasing like: “that sure was…”, “it sure would…”, “I sure would like…”
  
  
• Being notably warmer and schmaltzy towards female penpals, and more reserved or forward (when requesting nude photos) towards men

^{Some of Dahmer’s writing habits}

If handwriting matches Dahmer’s and content alligns with his voice and prison context, the letter will be genuine.

Only one or two red flags are needed for legitimacy to be called into question, and – as Dahmer forgers are never as smart as they think they are – if something seems off, it most likely is.

[ back ]

---

How can you identify a fake envelope?

Just as letters have been faked over the years, so have several Dahmer envelopes.

Prior to 2022-24 – when Cult Collectibles released numerous letters penned by Dahmer during his time in the Army and at Ohio State – prison envelopes were the only type of Dahmer envelope on the market and susceptible to imitation.

𝙰 𝙶𝚄𝙸𝙳𝙴 𝚃𝙾 𝙰𝚄𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙲𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙳𝙰𝙷𝙼𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝚁𝙸𝚂𝙾𝙽 𝙴𝙽𝚅𝙴𝙻𝙾𝙿𝙴𝚂:

* * *

One exhibited envelope claiming to have been sent to Jason Moss shows numerous descrepencies – even dated two months before Dahmer ever wrote to the budding attorney¹²:

Other fake envelopes have shown mismatched writing, misplaced prison stamps, and misalligned postmarks:

Very rarely a real Dahmer envelope may look slightly different, but its discrepencies will be minimal and self-correcting:

Genuine Dahmer envelope with postmark and cancellation stamp on the back…

As well as the front:

Another genuine Dahmer envelope with postmark and cancellation stamp on the front…

As well as back:

Both appeared to be minor postal processing anomalies or oversights (likely the result of an envelope being fed through the cancelling machine the wrong way up) with the overall characteristics of both envelopes still confirming their legitimacy.

[ back ]

---

How many people did Dahmer write to in prison?

A common misconception – sometimes used by sellers to inflate a sense of scarcity around letters – is that Dahmer only corresponded with a handful of people whilst in prison.

Although the exact number of correspondents across his 33 months at CCI cannot be confirmed, the number he wrote to – either regularly or as a one-off – ran well into double figures.

Some examples of known recipients are:

Mary M. (OH), Mary M. (VA), Mary S., Christy W. (WI), Debbie W. (LDN), Todd T. (FL), Jason Moss (NV), Rick Staton (IL), Bob (MO), Barbara (SC), Jenny (NC), Rev. Overton (TN), Brother Elkins (AR), Henke (Sweden), Mr. and Mr. Seals (MO), Wendy¹³, David (Aus.), Bradlee (SC), Giselle D. (WI), Patty W., Holly K., Calvin M. (WI), ‘Reece’¹⁴ (LDN), David (OK), Thomas (CT), Richard (NY), Dahlia, Henry, Tobias (Canada) – among others.

Compared to inmates like Richard Ramirez and Keith Jesperson, however, (both of whom wrote constantly to pretty much anyone who sent them mail) Dahmer letters are still much, much rarer, which – combined with his particularly high notoriety – accounts for their high prices¹⁵.

[ back ]

---

Are the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory wrappers on the market really from Dahmer’s time at the factory?

No.

Several Ambrosia chocolate wrappers have fallen onto the market over the years, with people often claiming they came direct from the factory at the time Dahmer worked there (Jan. 14, 1985 – July 18, 1991) – even speculating that he might’ve handled the exact chocolate they once contained.

Most notable are the Milk Chocolate wrappers featuring instructions on how to make hot fudge sundaes, but packaging for Ambrosia’s Peanut Slabs, Peacan Rounds, Nut Chunks, and other confectionary, have also sold.

Most of these wrappers, however, are surplus packaging printed decades before Dahmer was even born – let alone before he joined the company.

In February 2026, an archivist at Milwaukee’s Historical Society confirmed the Milk Chocolate, Peanut Slabs and Pecan Rounds wrappers (pictured below) were not from Dahmer’s era:

These are definitely from earlier… Almost certainly from the first half of the 20^th century.

Our Curator, Janean Van Beckum, judging the appearance of the packaging, estimated that the two bags date to 1900-1930 and the plastic-coated Pecan Rounds packaging is probably later, perhaps circa 1940s.

– Milwaukee historian and archivist Michael Barea

Michael also used the archive’s digital Milwaukee Journal and Sentinel database to search for Ambrosia advertisements, and found the following dates for each:

• Peanut Slabs: 1921-24
• Milk Chocolate: 1922-34
• Pecan Rounds: 1933

^{Original newspaper ads for the various chocolate bars}

“While I’m skeptical that the years I found the advertisements for above are the only years the products were sold¹⁷,” he added, “I think they, coupled with Janean’s assessment, give a pretty good idea of the era these wrappers are from. Probably 1920s-30s, almost certainly pre-1950, and definitely before Dahmer worked at Ambrosia.”

