Authentic German Vintage Halloween 3 Panel Screen

I wonder why this fantastic, vintage fireplace screen didn't bring more money?

VINTAGE DENNISON/BEISTLE HALLOWEEN BLACK DANCING CAT TABLE CENTER PIECE

This table centerpiece was actually made by Gibson in the 1920s.

Vintage Beistle Fortune Wheel For Halloween Parties game/decoration, 1926

I love seeing these iconic Beistle treasures bring such strong results! Although these surface regularly, condition is typically an issue since the design was prone to immediate wear and tear. Having one available for auction in this "very fine" condition certainly was the primary driver for this result.

Vintage 1920's Dennison Halloween Diecut Hissing Snarling Cat Face

As pointed out on page 120, Dennison made this snarling black cat face in three sizes. This one is the smallest one. The 2 others measured 11" H x 10" W & 17" H x 15.25" W.

Vintage Halloween Old Large Black Cat Stand-up Diecut, Germany, 1920s-30s

This is probably the closest-to-perfect such diecut I have seen in many years. The superb seller is right, of course: the larger the diecut the harder it is to find them in such condition. The fillip I would add is that those diecuts with irregular borders are harder to find in such nice condition. This example is both large and irregular, so snap it up if you don't own it already or if you need an upgrade.

PAPER MACHE DEVIL HEAD CANDY CONTAINER

The buyer got the bargain of the year obtaining this vintage and near-mint candy container for a pittance.

Halloween Noisemaker

Each time I have ever seen this particular noisemaker offered for sale the handle is loose, so I suspect that the manufacturer made them all that way.

Halloween Paper Decoration

This is the top part to a very rare Rosen mechanical "Witch Pops" box. I have seven of these Rosen boxes in my personal collection now. You can see several of them on page 104.

4-sided Halloween Lamp Shade

I almost fell out of my chair when I saw this listing. This lantern, made by Gibson in 1929, is exceptionally rare. The Relative Scarcity Index number assigned to this in my book on page 45 is 1. This marks only the second time in my collecting career that I have seen this item. This lantern is huge and is eye-catching. I can't wait to see what this excellent item fetches!!!

Vintage Halloween witch decoration

This common broomed witch diecut was made by Merri-Lei Corporation of New York beginning in the 1950s and continuing for perhaps a decade. It was typically sold in a set with several other diecuts including a JOL and a black cat.

1920s HALLOWEEN – BEISTLE DANCING SKELETON WITH ENVELOPE

The buyer got an exceptionally good deal here.

Vintage Halloween Tin Bell Style Clanger Noise Maker Black Cat Bat Owls

Unfortunately, the buyer of this lot (plus the buyer of a similar lot by the same seller, 110952803406) spent money on items that have no real age to them. Both of these noisemakers were made about 5 years ago exclusively for a retail store called Restoration Hardware. They were made for a single season and have zero collectible value.

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DECORATION ART DECO PUMPKIN PEOPLE

Unfortunately, this is merely a remnant, being one side of a three-sided table decoration made by Gibson in the 1920s. It is missing its four connecting hooks, two of which were on either side. A complete example can be seen on page 200.

Vintage Halloween 1917 DENNISON's Bogie Book 36 Pages RARE

This particular issue is quite scarce in such beautiful condition so I am not at all surprised it brought $303.33. The print runs on Dennison Bogie Books varied greatly. The first one, issued in 1909, had such a small print run that only a single extant copy is known to exist. (Please see page 105.) There wasn't another Bogie Book published until 1912. That year, and all of them through 1916 had tiny print runs, except for 1915, for some inexplicable reason. No Bogie Book was published in 1917 or 1918 due to WWI. The issues for 1919 and 1920 had small print runs. After 1920, the printing floodgates were opened and today's collectors see Bogie Books from these years offered often.

Beistle Grandfather Clock Mechanical Halloween Party Invitation-skeleton & JOL

Roll out the red carpet to welcome this - arguably the rarest, most coveted single small paper item item from Beistle's Golden Age of production. This elusive, ingeniously designed invitation was on my HOLY GRAIL list for over two decades (I am not joking...) until I was fortunate enough to acquire one a scant few months ago. This item is very large and has an awesome presence. Issued for a single season, 1932, these almost never surface. Why is this the case? An enterprising collector contacted me several months ago to offer a theory. With minor editing I share it with you now:

“I have some information regarding the 1932 mechanical invitation and may have some insight into its rarity. I purchased the same invitation in 2010 that had the center piece torn out. I planned to repair it (no sharpies here, just a magnifying glass and sewing needles to apply glue, making sure none of it got on the decorative surface.) When the center piece was repaired and reassembled, I found that the skeleton side would not fully extend, and barely showed half of its face. In wanting to see the delightful Halloween imagery, I kept pulling until I realized that the center piece was flexing right in the area where it was originally torn and now just repaired. I stopped and disassembled it again to see what was going on. What I came across made me wonder if this could be a contributing factor to their rarity. In looking at the invitation, there are three eyelets holding the invitation together. The crucial ones are the bottom and middle eyelet. The bottom is the pivot and the middle helps form a travel stop for the center piece. The center piece has a slotted cutout in the shape of a curved arc. The ends of this arc act as a travel stop when it butts up against the center eyelet. What I discovered, is that if the virtual or imaginary center of that arc does not coincide with the center of the bottom eyelet, the slotted arc will trace a curve that is offset with the middle eyelet, and the eyelet will dig into the edge of the center piece slot preventing it from fully traversing on one side. I’m sure Beistle produced these in a batch run, so the discrepancy was no doubt transferred to all the pieces of that run. It is possible that its rarity may be due to many invitations having its center torn out and then discarded. I slightly trimmed the center slot and reassembled it and now both sides fully show the imagery. I don’t know if trimming it changes its “originality” but I felt it was worth it. Over all, the repair came out excellent. I kept the original eyelets by using a four fingered drill chuck from the tail stock of my jeweler’s lathe as a sort of mechanical finger to carefully unswage the back of the eyelet. I then used a eyelet kit to tap it back flat when done. It would have been perfect except that I had to undo the eyelets once more to find the problem. In doing it twice one eyelet developed a minor split in the edge when flattening it while the other came out perfect. To see that the invitation had even been repaired you have to hold it about six inches from your face. I have been looking for this one many years after seeing it in a collector catalog, and was immediately transfixed by the artwork. It just shouted “Halloween” to me. Anyway, I thought you might find this information valuable.”

Now, if you collect the rarest items and have an eye for superb design, you MUST NOT let this go by the wayside. It is great to see such a truly rare item on Ebay. It will be informative to see what this mint item brings. (I have just added this seller to my list of those with whom I am proud to conduct business, so bid with confidence!)

Post-sale update

Wowee!! I never thought in a million years that this invitation would bring such significant dollars. Granted, this is rare and wonderful, but over $1700 for an invitation does boggle my mind. I paid $400 for the one I snagged in a private transaction a few months ago and thought at the time I had paid what I described to another collector as a "crazy" price. The response back was that she would have gladly paid $600, so I guesstimated that this listing would end somewhere between $600-800 dollars. I received many phone calls and texts immediately after the auction, so plenty of advanced collectors were watching. All expressed astonishment. I've identified the prevailing bidder and at least one of the recorded under-bidders and they are both determined, knowledgeable and apparently deep-pocketed collectors. God bless them!