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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Antique Halloween Palmer Cox Rhyme Brownie 6" Pumpkin decoration

Although much of the seller’s description is fanciful, this is a hard-to-find item from Beistle’s 1922 enveloped party set. (The listed item was not pried from a Victorian scrapbook, because in 1992 Queen Victoria was long dead, her son Edward VII was long dead and on the throne sat his son, George V.) I have one in near-mint or better condition that I would sell for $300 plus shipping. Contact me if interested.

SUPER RARE Dennison USA 1930's Black Cat Halloween LAMP Shade Cut Out! WOW!

Thanks to the keen eye of the Sherlock Holmes of Dennison products, Anita R,. I now know that this Dennison item isn’t a shade, but something to be used as a decorative base to a candle stick. She pointed out that it appears on page 19 of Dennison’s 1934 Halloween Parties magazine. I have updated the errata page.

ULTRA RARE ANTIQUE SPEARS HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN JACK-O-LANTERN RING TOSS GAME

My inbox has been regularly filled with queries about my thoughts on various items listed on eBay recently. This listing is another that has prompted many inquiries, so I thought it would be fun to compare and contrast this listing to the game that has been in the collection since being purchased through Dunbar Gallery when it sold Hugh Luck’s collection in 1997.
So, first off, do I think this game is truly vintage? Yes, there isn’t any doubt in my mind. Are there differences between the game now available on eBay and my game? Yes. What are they?
First, some preliminaries. I asked the seller to provide photos of the lid’s interior. He quickly and graciously added these to the listing. I asked him how the lid was held together. He couldn’t readily answer, but will supply that information as an add to the listing. I asked him if he could supply better photos of the pipe on which the rings would be tossed. (I believe he will do so.) I asked him what the pipe is made from. He said he thought it was wood but will double-check when able.
(The last four photos are of my game.)
The listed game seems to be housed in a white or light blue box. Mine is a very dark blue. The image on the front of the listed box as well as the surface of the game board have a muslin-like pattern to them, or a minutely and perhaps visually-only pebbly surface. My game’s counterparts are smooth. The coloration of the listed game’s board is lighter than my game board. The back of the listed game board is off-white, mine is darker. The listed game has a dark pipe, perhaps wood, which seems to lack fine detailing. My game has two identical clay pipes, heavily detailed. (I love these clay pipes!) The listed game has no hanging hole at the stem. Mine does - but whether that is how the game was manufactured is unknown. The inside of the lid of the listed game has tipped-in information with a more finished fell than with my game.
The pastel rings seem to be the same. My game has fifteen. It seems the listed game has slightly fewer, but it is hard-to-say based on the photos.
So, what do I make of these differences? I suspect the listed game was produced slightly later than mine - maybe by a year or two. J.W. Spear & Sons was founded in 1879 according to Wikipedia. The same source says game-making became their main business around 1900. I estimate the game was first made around 1910 because there wasn’t much commercial interest before then to drive production of a Halloween-themed game. Plus, J.W. Spear & Sons was in Bavaria until 1932, so I doubt such manufacturing was taking place from 1914-1918 when Germany was fighting what we now call World War I.
In conclusion, it is exciting to see such a rare game being offered - especially by a seller who has listed high-end items for several seasons now to general acclaim. The only advice I would offer to the seller - and trust me, he didn’t solicit this advice - would be to provide a much greater level of detail to the written component of his listings. As I state on page 134, this game came in two versions. The smaller version is nice but doesn’t have the eye appeal of its larger brethren. That smaller version has publicly surfaced maybe 4-5 times over the past 40 years, but this is only the second or third time I’ve seen this larger version come to market.
It will be fun to see what this great game brings! I’ll be watching.

Very Rare 1916 Dennison Trifold Invitation Ghost Vintage Halloween H-27 Stock

Prices for many things seem to be out of sync with where values have been even recently. Take this Dennison invitation. Is it desirable? Obviously. Is it scarce? Yes, no surprise given it is 110 years old. Is it worth $566.99? Four bidders seem to think so. Would I pay that? Certainly not for one that was used and glued into a scrapbook. Near-mint examples have recently sold in the $300s range, so this represents a substantial increase over the recent “baseline.” I have long fretted that prices have become so elevated that the lifeblood of any collecting market - new collectors - would dry right up. I had a newish collector write yesterday that she is reevaluating her desire to collect vintage Halloween. That’s too bad because it is such a great hobby populated by so many fun and interesting collectors. But do I get it? Sadly, yes I do.

Rare Vintage Mechanical Halloween Party Invitation with Clock unused Beistle 30s

This seller continues to amaze me with their rare Beistle offerings. This great item was produced in 1932. The back piece which moves to and fro is attached with eyelets. Apparently, the mechanical movement didn’t achieve the desired effect as two of the eyelets were too tight. As a result, Beistle apparently recalled these partially accounting for their scarcity. The other factor is that few people were buying such things in 1932 because of what we now call The Great Depression. The last one that I’m aware of trading hands publicly sold for $3,700 - same condition. This set a new record selling for $5,487.87.

