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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Vintage Beistle Black Cat Owl Bat Pumpkin Halloween Orange Tissue HoneyComb Hat

I haven't seen this choice hat surface for some time. Early Beistle (1918-1935) is arguably the hottest sub-genre of vintage Halloween right now, something that has remained true for many years. Even with the condition issues specific to this hat, it fetched a strong price. What captivates me about this hat is the energy the artist conveyed with the four principal figures. 

1920s Beistle Die Cut Halloween Johnny Pumpkin Head Easel Back Stand Up

This seller is very optimistic if she thinks this will fetch $275. In perfect condition, these at one time brought $100, but now they routinely bring significantly less. 
Beistle made an entire "family" of these in varying sizes and design. This small one, measuring ~5.25" is the most common design by a wide margin. Please see pages 122-124 for a nearly complete array of these Johnny Pumpkin designs. 

Antique Tin Germany Halloween Siren Whistle Witches Cats

This petite whistle noisemaker was made in Germany sometime during the late 1920s. Its RSIN is "2," so you know these don't surface much. Sustainable guide value is $150, so the opening price is actually not unreasonable. The whistling mechanism on these is often broken, so I consider it a slight bonus that this is purported to be fully functional. 
One negative with this seller is that the postage charge is $4.54. Given the item's small form factor and its negligible weight, postage shouldn't be more than $1.25, especially considering how tracking is now automatically included with First Class postage. 

06/11 Update: The buyer got a solid bargain when scooping this up for the pittance of $74.95. 

1920's Vintage Halloween German Crow Die Cut NEAR MINT!!

Wow, this is one of the harder German diecuts to get, exclusive of the few produced for one year around 1935 and shipped only to eastern Canada. This looks to be in beautiful condition, although the photographs do lack that level of detail I'd prefer. The buyer got a great item at a very good price, considering that sustainable guide value is $325. 

1920's Vintage German Owl Bat and man in moon Die cut

I sure wish the photos were better on this listing. The seller grades this as "fine plus," but it is hard to make an independent judgement. Doing so is important, in that this diecut is so rarely found. One of six mini-diecuts made in Germany from the early 1930s through the late 1940s, this, in my view, is the one of the two best from the set, the other being the witch at her cauldron. (You can see the others on page 185.) 

2 Vintage Halloween Decorations Witch & Bat Made in Germany Cardboard Die Cut

This was a solid score. Happily, good friends of mine snagged this pair of German diecuts. The sustainable guide value for the bat alone is $150. It always amazes me when sellers list something as a BIN without any knowledge of what they are selling. It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: "The sum of the intelligence of the planet is a constant. The population is growing." 

Vtg Mavrakos Candy HALLOWEEN CARDBOARD BOX,Witch,Black Cat,Pumpkin,St Louis RARE

This listing is full of wonderful detail that adds to the knowledge base for vintage Halloween memorabilia. It is unusual to find the inner waxed paper still extant with these often unmarked candy boxes. So, to find that it was issued by Mavrakos Candies of St. Louis, and then to have the seller provide the kind of operational detail that I love, this listing has hit a home run. It seems that the buyer of this rare box - I hadn't seen it before - got a solid bargain at $79.95. 

SCARCE Vintage Halloween Pumpkin Candy Container Purse, USA, E. Rosen Co., 1930s

These cleverly designed candy purses made by Rosen during the 1930s used to pop up more often than I've been seeing them do so lately. Rosen made a small variety of point-of-sale displays that I avidly collect. (Please refer to pages 116-118 to see those in the collection.) Although this isn't one of those, it exemplifies the attention to detail that characterizes Rosen output during this period. Of course, another positive of this listing is the seller, long on my list of those with whom I eagerly do business. 

Rare German Vintage Composition Halloween Skeleton Candy Container 3 3/4" Tall

This is not a vintage item, except as with the comment below, you feel a creation date of no earlier than the mid-1990s qualifies a seller to use that word. This item is merely one small part of the avalanche of items made in Germany and imported into the U.S. to take advantage of the significant rise in prices of truly vintage German candy containers and figurals that occurred beginning in the mid-1990s. This is actually part of the second wave that began assaulting our shores in the early 2000s. There are no truly vintage counterparts. There isn't a single instance where these are shown to exist in any printed material prior to 2000. The seller's protestations to the contrary, this isn't old. It is merely a pleasant decorative object that someday may have collectible value. 

