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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

OLD HALLOWEEN Jack O Lantern Pumpkin JOL Container Lid & Saucer RARE Vintage

These great items sold almost precisely at their sustainable guide values. Neither the lidded sugar nor the saucer was marked, so one has to be on alert that the sugar wasn't actually made in Japan, thereby considerably lessening its value. (The Japanese never marked these Halloween porcelain wares, whereas the Germans more often than not did mark these wares.) The Japanese didn't make saucers, so the only question is whether the lidded sugar is German or Japanese. It is definitely the former based on its finish. The 3.25" saucer is devilishly difficult to find. 

Vintage Beistle Jointed Skairo Cat Halloween 1930's

It is great to finally see some truly vintage Beistle items being offered for sale. This Skairo cat jointed diecut is being offered by close friends, Tammy and Barry, who contributed numerous items to be photographed for my third edition, including a vast array of coveted celluloid items. I appreciate their many photos clearly showing the condition of this desirable and hard-to-find Beistle treasure. I also appreciate they trust in the auction system, starting this off at $9.99 with no silly reserve. Bid often!!

BEISTLE WUMPUS HALLOWEEN DIECUT~THE HALLOWE'EN DEVIL~1931

This jagged-edged, large diecut was made by Beistle for one season only, 1931. Because of its complicated structure, these are almost never found in the condition this one is described as having. In my view, this is an instance where the premium over sustainable guide value is warranted. I'd encourage anyone who has been wanting to acquire a near-mint example of one of these lightning creatures to snap this up pronto. 

BEISTLE HALLOWEEN DIECUT LANTERN~IDENTICAL DUAL-SIDED~UNUSED~1930-31

This somewhat harder-to-find 8" version of the iconic Beistle lantern seems to be in remarkable shape. I take it that the slot and tab top separator bar is missing. I'd also love to see how the honeycomb sides look from two side shots. This is arguably the finest lantern design Beistle ever issued. The seller is a long-time, knowledgeable collector. After verifying the missing top bar and seeing some side pics, this may be the time to scoop this up. 

09/15 Update: This awesome, iconic Beistle lantern fetched a strong $1,269.66. This design has such a strong presence that it becomes the center of any display. Wow!

One Vintage Halloween 1930s GIBSON 4-Sided Lamp Shade Lantern SPOOK HOUSE WITCH

I've noticed that many good items over the last few weeks have been selling for prices that I'd characterize as "soft." (A major exception would be prices for small paper like invitations, tallies and plates. That sub-genre seems over-heated.) This hard-to-find Gibson shade had some creasing, but I still think it should have brought more than the paltry $49.50 it did. Although I can understand the slow sales over this holiday weekend, I wonder if collectors are saving their dollars for what may come up for sale over these next few weeks. 

vintage Halloween JOL pumpkin/squash?. Germany. 40's or 50's.

It is too bad that these well-known reproductions still fool collectors. This seller had a number of auctions end this day with all of the German JOLs having been made no earlier than ~1995. These have decorative value only, nothing approaching what some poor soul paid for this. Do your research!

09/07 Update: The seller contacted me seeking more information as to whether these were truly made beginning in the mid-1990s. After several email exchanges, convinced, she is moving to pro-actively refund the purchasers for this and all the other newish lanterns she sold. I sure wish there were more honest, involved sellers like hoobster1. Brava!!

Morphy Auction September 10

At one time Morphy used to include wondrous Halloween lots in their auctions, but pickings have gotten slim these last few years. They have an auction starting on September 10 that includes a few lots of Halloween-related material. I have questions on a few of these lots. 
Lot 323 is composed of one item, the devil horn, that is certainly not vintage and another that is probably not vintage. 
Lot 324 has four noisemakers fanned at the top of the photo that are not vintage. 
Lot 326 consists of three items. The middle item, the JOL-headed girl, has an undisclosed hairline crack to the front as well as to the back according to intrepid collector Cindy, who went to Morphy this very day to examine every lot in question. Her summary: "I was not terribly impressed." 
Lots 327 and 328 feature mechanical items. Too many mechanical items have been appearing too often. Not a one of the advanced collectors I know feel that these many mechanicals haven't been "frankensteined" together or tinkered with in some way. If you are inclined to bid on these lots, ask detailed, probing questions as to the consignor and any evidence of their provenance. 
I wish that Morphy would hire a reputable collector with no financial stake in the auction's outcome to vet their Halloween lots. Offering these kinds of items detracts from their reputation. 

 

Iconic Halloween Honeycomb Witch Centerpiece

Although this is not a vintage item, it is worth your attention. Beistle made a similar witch table decoration in 1930-1931 that had an easel and arms jointed at the shoulders and elbows. The honeycomb skirt came in orange, black, green, yellow, orange and green and yellow and black. They recycled their Horrible Witch art first used in the mid-1920s. I've been collecting for nearly 30 years and have only seen the vintage witch table decoration exactly once, and I bought that for the collection. (It is shown on page 224.) This seller decided to see if he could make something similar - and he has succeeded! I came into possession of one of his creations with a yellow and black skirt and it is a true eye-catcher. I have woven it in to my displays and am VERY pleased with it. The sturdy honeycomb forms a full circle enabling it to stand without an easel. I sure wish I had this seller's artistic talent. He is a long-time knowledgeable collector. My understanding is that he has made only a few of these. The starting bid price of $5 is startlingly low. Do yourself a favor and snatch up one of these superb creations. I'm confident you'll be extremely pleased too. 

09/15 Update: I was glad to see the market recognized how special this newly created artisan item was with a closing price of $78. Congrats, Chris! 

Vintage 1950s-1960s HALLOWEEN Set - Witches' Hat, Pumpkin Mask, Spider Rings

Trolling through the "sold" listings right now, I nearly screamed (OK, I actually did shriek a bit...) when I saw that I had missed this listing. The jewel among the crap is the mask with the JOL on top. Beistle made a set of four masks from 1926-1931 that they marketed as "Domino" hat masks. I own three and have never been able to find the fourth. You guessed it, this is the fourth and final one I need to complete the set. These almost never surface and when they do they would bring no less than $275. The eagle-eyed buyer got a true deal, engendering true regret in my heart. 

German Skittle Sets

The photos below came from a long-time collector (He has been collecting almost as long as me!) who likes to keep a low profile.Thanks, GS! He is lucky enough to own the Hallowe'en Figures boxed set shown immediately below. This is one of at least two variants of the boxed set, the other showing all 10 of the figures. I have long called these skittles, as they were meant to be used in a game wherein a player would win by knocking down as many as possible in one release of a marble, say. 

Now, on page 26, I show these skittles plus one from a previously unknown set owned by Barry and Tammy. GS contacted me to ask if I had seen others from the second, mysterious set. He stated that has only been able to find one - the broomed witch shown in the fourth photo below. He has collected the other images as these exceptionally rare skittles surfaced here and there, sometimes after the fact, but owns none of the others. 

I asked him if I could share this information with my readers. He kindly assented and now feast your eyes. If you see these, snap them up. Whereas the more common set pieces measure ~2.75" high, the rarer set pieces measure ~3.75". The more common set was made in Germany during the 1920s. My guess is that the rarer set was made in Germany for a single season sometime between 1930 and 1935. They may have been released only in Canada like all of the very rare German diecuts, but this is only speculation.

Does anyone have photos of any others from this set? I suspect there are two more, to make an even 10. (One of the rare skittles shown is a duplicate. Coincidentally, it is the one shown on page 26.)