Antique Rare 1920's German Porcelain Halloween Pumpkin Sugar Bowl Jam Pot

Here’s another market segment that has overperformed for many years. You see some pieces from this large array of items produced in Germany from 1908-1932 much more frequently than others - non-handled small and medium cups, creamer, lidded sugar - but then one of the rare pieces surface and bidding is strong. Four bidders pushed this price up past the $1,001 mark and to its ending price of $3,800. Congrats to the top bidder, a smart and enthusiastic collector who we can all learn from.
I love my German porcelain collection, carefully curated over too-many years. Back in 2007, I was offered a collection of 60 items from the niece of a collector who just wanted to be rid of them. Many of the rarer items seen on pages 119-121 came from that purchase. I also acquired a number of rare items a bit later from a discerning collector who smartly shopped for bids and gave me a chance to acquire some choice things. (Thanks, JH!) There is a concise write-up on these porcelain items on page 119. Refer to that when seeing these in the wild. Some were produced in Japan and have a considerably lesser value.

NEAR MINT Antique Vintage Halloween Candy Box Cats on Fence Embossed Label Décor

Ahem…really? Now, I am thrilled that the seller received such a price for her client as the seller invests time and energy promoting her listings across several platforms, but who is bidding such outlandish amounts for what is a commonly seen box festooned with a commonly seen foil sticker? There were four determined bidders behind the surely-never-to-be-repeated result. Prices have been rising very quickly these last few months. That makes me wonder if we are in another plateauing process and reinforces my concern that collecting vintage Halloween items is becoming a playground for the well-heeled. This specific result does nothing to dampen my concern.

ANTIQUE GERMAN HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN JACK-O-LANTERN CANDLE LANTERN

The Germans produced a lot of items using this smiling JOL imagery. You can see some of them on pages 58-60 and 132. Prices for this market segment have been very strong for many years. Even though the ending price was $3,650, I was surprised it didn’t bring more. It is a form I’ve never seen before, so I thought the bidding would be more fierce.

SUPER RARE & HARD TO FIND ANTIQUE H. E. LUHRS HALLOWEEN WITCH RING TOSS GAME

This Hitchy-Witchy game, produced by Beistle during the late 1930s and into the very early 1940s, once was seen frequently enough that I assigned an RSIN of “4” to it in 2014. Times have changed. The game would today merit an RSIN of “2.” Know that the game was reproduced at one time. The knock-offs are very easy to discern as one whole side is blank. I wasn’t entirely surprised at its ending price.

Rare Vintage Halloween Party Invitation with JOL and moving bat unused Beistle?

When I first saw this listing I thought, My God! Except for in the pages of Lavin’s book, I have never seen this before. This was produced by Beistle for a single season, 1930. Now, think about what was happening at that time. The big economic story was what we now call The Great Depression. In mid-1930 when this mechanical invitation was produced, those icy fingers of depression were encircling and squeezing businesses as consumer spending plummeted. The plummeting continued as many thousands of workers were laid off. The average person was trying to feed themselves and perhaps a family. They weren’t spending money on such things as invitations to a Halloween party - no matter how cool the invitation was. And those few people that didn't know or care that the economy was crumbling merrily continued spending much as before. It was that person who would have bought this invitation. (This mechanical invitation was sold singly along with a white envelope.) So, what makes this particular invitation so desirable is that so few were made (Beistle didn’t know if it would survive the economic cataclysm, so they smartly made many fewer of their items than normal from 1930 through 1935.) and those that were purchased by the Mamie and Emily Baldwin’s of their day (A sly The Waltons reference…) didn’t waste them! To have one surface at all is so rare that I’ve never seen one before - BUT to have it be unused is the real point of its rarity.
As of this writing, this item has been bid up to $4,630 - primarily by just three bidders. Is it worth this? Well, yes, in that one person has bid that amount and would assumably pay that sum for it. Would I pay that or higher? Sadly, no, even though such items are in the top three of my favorite market segments. I think about what else I could acquire or what extravagant vacation I could underwrite with the money and the allure of owning something that I’d just toss in a display case fades very quickly. It will be fun (…and I mean it…) to see what someone is willing to pay for this rare gem - and I wish them the very best.

9/6 Update: This great Beistle invitation ended at $17,352.66. All the bidding activity was driven by just two very determined bidders past the $2,650 point. That’s important to remember. If another one was to surface, the bidding would surely end well below this price level. This was quite exciting to watch and has been the subject of MANY emails and phone calls. Beistle items of all quality levels have been on a pricing tear of late. Did you see this same seller had an orange Witch’s Mystery Answer Game in fair-to-good condition that fetched $863 today? On August 9 another seller had one in better condition that also brought big dollars: $1,007.99.

I am wondering if we are in the midst of another sustained pricing surge that will then plateau for a while. I’ve seen this occur in 1992, 1995, 2003 and in 2015. Only time will tell.

9/7 Update: The seller confirmed to me that the prevailing bidder did pay for this invitation. They said they will be packaging it MOST carefully.

RARE Antique Vintage Halloween Beistle Diecut JOL Garland, 65", 1920s

It’s nice to see such a rare item appear on eBay. This garland was made only for a small handful of seasons. The first iteration has connectors that are more primitive than the second and final iteration’s eyelets. This example, complete with all 13 JOLs, is the second iteration. These long garlands are truly hard to find in near-mint or better condition as they were so easily damaged when hanging and unhanging. Except for the surface paper loss on either end, I’m impressed with the overall condition and the brightness of the colors. I wonder at what price will it end?