Taken together, the following also place these wrappers decades before Dahmer’s work as a chocolate mixer:

• Lack of UPC barcodes (standard on most retail packaging by the mid-80s)
  
  
• The use of longer pre-1960s state abbreviations (“Wis” instead of “WI”), rather than the standardised two-letter postal abbreviations adopted by the U.S. Postal Service with the introduction of ZIP codes in 1963
  
  
• Language. The box accompanying the Milk Chocolate wrappers (originally sold on eBay) addresses “Mr. Dealer” – a distinctly old trade-marketing phrase common in early- to mid-20th-century American wholesale and display packaging (not limited to confectionary)
  
  
• Wax paper and the presence of hanging display holes (as on the Peanut Slabs packets) conforming to early 20th-century packaging and display methods
  
  
• ‘Printers’ ornaments’ (small decorative elements commonly used in letterpress printing during the early-20th century) on the Peanut Slabs wrappers. These ornamental stock pieces were often arranged around text when setting printing plates – allowing simple packaging to appear more aesthetic without custom artwork
  
  

• Uneven ink density, speckling, smudging and feathered lettering across several Peanut Slabs packets is indicative of pre-modern, early-20th-century printing – not the sharp, uniform branding of the 80s and 90s
  

• Lack of provenance. No specific dates for the Milk Chocolate, Pecan Rounds or Peanut Slabs wrappers were included in their original eBay listings – with the Peanut Slab’s seller admitting they didn’t know what year they were from:

As Ambrosia had reduced its range of own-brand consumer bars substantially by the mid-80s (shifting its focus toward bulk chocolate and cocoa products supplied to other confectionery companies), the likelihood of any vintage Ambrosia wrapper originating from Dahmer’s time at the factory is relatively low to begin with.

In collector circles, myths often persist because they increase the perceived value of items. If a wrapper can be linked exactly to Dahmer’s employment, it becomes a more marketable piece of “murderabilia” and makes for a more interesting story.

Regardless, original wrappers still remain a novel connection to the case – highlighting the juxtaposition between “Chocolate Factory worker” and the less whimsical “convicted cannibal.”

[ back ]

---

Special thanks to Michael and Janean 🙂🍫

Sources: Cult Collectibles; official case documents; The Final Victim by Jason Moss (1999); Mythic Stamp, USPS; letters sent from Dahmer to various pen pals; Milwaukee Historical Society; conversations with several ‘murderabilia’ collectors and former penpals of Dahmer’s; Worthpoint; Inside Edition; “When did Barcodes Come Out?’ on Tera Digital; Big Think; eBay; Wayback Machine; Johns Hopkins; University Libraries; True Crime Collective; Prison Legal News; ‘Son of Sam Law’ on Wikipedia; Springer Nature Link; Ventura County Star, Milwaukee Journal / Sentinel, Green Bay Press-Gazette, The Daily Mail, et al.

Footnotes:

1. Berkowitz shot to death six people in the state of New York in the mid-70s. In 1977, NY State Legislature passed several preemptive statues to prevent him from selling his story to the media. These ‘Son of Sam Laws’ intended to keep criminals from profiting off of their notoriety, though were criticised by proponents of Free Speech for violating the First Amendment, and potentially preventing killers from sharing vital information with the public. Later revisions to the laws essentially meant that victims’ families would be notified if the convicted person recieved any “profits of a crime” – allowing them the opportunity to sue ↩︎
2. A second Polaroid of Lionel and Jeffrey in the visitors room was listed the next year, closer to $5,000 ↩︎
3. For the victims’ families, their grief was not so easily removed. “It’s never going to be over for us,” said Dawn Tuomi – whose brother Steven had become Dahmer’s second victim. “I still have unopened Christmas gifts from 10 years ago. The memories are still there.” ↩︎
4. A fake version of this sketch is on display at a European-founded Serial Killer Exhibit currently touring America ↩︎
5. One of the rarest Dahmer zines is Quimby’s Incident Homicide: The Story of the Milwaukee Flesh-eater (1992). Only around 50 copies were ever printed, and in the past five years, only three have fallen onto the market ↩︎
6. All figures are based on listings, personal negotiations, and private sales made and observed since 2020 – as well as those recounted by other collectors and archived from years prior ↩︎
7. Typed envelopes and letters usually go for less – depending on length and content ↩︎
8. Re-released in 2021 as Grilling Dahmer, the original version remains a collectible for Dahmer completionists ↩︎
9. Two Revere senior year books featuring Dahmer have sold for around $500 in the past two years, both from people outside of the ‘murderabilia’ community ↩︎
10. Typed letters have also been forged. Typically their font won’t match that of Dahmer’s real typed letters and their content will also be suspicious. Occasionally forgers have handsigned these fakes ‘Jeff’ – leaving another red flag in a discrepant signature (and the fact Dahmer was not often known to handsign his typed letters) ↩︎
11. Not all genuine Dahmer envelopes have the Wisconsin prison stamp ↩︎
12. Documented by Jason in his book, The Final Victim (1999) ↩︎
13. A young true crime enthusiast, not Wendy Patrickus, Dahmer’s attorney ↩︎
14. Anonymised ↩︎
15. On average, a one-page handwritten Dahmer letter, with envelope, sells for between $3000 – $5000 ↩︎
16. Each time a wrapper sold, the old listing would be removed then remade with a higher price ↩︎
17. While the Peanut Slabs and Pecan Rounds seem more closely tied to the eras Michael quoted, adverts for Ambrosia’s Milk Chocolate can be routinely found throughout subsequent decades. However, the packaging style for the ones sold on Supernaught et al. still does not conform to the packaging of the 80s and 90s. Another Peanut Slab packet was listed as being from 1940 – the more dynamic packaging suggesting an upgrade from the previous wax-paper and art nouveau-inspired branding, further backdating it ↩︎