Blog

Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Vintage Halloween 1930s Beistle Black Cat Band Hat

It’s nice seeing such quality Beistle band hats on eBay, especially at this time of the year when quality offerings are few. Beistle made many, many band hat Halloween designs, too many of which are forgettable. This isn’t one of those. This actually sold for $350, a respectable price for this design in this condition, but I wonder what it would have brought in an auction setting. (I suspect more.) The collecting key for this series of band hats is the artwork on the band. Some of this artwork wasn’t used again, so buying one of these band hats gives you an opportunity to see the full breadth of Beistle’s artistic creativity.

Halloween Bridge Tally Card Rust Craft #3952 Unused Gilded Moon Vintage

Rust Craft was a small paper manufacturer out of Boston, Massachusetts. They began in 1906 and lumbered through until merging with Norcross in 1981. In terms of their Halloween output, their Golden Age, shared with so many other manufacturers, was the 1920s. Collectors began noticing the eccentricity of their designs perhaps five years ago. Their output was small relative to Beistle, Dennison and Gibson (in that order) so opportunities to buy Rust Craft items from the 1920s in near-mint or better condition aren’t plentiful. This tally sold yesterday for a sum undreamt of just a few years ago. I feel the value runway for Rust Craft small paper is long, so if you like their design aesthetic, plan on buying now rather than later. Rust Craft was disciplined about marking their wares and assigning stock numbers to them, but not always. I feel that in the first season they decided to take the Halloween plunge they hadn’t codified their design aesthetic. (I haven’t been able to pinpoint that precise year.) Pieces I suspect were made by Rust Craft then have a larger form factor, a simple color and design scheme and are sometimes hand-stamped “Made in USA.” I think this “loosey-goosey” period lasted maybe up to one season.

1950s Antique Vintage Beistle Halloween Ghostly Stunt and Fortune Game-Unused

This small game that Beistle produced during the 1950s has gotten hard to find. I had once assigned an RSIN of 3 to it, but feel comfortable changing that to a 2. Because many of these stunt games were meant to be pulled apart, the vast majority are used to some degree, making finding an unused one with bright colors a real coup. I see this fine seller has recently offered a number of Beistle games in nice condition.

Pickings are slim this time of year - so be sure to check out the 103 lots comprising this year’s auction when the Preview Period begins this coming Wednesday morning.

Vintage 1920s - 30s German Germany Halloween Diecut 5" Witch Decoration Embossed

This German diecut sold for $255. There are two versions of this desirable diecut. The rarer version has the witch staring straight ahead with different teeth and a different hat design. Both versions were made with mirror images. So, if you look on page 177, you’ll see both designs. You’ll see the item that sold recently on eBay is a mirror image of the one shown in the reference.

Bertoia's Holiday January 2026 Auction

Over the last two days Bertoia Auctions held their Holiday January 2026 event, with a very nice selection of vintage Halloween. Although they had very few diecut lots, one held an exceedingly rare Dennison item that I was lucky enough to snap up for a good price. (Now, keep in mind like all auction houses there is a buyer’s premium. In this auction it was 20%. One of the buyer advantages to my auction is that I have never charged a buyer’s premium, only requiring a book purchase for entry eligibility. My auction’s publicity will start in about a week. The preview period will begin February 18.)

Candy containers saw strong results as did hard plastic and German porcelain. I’ve included the lots I found notable below.

The first photo shows one of the lots on which I was the prevailing bidder. The triple-witch head Dennison diecut is one I’ve only seen one other time. It is worth the entire lot price and more.

The second photo shows a porcelain lot. The plate at the left was the star of the lot. Very few exist. Every one I’ve ever seen has wear like the one from Linda Morrow’s collection.

The third and fourth photos show stellar results for two of the most difficult to find items from the large output of such wares made between 1908-1932. The item described as a sugar shaker is actually a hat pin holder. (See my book’s errata…)

The fifth photo shows just how strong hard plastic has become - especially for items produced by Kokomold. (It pains me that Bertoia misidentified the maker as Rosbro.)

