Maker of candy hearts, Necco Wafers sold at auction

The 171-year-old candy maker known for its chalky Necco Wafers and those little inscribed hearts that are everywhere on Valentine’s Day was sold in bankruptcy court Wednesday.

The Ohio-based Spangler Candy Co. had the winning $18.83 million bid for the New England Confectionery Co., or Necco, at a federal bankruptcy auction in Boston.

The deal from the company that makes Dum Dums lollipops will most likely ensure a future, at least in the short term, for some of the nation’s most familiar candies.

“They’re a crowd favorite,” said Chris Baker, who sells Necco candies at his Old Country Store & Emporium in Mansfield, Massachusetts. “I like to see our traditions continue. Anytime we lose one, it’s a loss for all of us. And this is something that everybody’s had a million times.”

Necco’s court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, Harry Murphy, said the company’s suitors were mainly interested in its “sugar line” — its tubes of wafers, sheets of candy dots, and the conversation hearts popular on Valentine’s Day for phrases such as BE MINE.

The future of Necco’s other products — including the chocolate Sky Bar, the Clark Bar and peanut butter-flavored Mary Jane chews — remains unclear, he said. The company would continue to be run out of its longtime headquarters in Revere, just north of Boston.

Necco, which calls itself the oldest continuously operating candy company in the U.S., couldn’t keep pace with multinational competitors.

In March, it announced it would close its plant and lay off hundreds of workers if it couldn’t find a buyer. Last month, it filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying it owed creditors millions.

Complicating matters, the Food and Drug Administration warned Necco on May 16 that its inspectors found rodent excrement “too