What a magnificent early Beistle hat. (Boy, does that witch need a shave!) The Beistle script mark was used only on their earliest products, so this hat might actually be from 1918-1919. It seems to be made from an onion skin paper grade like the many more common German hats from this same era. The image of the cat is also so well rendered. The fact it has survived over a century with its jaunty plume attached is a marvel. It’ll be fun to see what this fetches.
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
Vintage Halloween Coaster Black Cat, Bats; Sanders of Chicago, 1930's-1940's
I’ve seen too many wacky paper coasters produced for Halloween parties over the years, with their frenetic imagery mirroring the hopes that whatever shindig was ongoing would be equally frenetic. This coaster is different. The imagery is subtle, maybe somber even. I love it and am surprised I’ve never seen it before. I tried to dig up basic information about the Sanders Absorbent Coaster Company of Chicago, Illinois, to no avail. If you collect paper party goods like plates, cups, napkins and the like, I’d advise you to snap up this coaster now, as you probably will never see it again.
Vintage Halloween Shackman Accordion Pumpkin JOL Noisemaker
This Shackman bellowed noisemaker, produced sometime after 1960, is based on the original design produced by the Japanese in the 1930s. The original design has colored heavy paper bellows and is stamped “Japan” on the lower inside margin of one of the end pieces. These original accordions from the 1930s are quite difficult to find in working condition. The listing on eBay is for a second generation noisemaker.
Vintage Halloween Novelty Spinning Place Cards Holders WHITNEY 1930s/1920s
The contents of this Whitney game are incorrect and incomplete. The fortunes with lid tops do not belong with the game. (One actually belongs as the fortune to another listing this same seller has on eBay now.) Although the spinners are present, the wooden sticks and the twelve fortunes are missing. Given the overall poor condition of this admittedly difficult-to-find Whitney item, the BIN price of $395 is much, much too high. I feel a fair price given what is on offer is $75.
Vintage Halloween Beistle Jointed Cat Large Made In The USA Almost Perfect
Beistle produced two skelecat designs, one in 1970 and the other in 1971. This is the first design that they abandoned as I think it didn’t appeal to shoppers. The next year’s design was much scarier, thus appealing to the design aesthetic popular with party-givers and goers at the time.
VINTAGE 1920’S GERMAN HALLOWEEN DIECUT - JACK O’LANTERN WITH HAIR!
Why has this wonderful German diecut not sold in the hours it has been on eBay? The price is fair and the sellers are fantastic people. I like how they mention it has a matte finish, as some German diecuts have a glazed finish. I prefer the latter but it generally makes no difference as to value.
Vintage 1920’s Halloween Tally Card Of A Well Suited JOL By The PF Volland Co
Volland didn’t produce a great deal of marked small paper but from that I’ve seen their design aesthetic projects serenity. Volland merged with Gerlach Barklow in 1924 and moved their operations to Joliet, Illinois. They were permanently out of business nine years later. I have seen a fair amount of unmarked small paper that uses a stock numbering convention starting with three numerals followed by a capital T. This listing makes a weak connection between unmarked items with this numbering convention and Volland. I’ll keep this in mind when I see unmarked items with this numbering convention.
Vintage Fine A Quality October Angel Figurine with Halloween Pumpkin JOL Japan
Collectors ask me what market segments haven’t gone price bonkers yet. Admittedly, there are few that come to mind if one thinks of items produced before ~1965, but these porcelain Halloween angel figurines seem to fit the bill. They are fragile enough that surviving examples probably get fewer each year yet most can be picked up for $100 or less. They are not items that appeal to me particularly, but if I squint I can discern the charm from far away. Various Japanese manufacturers produced them during the late 1940s and through the later 1950s.
SCARCE FORM Vintage Halloween Pumpkin Man Candy Container Germany MINT
This is a well-known fantasy piece that began appearing after 1995. These were made to fool unsuspecting collectors. It has no vintage value.
RARE Unused Vintage Halloween Place card Whitney 1920s - Original Packaging
I wonder if the buyer knew this is an incomplete set. The unmarked and unremarkable glassine envelope adds very little to the value, so the seller has to be thrilled with the selling price. (Although eBay shows the selling price to be $259.99, it was actually $200.) There are six cards to the complete set, produced by Whitney during the 1930s. The complete set can be seen on page 273.
Antique Gummed Embossed Foil Halloween Seals - Witch Jack O Lantern - Box of 5
These seals were produced by Hallmark during the mid-1920s. They came in boxes of 15 seals. (They may have been sold in boxes of different quantities, but the box I own is for 15 seals. The box is marked as being a Hall Brothers product.) The box in this listing doesn’t belong with the seals. Given the size of the seals, the box is much too big. Hallmark never had a factory in Attleboro.
Antique Vintage Halloween Dennison The Spook Meet Hallowe'en Party for Grown-ups
Dennison was routinely trying new things to promote their wares, one of the reasons they are still in business today. In 1929, some employee had the idea of targeting decorating ideas for specific types of events and promoting these ideas in an eight-panel fold-out brochure. There were at least three of these publications. I own examples of the first and third in the series. (You can see the third on page 107.) These come up rarely, probably because the print run was small and few kept it. I have only seen this a handful of times and the third in the series only once. The condition is less-than-ideal, but it may be worth picking up if you feel the price is right.
02/18 Update: This fetched $106.27, more than I would have predicted.
Auction 2025 Is Coming!
Hi Everyone,
I’ve been toiling away preparing for the March 2025 auction. I plan to begin sending out emails and otherwise publicizing the annual event on February 16th, so stay tuned.
If you haven’t received an email from me by February 20th, please contact me to ensure I have your most current email. (If you’d like to do that proactively, please do so.)
Best, MBL
Antique 1940s Halloween Party Invitation Black Cats Pumpkin Unused 4.5x 3” VTG
Whitney was an organization that seemingly didn’t prioritize organization. They manufactured boxes for both place cards and invitations designed to hold ten items plus their envelopes. The contents of any box, though, was a crapshoot. Like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, a buyer never knew what they were actually buying. Whitney would load each box with whatever was at hand. Sometimes all ten invitations would be identical, sometimes the box contained an assortment. The assortment would be truly that - sometimes there would be cats and sometimes witches. I’ve seen MANY complete boxes of Whitney place cards and invitations and seldom, if ever, were the contents consistent. What I have noticed is that their place cards and invitations featuring witches are far less common than the ones featuring cats. This penchant for running their business so loosely may have contributed to their demise. Whitney was toast by 1942.
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!
