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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Halloween Bogie Book by Dennison's-- 1916--Rare--good condition

This is a Dennison Bogie Book edition that rarely is offered for sale. This 1916 copy looks to be in quite good condition. For some reason, every issue from 1916 that I've examined has been in poor to very good condition only. Dennison seemed to have a problem that year ensuring the covers stayed stapled to the pages. On my Relative Scarcity Index, this merits a "2," with a fair market value of $675. 

05/21 Update: Given the condition, I feel the result of $510 is quite strong! 

Scarce early Halloween candy box. NEVER before seen by me!

This small form factor box is quite interesting. I concur with the seller that this box is early, somewhere prior to 1930. I really enjoy this great seller's descriptions. They are no nonsense and to the point. That's why he is listed as one of my trusted sellers. 

05/16 Update: I would have not expected this cool Halloween box to fetch anywhere near what it brought - $305.77. As with all such results, it was due solely to two bidders going to the mat. Look at the bidding history. If you remove the two tenacious bidders, the box would have ended at $50. Congratulations to the seller! 

VINTAGE 1924 BEISTLE HALLOWEEN HONEYCOMB HAT? CENTERPIECE? JOL JACK O LANTERN

Beistle issued a set of four of these fairy-themed party hats in 1923, the singular year of their fairy mania. Every example of this hat I have seen seems to have that top-most bit of the wing missing. The artist was even then pushing the boundaries of Halloween imagery. I suspect these were not produced in the large quantities associated with other Beistle products from this year - like their fairy-themed Halloween Party book - as these hats almost never surface. It will be fun to see what this fetches. 

05/14 Update: This wonderful hat fetched $405, far above what I consider to be the sustainable price of $250. If you look at the bidding history, it rocketed off from about $225. 

RARE Old Vintage Halloween Cardboard Diecut Die Cut Out Cats Sign Whitney 1930's

I love this exceedingly rare Whitney party sign. From what I can determine, four constitute a complete set: two featuring owls and two featuring cats. I have two of the four in my collection, but have never been able to score the other two. (You can see the two in the collection on page 150.) I'd be tempted by this one, but the condition is problematic for me. Cool, though, huh? 

Smiling German Jack-O-Lantern Halloween Pipe Noisemaker!

Horns like this first began appearing at large antiques shows in the middle 1990s. There were several different styles - a skull, a witch face, a black cat face - that all began appearing at once. I remember seeing large quantities of these different pipe noisemakers on the table of a dealer from Germany at one of the Atlantic City antiques shows during the middle 1990s. I wondered then just how many would be sold before collectors realized they had no age to them. I'm glad this item was listed in the correct category! 

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DENNISON BLACK MATCHBOARD WITCHES - PACK OF 12

This is an exceptionally rare envelope of "black matboard" or silhouette witches that Dennison issued about 100 years ago! During their first few years of issuing packaged goods (1912-1914), Dennison's inventory numbering system is easy to understand. Once their sales of such pre-packaged merchandise took off, their numbering system became so complicated and convoluted that today there seems to be no way to understand their methodology. In the earliest years, Dennison assigned numbers only. Soon, they added an H before the numbers, sometime with a hyphen, sometimes without. (It seems so very random.) 

VINTAGE 1920’s-50’s U.S.A. HALLOWEEN WITCH & CAT ON BROOMSTICK PAPER LANTERN

Here is an item that rarely surfaces. This superb and fragile lantern was made by Beistle in the early 1930s. Notice how the cat's head is identical to the imagery on one of the two versions of Beistle's "I'm a Dumbskull" game. It has been a long time since one of these was sold through Ebay so it will be instructive to see what it fetches. 

05/05 Update: This fine lantern brought $295, a very strong price indeed!

Vintage Halloween porcelain box

This is an interesting item. This is a piece from the German adult-sized porcelain tea set that was produced from 1908-1932. Few of the items from this specific set were marked, so the lack of a mark shouldn't be any cause for alarm. It's unclear what the function of this lidded container was. I surmise it may have been a tea or coffee container. Although rare, because of the chips and its lack of a clear function, I value this item at $300. A recent comparable was the exquisite and perfect candle stick holder from this same set that brought $610. The buyer did get a good deal at the selling price of $178.50.

Rare 1925 Beistle HALLOWEEN Witch Fortune Wheel Decoration & Game Crepe Intact!

It is nice to see a quality, vintage, Beistle item pop up amongst all the dreck that has recently become Ebay. I feel that few collectors know that this Fortune Wheel for Hallowe'en Parties game manufactured by Beistle from 1928-1931 was produced in two sizes. This is the exceedingly rare smaller version that measures 9" high by 6.25" at the base. (The larger version, more commonly seen, measures 11.75" high by 8.25" at the base.) I feel the fair market value for this smaller version is $375 in near-perfect condition, whereas the fair market value for the larger version is $325 in near-perfect condition. If you are interested in having an exceedingly rare Beistle decorative item, snap this up. 

04/30 Update: Wow, this brought $465!!

HALLOWEEN JACK O' LANTERN VINTAGE WOOD WOODEN CRANK STYLE NOISEMAKER GERMANY

This is a newly produced item, probably made with an intent to deceive new collectors. The wood ratchet alone has no connection to Halloween and the painted disc bears none of the fine detailing you should expect from a truly vintage item. One tip-off that one should be wary of this listing is that the seller states that it was purchased in Germany. As I have pointed out so often, Germany made their Halloween items strictly for export through the 1960s. Nothing would have remained in the country. Unfortunately, Halloween material has gotten so expensive that Germany-based con artists looking for easy scores began manufacturing supposedly vintage items in the mid-1990s, with the subsequent crap showing up at large antiques shows, like the one held in Atlantic City. I remember visiting a Germany-based dealer's booth there in the mid-1990s and noting what was on his table. Sure enough, I began seeing those very designs begin appearing in antiques stores and in the listings mailed by the two most prominent dealers selling holiday items at that time, Jenny Tarrant and the late Paul Schofield. Not only were they fooled, but so were many collectors who should have known better. Sadly, these many years later when visiting other collections, I almost always see these fakes staring coldly out from the display cases they were placed in by their new owners. 

04/30 Update: This sold for $30.99.