The last photo shows one of the many folk art items in the auction created by Jack Roads. Jack, who died in 2019, was a Sacramento-area art professor and creator-extraordinaire who I was lucky to know for many years. I bought one of his skittle sets (a better one than in the auction, in my opinion) from his estate for $500. I wasn’t surprised that many of his items did so well!

Vintage Saalfield Halloween Game - Halloween Party - Pin The Eyes On JOL

This is one of the earliest commercially produced Halloween games. Saalfield issued this version, featuring a large muslin board, soon after its copyright date of 1907. They later issued a version printed on low-grade paper stock. Either version complete is a real find. But, as you can see, collectors will still spend not insignificant dollars to add partial examples to their collections.

Vintage HALLOWEEN c1920 BLACK OWL Moon CANDY HOLDER E. Rosen Co. Ex Carpentier

I recently returned from a vacation. I saw this listing and couldn’t recall if I had an example or not in the collection. So, I placed a mildly aggressive bid and was one of the underbidders. I checked the cabinet when I returned home and discovered I didn’t have that design. Who knows when this quite rare and desirable Rosen candy holder design will next hit the market?

RARE German Vintage Halloween Diecut Orange Black Pumpkin Head Man Boy 5"

It is refreshing to see such a rare item on eBay at this time of year when pickings are mighty slim. This diecut is, I feel, one of the designs originally exported only to Canada in 1935, and is exceedingly rare. The one shown on page 171 is from another collection. I only acquired one for the collection sometime around 2018 - thirty long years after I began collecting. The one up on eBay now is faded and has several condition issues, but when might you see one again? (This is a time when rarity overtakes condition.) I feel this little gem is worth north of $500.

Vintage 1929 Hallmark Halloween Invitation - Bats, Black Cat, Owl

When I first saw this listing I was immediately enthralled. I knew it was a previously unknown invitation produced by Hallmark - and I wanted it! However, my enthusiasm dimmed when I saw its condition. Although sometimes there is a true trade-off between condition and scarcity, I felt this was too badly compromised to add to the collection. Given that it sold for next-to-nothing, I probably should have placed a low bid. Because of its rarity, it probably would have become a permanent place holder.

Vintage HALLOWEEN c1920 PLACE HOLDER Rust Craft SCARECROW Art Deco EX CARPENTIER

I was interested in bidding on this Rust Craft item, but when I looked more closely at it I was afraid that the greetings card may have been trimmed. It is hard to be sure, but I was concerned enough that I decided to pass. If the buyer is a reader, please let me know if it appears trimmed in person.

12/16 Update: The buyer shared close-up photos of the card’s borders. The item had not been trimmed post-production. Yay! The card is a rare and desirable Rust Craft product in near-perfect condition.

Vintage Dennison Halloween Parties Games Decoration Favors Stunts Magazine 1934

It is hard to find a copy of this 1934 Dennison publication in decent condition. Relatively few of these were printed as the Great Depression had tightened its icy grip on the nation at that time. (In fact, Dennison ceased printing this last of the Bogie Book cousins after the next year.) This copy may be one of the best I’ve seen. But, the price is stultifying. I feel $125 is the right price for this great item.

Antique Gibson Halloween Fortune Owl Get Wise “Pick a Feather” Rare Collectible

This very large game is quite hard to find in decent, complete condition. There are a myriad of condition issues with this, but the colors look bright and the detached ear can be remedied easily. The seller is offering it for a BIN of $900, which seems overly valued. I think a fair value is in the $500-600 range.

12/13 Update: The seller has finally dropped the asking price from $900 to $630 - close to my recommended fair value range stated above.

01/01/26 Update: The seller has dropped the BIN price to $600. I feel the fair market value of this game given its condition is between $500-600.