Blog

Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

MINT Unused Vintage Halloween Tally Cards Jack o' Lantern Rust Craft

Rust Craft produced some of the more innovative small paper designs. I’ve become an avid collector of their Halloween output. This tally is not often found in collectible condition. Can you guess why? If you said its slightly larger-than-average size and its very irregular borders - go to the head of the class!

Vintage Halloween 1920s Beistle Mechanical Jointed Bat

This is an astonishing result. This mechanical bat was produced by Beistle. It was sold in an envelope with a mechanical owl during the 1920s. (Beistle used at least two different colored envelopes. Some envelopes were tissue thin while others were of a medium-gauge card stock.) These bats typically bring about half of what this brought. I attribute it to the confluence of these factors: condition, the great photos, the clear description and the paucity of quality items on eBay right now.

The For Sale Page Will Activate This Afternoon

Hi Everyone,
I’ll activate my For Sale page sometime this afternoon. I’ll also begin tending to my blog again soon, even though there isn’t much to comment upon. The listings have been quite sparse.
I just returned from a two-week vacation. I took Amtrak’s California Zephyr from Sacramento to Chicago, exploring the museums and other attractions of that fine city while staying at a fantastic hotel right in the heart of downtown. I then took Amtrak’s Southwest Chief to Kansas City to visit close friends. I flew home yesterday. Although I had a very good time, there is, ultimately, no place like home!

Very Rare Antique Vintage Halloween 1930s Beistle Honeycomb Witch and Moon Hat

This exceedingly rare hat was produced by Beistle from 1933-1937. It is one of the four designs that comprise the full set of what Beistle called New Moon Hats. After all my years of collecting, I have found only three of the four. The one that’s missing is this very design, but the condition was too compromised for me to even consider acquiring it. Even with its condition and the time of the year, it did fetch an astounding $212.51.

Antique Vintage Halloween Plastic Cake Cupcake Decorations In Original Package

I found this listing interesting in that this packaged assortment of hard plastic toppers was offered by the Lone Toy Tree Company of Carmel, California. The firm wasn’t even incorporated until June of 1967, so they must have been simply a wholesale repackager of goods. These toppers were initially offered in the 1950s, long before the Lone Toy Tree Company was even in a glint in the milkman’s eye, to borrow a favorite phrase from Black Adder. The upshot is to be cautious with attributing products with a specific firm based on packaging alone.

Barbara Smuts - R.I.P.

I wanted to take a moment to honor a person who was instrumental in shaping my life. Barbara Smuts was the person who started me on my journey of collecting vintage Halloween memorabilia. She ran a one-person antiques shop in Fair Oaks, California, from 1982 until 2013. It was into her shop, Blue Eagle Antiques, that I wandered one day in early October of 1988, not knowing how that innocent browsing excursion would alter my wallet and sensibilities. Barbara, the epitome of midwestern kindness, had an encyclopedic knowledge of antiques. Her specialization was in American primitive furniture but she knew a lot on a lot of subjects, including holiday memorabilia. Well, that day she asked if I’d mind moving a few boxes from a back storeroom to a spot near the large front window. I did move them and asked what was in them. She said it was the vintage Halloween items that she saved all year to put out for sale a few weeks before Halloween. Well, I opened the boxes and was instantly hooked. (Truly, instantly hooked, buying much of the contents of those boxes that very day for $300.) From that day forward, I always considered Barbara to be the godmother of my collection. I dedicated all three editions of my book to her. We remained friends until her passing at nearly 91 on November 20th. I last spoke to her this past Halloween. Barbara was a truly remarkable person. She was funny, witty and canny - all wonderful qualities. Barbara was the mother to three lucky children and the wife of a very lucky guy, Jerry.
Below is a photo I snapped of Barbara, stalwart at her shop’s counter, on Halloween of 1992. She was in the spirit. Look at her scarf and its central JOL.

RARE Vintage Halloween Moon & Cats Decoration Casting/Mold Plate

Here’s something I’ve not seen for decades - a seemingly actual pressing plate used to produce one of Beistle’s well-known diecuts. Diecuts from this set of twelve were made from 1932 through the early 1950s. Collectors can estimate when diecuts from this set were pressed based on the level of embossing present. (As the plate was used over time the level of detail from the plate would decrease.) This kind of artifact from the production process almost never surfaces. I saw a few back in the early 1990s, but none since. The price seems right as many collectors, like me, aren’t overly interested in such items.

Vintage Halloween Orange Cat Paper Mache Lantern

This is the time of the year when quality vintage Halloween listings on eBay are unusual. The number of newly produced items, mostly made offshore, populating eBay’s listings is overwhelming. I do wish they would rigorously police their categories. So, it was nice to see this great little cat head lantern. This particular pulp lantern is on the harder-to-find end of the availability spectrum. I think if this lantern would have been offered in the June-August timeframe it may have brought ~20% more. When things are offered in an auction setting make a difference.

Antique 1940s Cardboard Noisemaker Horn Halloween Durene Yarn x3 Vintage Toy

This trio of horns was produced by Bugle Toy of Providence, RI, during the 1940s. The seller notes the textile labels on the interior of what is now a horn noisemaker. The labels provide a clue as to the cost savings emphasis kept front-and-center by Bugle as well as other manufacturers. They would purchase used textile spindles in bulk to use as the basis for which to wrap the spindles in lithoed paper to mark various holidays, like Halloween. One might ask why firms like Bugle wouldn’t remove the labels. Don’t forget that these operations were not high-margin endeavors. These horns originally sold for pennies. Removing the labels would add to production costs without a real benefit, so the labels stayed.

Happy Halloween To All!

This has sure been a good season. Sellers on eBay have offered many great items over these last few months. The best lot was the complete and pristine set of NOMA JOL lights offered by hrlpjr. It sold for a tad over $5,000. I was glad to learn that it went to one of my favorite collectors who happens to live in Massachusetts. I’m always happy to see stellar items go to stellar collectors.

Thanks for being a regular reader. I’m going to allocate more time to updating the site. (This has been such a busy season that I am despairing that it is all over for 2024 in mere hours.) I want to add to my Acquisitions section. I will also be adding ~30 items to my For Sale page in the next two weeks, so stay tuned.

Have a Happy Halloween! MBL

#77 Vintage Halloween Dennison's Bogie Book Original

The seller doesn’t point it out anywhere in the listing, but this is a hardcover version of Dennison’s 1919 Bogie Book. I don’t believe I have ever seen a hardcover version of this issue. It went for a song relative to its worth. Sellers who rely on simply stating “See the photos” or words to that affect, annoy me. Take the time to describe the item fully, yet minimally. Most sellers want the most they can get for an item. This goal is at cross-purposes with stating next-to-nothing about the listing except, “See the photos.”

Vintage Halloween 1930 Beistle Black Cat Jack-o-Lantern Bat Nut Cup

It’s not every day that you see this Beistle nut cup come available. As I write on page 221, I suspect this design was issued for a single season, in either 1930 or 1931. They were sold in envelopes of four with a stock number of 760N. This seller is stellar. I have had many thoroughly positive interactions with him over the years, so I don’t understand the feedback left on a transaction involving a Kokomold item. You can deal with him with confidence.