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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

RARE! VINTAGE BEISTLE HALLOWEEN MECHANICAL NUT CUP - BLACK CAT!

It is so nice to finally see some quality items appearing on eBay. With their lack of differentiation of holiday categories and time periods, one has to wade through so much garbage. This mechanical fold-up nut cup was produced by Beistle for a single season in 1938. Four comprise a full set. I was lucky enough to buy multiples of each design in 2015, so this may have once been part of that collection out of Massachusetts. The seller is stellar, so bid with great confidence.

VERY RARE Vintage Halloween Die Cut Mechanical Scarecrow Nut Candy Cup, Beistle!

This result surely was a significant disappointment to the seller/consignor, but a true bargain for whomever was lucky enough to snag this for $262, especially given its condition. I don’t understand the result, so I have to attribute it to the vagaries of eBay. There are four of these Beistle mechanical designs. This same seller offered the strongest design of the quartet, the witch, not long ago and it fetched $938. If the other two designs are offered, it will be instructive to see what they fetch.

5 EXCEEDINGLY RARE Vintage Halloween UNused Nut Cups & Envelope Beistle 20s-30s!

This result is a mystery. Two nut cups with this same design sold recently from this same fine seller: one on 8/2 for $158.50 and one on 8/13 for $139.50. Just a tad over one month later five nut cups plus the envelope sell for a song. (The set was incomplete, but still…) Can we chalk this up to the vagaries of eBay? The buyer of this lot received a true bargain.

Antique Halloween Nut Cup USA Minty

This is arguably one of the most colorful nut cups ever made. The symmetry of the design is appealing. What is truly great, however, is the seller. She is someone I met in the early 1990s when I had only been collecting for ~5 years. She and I gravitated to the same sort of things, including folk art by the best folk artists. Among many other artists, she has many items by Scott Smith and best of all, Matthew Kirscht. I treasure all the many hours we’ve spent together. Bid with the highest level of confidence! Be sure to check out her other listings.

Vintage Halloween Nut/Candy Cups Set of 2

This nut cup design has long ranked as one of my favorites. It uses non-traditional colors with solid Halloween imagery to create an eye-catching and intricate item. Here’s a chance to own two at once! The seller is a gem. She was one of the earliest friends I made in the Halloween collecting community, forged over a shared love of well-crafted Halloween folk art. You can buy from her without hesitation.

Although I am not 100% sure, I think this nut cup was made by Gibson. It is stylistically similar to known Gibson items, but I can’t find it in any catalogs.

11/02 Update: Thanks to the inestimable Cindy Vogel, I can now confirm that this beautiful nut cup was, in fact, produced by Gibson. It was sold with stock number 1908. Thanks, Cindy!

Vintage Halloween Cardboard Candy Container Nut Cup Cat Owl Skeleton By Dennison

Here’s something that doesn’t pop up often. This highly stylized combination nut cup and place card was issued by Dennison in 1929. There were four designs to the complete set - and the four designs were only sold as a set. The stock number was H466. As I write on page 260, “The fantastical imagery of these items is consistent with Dennison’s design focus during the narrow window of 1929-1931.”

Vintage Halloween Cardboard Tab & Slot Candy Container Nut Cup Witch Cat Gibson

What a magnificent item! I had never seen this Gibson nut cup design before seeing this listing. I appreciate the detailed rendering of the scene and the colors chosen by the designer. Gibson produced some of the most interesting and avant-garde products. I’ve collected their output (small paper, seals and diecuts) many years. The seller is a long-time, knowledgeable member of the Halloween collecting community. I love doing business with her!

Vintage Halloween Nut Cup... Rare

This is a superbly designed item - one that I had never seen before. The art looks very similar to some of the Gibson shades you can find on page 44. I appreciate when an artist endeavors to cram as much detail into something with such a small form factor. I’m surprised it didn’t bring stronger dollars.

Dennison 1920s Nut Cup Place Card Jack O'Lanterns unfolded Black & Orange Graph

eBay has been such a wasteland of late that I’ve struggled to find anything to write about, so it refreshing to see this fun and rare Dennison nut cup. They first issued this item in 1928 with a stock number of H566. I’m happy to see such a strong result but not surprised given the paucity of quality items lately and how well respected the seller is in the collecting community.

5 RARE VTG 1930s HALLOWEEN CREPE FAVOR / NUT CUP w/ DIECUT JOL NOS in CELLO

Although I have never much cared for these kinds of party favors, I do like seeing them in their original C.A. Reed packaging. So few of these still exist intact definitively establishing which firm made these inexpensive 1950s party favors. These nut cups typically sell for less than $15 each, so the seller is putting a great value on the intact packaging. I wouldn’t have made the same decision.

02/19 Update: The seller has listed another of these with the same minimum bid of $79.99. It’ll be interesting to see if there are any bids.

03/01 Update: There was one bid, so the second set also sold for $79.99.