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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Wonderful German 1941 Hallowe'en Decorations Graphic Box

This is a superb box! These boxes are quite collectible for a number of reasons, not the least of which is they are rare AND serve as good references as to which diecuts were sold as sets. However, the boxed set was not assembled and exported in 1941. The Germans were two years into the Second World War at that time and were not exporting paper goods. In fact, they dramatically ramped down their exports of such items in 1935 as the leaders of the Third Reich bent the economy to begin preparing for armed conflict. If you look at the photo showing the stamped date, the way to read it is clear: Sep 24 1330, with 1330 referring to some inventory number assigned somewhere along the way. The "1" looks in size and shape to correspond to the "330," definitely not to the other two digits, "2" and "4." 

Rare Antique Beistle Halloween Party Favors Toy Horrible Wriggling Snake Box Lot

Darn, I wish I would have noticed this listing. A true example of "new old stock" found at an estate sale, the lot featured 12 complete and near-mint packages of the hard-to-find Beistle enveloped product called Horrible, Wriggling Snake. Whomever the buyer was got a killer deal. Expect to see prices on this item to dip in the short term as these begin to wend their way to the marketplace. The dip will be temporary in my opinion, as these are great sets. 

Vintage 1940's Halloween BEISTLE Embossed, Die-cut FLYING WITCH Large size

This large, saw-toothed diecut made by Beistle seemingly sold for a bargain price. The story behind the story, though, is that about one inch has been trimmed from the bottom edge. This is pretty severe damage. The buyer realized that something looked a little off and contacted me for my opinion. Given the data I provided, both parties to the sale agreed to void it. The lesson here is to look carefully at auction photos and compare them to photos in reference books, especially mine! :)  

Vintage Halloween Bridge Tally Score Card JOL Honeycomb Tutu

Over the last few years, the very few times this Beistle tutu tally or its mate shown on page 218 have surfaced, the frenzy surrounding them results in very strong results. Again, if you take out the top two bidders, the price therefore resulting, $285, is probably the more sustainable one. When I wrote my second edition in 2007, I assigned a price for the pair at $225. Given the prices fetched for these over the last 4 or so years, I think a realistic price for the pair is around $575-650, showing just how strong the market has become for early Beistle paper. 

Early Beistle Halloween Stand-Up Scary Face JOL

This is an exceptionally rare Beistle item. It is a table decoration with a flip-out base like the two shown on page 251. I feel it was produced only in 1930-31. An example of Beistle being frugal - except for the flip-out base it is identical to their Jack-O-Lantern Fortune game - I don't think this was a strong seller for them. I bought the one in my collection in 2007 in a private sale. Until this listing, I have never seen it anywhere else, ever! It will be instructive to see what this fetches. 

Vintage Halloween Party Favor Stand-Up JOL Man With Cat

Many collectors may not know that Beistle slightly altered the design of this, the smallest of their Johnny Pumpkin family, for one season only. The version being sold in this lot has a folding side easel and the bottom of the piece does not have the typically appearing copyright symbol and the name Beistle. (Hence, this version is slightly shorter.) The overall color on these is always more orange than maroon. This version was only sold in an enveloped set of five with a stock number of 514. Interestingly, the illustration on the envelope shows the item as it normally appears, evidence of a shortcut Beistle took when recycling this design. Originally, this Johnny Pumpkin family first appeared in 1920. Only the smallest version was sold in subsequent years. I feel this version was sold as late as 1925. 

Vintage Halloween Mini Cat's Face With Hat German Die-Cut

This is only the second time I have seen this iteration of a black cat face German diecut. The other time was just a few days ago on Ebay. (That listing consisted of two diecuts. Considering it was snapped up for only $181, I feel collectors simply overlooked it.)  The eyes on this iteration look down whereas the eyes on the most common of the three designs look straight at the viewer and the eyes on the second-most common look to the right. Each iteration has a different design on the hat. Given how rare this diecut is, it should fetch no less than $225.