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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

BEISTLE HALLOWEEN 1920'S MECHANICAL HORRIBLE WITCH DIE CUT~BAT WINGS~SCOWLING

I enjoy seeing these wonderful vintage Beistle items on Ebay. When Beistle manufactured and assembled these early mechanical items, they primarily used these primitive pot metal fasteners seen here. By 1929 they had moved to predominantly using grommets. There are exceptions to these general guidelines as manufacturing was much more free-form back then than it is today. This Horrible Witch mechanical diecut was made during the mid-1920s. 
Look at the Beistle JOL garland at the bottom of page 145. Another reference dates this as being manufactured several decades later, but the use of the early fasteners mitigates against that assertion.  

vintage halloween Rare Die cut Man In Moon

This is one of a set of four diecuts Beistle issued in the mid-1950s. The set is hard to find, but this example is in poor enough condition that I feel collectors should pass it by. Why? The set was distinguished by a little-used novelty of having a separately attached image made from a black light construction paper give a cheap 3-D effect to the overall diecut. The bat that should be with this diecut would have been attached where the holes are located in the left middle of the item. Please see page 158 to view the entire set. 

1940 Halloween Tambourine Vintage T. Conn Witch on Pumpkin 6 Inch Diameter

I was surprised at this listing. The seller is someone who was one of the earliest collectors of vintage Halloween memorabilia - a true trailblazer. When I was a fresh-faced collector in 1988, this seller was already an old hand at the hobby. This seller is savvy, so I was surprised that she offered this rare tambourine at such a bargain. (That this was a bargain is demonstrated by just how quickly some lucky buyer snapped this up.) Also, she should know that there was no such firm called T. Conn making these items. It is T. Cohn. 

WONDERFUL VINTAGE HALLOWEEN "BEISTLE" USA- GREAT WITCH DIE CUT-EMBOSSED

This astonishing result is what happens when you have one bidder bound and determined to add something to their collection. If you look at the bidding history, the one bidder simply wished to top all bids, and took this common diecut home for the unsustainable price of $202.50. This Beistle diecut, made for many seasons, typically changes hands for $75. Congrats to the seller, long one of my favorites, for this score. 

tin halloween parade lantern jack o' lantern

This seller has angered a number of collectors who have repeatedly contacted him/her to tell him this was made by Bethany Lowe within the last few years and has zero collectible value. This seller refuses to accurately describe this lantern or list it in the Modern category. The dodge he/she uses is so old...stating that the age is unknown. It isn't. He/she simply refuses to be educated. 

06/17 Update: I feel for the buyer who dropped $632 on what is merely a decorative item. People: Do your research before dropping serious cash on things like this. 

Great Email Received...

I received an email from a faithful reader which makes a good point. Thanks so much, Glenn! 

You come down on seller's shipping prices a lot on your blog. What you may not take into account is that the shipping price often includes insurance since eBay does not separate insurance costs from shipping. Regarding your recent post about the witch whistle, the insurance alone on this would be $2.75 if the final price doesn't go above the $75 opening bid. That's the bulk of the shipping cost! I wouldn't want this shipped for $1.25 because that would mean the item was not insured. In my opinion that would be the "negative". Tracking may be included, but that is not insurance.
I personally overpack for safety. Often the box and packaging is 95% of the weight. It's better to ship something safely in a box than be sorry for a damaged item that arrived in a cheaply-shipped envelope.
Something to think about.

Vintage Beistle Black Cat Owl Bat Pumpkin Halloween Orange Tissue HoneyComb Hat

I haven't seen this choice hat surface for some time. Early Beistle (1918-1935) is arguably the hottest sub-genre of vintage Halloween right now, something that has remained true for many years. Even with the condition issues specific to this hat, it fetched a strong price. What captivates me about this hat is the energy the artist conveyed with the four principal figures. 

1920s Beistle Die Cut Halloween Johnny Pumpkin Head Easel Back Stand Up

This seller is very optimistic if she thinks this will fetch $275. In perfect condition, these at one time brought $100, but now they routinely bring significantly less. 
Beistle made an entire "family" of these in varying sizes and design. This small one, measuring ~5.25" is the most common design by a wide margin. Please see pages 122-124 for a nearly complete array of these Johnny Pumpkin designs. 

Antique Tin Germany Halloween Siren Whistle Witches Cats

This petite whistle noisemaker was made in Germany sometime during the late 1920s. Its RSIN is "2," so you know these don't surface much. Sustainable guide value is $150, so the opening price is actually not unreasonable. The whistling mechanism on these is often broken, so I consider it a slight bonus that this is purported to be fully functional. 
One negative with this seller is that the postage charge is $4.54. Given the item's small form factor and its negligible weight, postage shouldn't be more than $1.25, especially considering how tracking is now automatically included with First Class postage. 

06/11 Update: The buyer got a solid bargain when scooping this up for the pittance of $74.95. 

1920's Vintage Halloween German Crow Die Cut NEAR MINT!!

Wow, this is one of the harder German diecuts to get, exclusive of the few produced for one year around 1935 and shipped only to eastern Canada. This looks to be in beautiful condition, although the photographs do lack that level of detail I'd prefer. The buyer got a great item at a very good price, considering that sustainable guide value is $325. 

1920's Vintage German Owl Bat and man in moon Die cut

I sure wish the photos were better on this listing. The seller grades this as "fine plus," but it is hard to make an independent judgement. Doing so is important, in that this diecut is so rarely found. One of six mini-diecuts made in Germany from the early 1930s through the late 1940s, this, in my view, is the one of the two best from the set, the other being the witch at her cauldron. (You can see the others on page 185.) 

2 Vintage Halloween Decorations Witch & Bat Made in Germany Cardboard Die Cut

This was a solid score. Happily, good friends of mine snagged this pair of German diecuts. The sustainable guide value for the bat alone is $150. It always amazes me when sellers list something as a BIN without any knowledge of what they are selling. It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: "The sum of the intelligence of the planet is a constant. The population is growing." 

Vtg Mavrakos Candy HALLOWEEN CARDBOARD BOX,Witch,Black Cat,Pumpkin,St Louis RARE

This listing is full of wonderful detail that adds to the knowledge base for vintage Halloween memorabilia. It is unusual to find the inner waxed paper still extant with these often unmarked candy boxes. So, to find that it was issued by Mavrakos Candies of St. Louis, and then to have the seller provide the kind of operational detail that I love, this listing has hit a home run. It seems that the buyer of this rare box - I hadn't seen it before - got a solid bargain at $79.95.