American Pickers Appraisal - Backstory

Many of you may have seen the new episode of American Pickers shown on History on May 13th called, "A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall." About 15 minutes in, the segment that I filmed with Danielle in LeClaire, Iowa on January 20, 2015 begins. It lasts about 3.5 minutes, winnowed down from a tad more than 2 hours of actual filming. 
Here's some background. In December, the show's Supervising Field Producer, Ben, contacted me through my site asking for me to call to help him better understand a pick Mike Wolfe had made in Maine. After our initial contact he sent me some photos and we spoke again. I told him about the parade lantern, sketching its history and where it fit in the overall sweep of that early period in the commercialization of Halloween. That same day, he invited me to come to LeClaire to film a segment in January. 
The specific date to film was January 20, not too convenient since I take a trip to Las Vegas for three nights every January. This year's trip was scheduled for January 16-19. Ben said there wouldn't be a problem flying me in from Las Vegas on the 19th and flying me back to Sacramento on the 20th. So, after three days of Las Vegas fun staying in a suite at my favorite hotel, the Four Seasons, I traveled to Moline, Illinois. Unfortunately, I had a distracting cold at the time so I was pretty bushed when I landed at the very small airport and found a cab able to take me to the Hotel Blackhawk in Davenport, Iowa, where I stayed for the one night.  
I was asked to be in the lobby at 9:30 to meet the car that Ben had arranged to drive me both to and from Antique Archaeology. The elevator stopped at the third floor and who walked in but Danielle and the manager of the LeClaire location, Emily. (Danielle lives in Chicago and is not in LeClaire on a daily basis.) Stepping in, Emily was saying that the day would involve interviewing a Halloween expert. Danielle replied that she didn't want to know anything more as she wanted to approach the shoot fresh. I decided to introduce myself anyway and was greeted warmly. They left in Emily's car while I got into the hired car and proceeded to LeClaire. The driver pointed out local landmarks as we made the ~20 minute journey to the set. 
It was somewhat surreal seeing Antique Archaeology in person. I've watched the show since its inception and was surprised that the lot was as small as it is and that it was located on one side of a residential area. The original building had sheets over the roll-up door and a sign out front saying it was closed due to filming. (There were many tourists all during the 3.5 hours I was there. One even boldly walked in wondering what was going on!) The newly built structure is to the left of the original building as you view the lot from the street and is much closer to the original structure than I would have thought. There isn't much for sale in either structure except tourist swag like tees, books and other souvenirs. I walked in to what looked to be a converted garage and was immediately greeted by Danielle and Emily. Turning right, I went into the large open space where there was much activity. 
Many people were scrambling around setting up for the shoot. Look at the second photo. From left to right are Ben, the Supervising Field Producer; Jeremy, sound engineer; Tyler, cameraman; Cory, production assistant and Mike, cameraman. Jeremy immediately wired me for sound and Ben let me know how they wanted to shoot the sequence. 
Now, I was not coached in any way as to what to say or what value to reach. The only artifice was that I was told that the conceit of the show is that the show doesn't exist. I wasn't to let on that I knew that Mike or Frank have anything to do with the business, that I knew who Danielle was or that I knew anything more than I was "in the area having been asked to look at a vintage Halloween object." So, the opening of the segment when I walk in and ask if Danielle is Danielle is completely staged. 
That opening segment was done over 5 takes. The first three had me walking in the door, whereas the final two have the shot starting with me already inside. I believe that the take shown was the first one. Ben felt I was too stiff the first time, so proceeded with the second take that was marred by the door clomping closed behind me. The third take was rendered unusable as a passing train blew its whistle just as I opened the door. A separately shot segment shows me walking into the main room where the parade lantern awaited. 
The appraisal segment was filmed over about 1.75 hours and was really fun. Danielle was witty, friendly, and totally into the segment, being a fan of vintage Halloween herself. She kept the atmosphere playful, as did the people working to get the segment filmed. The cutaway shot shown wherein I introduce myself was filmed last as part of a question and answer session Ben filmed right before I left for the airport. 
The parade lantern was, in Mike's words, roached. It looked worse in person than it looked on the program. Given the condition, I appraised it for $600, but feel a better valuation would have been $600-700. Except to someone wanting something actually shown on TV, it should not sell for anything above that. As you know, these are not uncommon. 
Bottom line, I was treated like a king. The flights were convenient, the hotel superb and the car a real luxury as I didn't wish to worry about renting a car or driving in snow. (As it happened, there was just a hint of snow on the ground then.) They paid for everything! Danielle was gracious, supportive of my expertise and presence and just nice. The crew was the same. It was a very fun and satisfying experience. 
Up until the segment aired on May 13, I was concerned that I'd look like hell having had virtually no rest while in Vegas and being afflicted with a bad cold. Although at times I feel I looked like Gollum on a good day, overall I was pleased with the amount of information the editors allowed to be conveyed in the nearly 3.5 minute segment. 
The first photo shows Danielle and me at the end of the shoot. The second shows the crew. The third shows the original building where the filming took place taken from the door of the new structure. The fourth shows the new structure. The fifth shows Danielle's desk with a copy of my third edition! The sixth shows the view of Danielle's desk as you walk in. The final photo shows the main area of the original building. The stairway leads up to a loft where tubs of swag are stored and where Emily's desk is located. It is a comfortable space with a couch and another work station.