This early variant of a thin-tissue coned hat produced by Beistle sold for $45, a solid price considering its wrinkled and bedraggled appearance. I would have taken even more dollars off given that the seller included a photo showing it being worn and another showing enough dirt under the fingernails suggesting that the seller, drac, clawed his way out of an earthen resting place after daylight hours ended.
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
Wonderful Vintage Jointed Halloween Skeleton-Embossed-Heavy Cardboard-38in-EXCLT
The Germans issued three sizes of this deeply embossed articulated skeleton design during the 1920s. The size you will see most commonly is 27" high. This intermediate size is rarely seen, while the largest, at ~50" high, is exceedingly rare. Prices for the German diecut skeletons have been strong for some time. The seller has not provided enough photos, with none showing the reverse, so that will almost certainly impact the final price. Given that the most common size brings ~$150, this should bring somewhat less than double.
Vintage Halloween Nut Cup Rats Black Cat
This fine seller had four different designs, three from the same set and one from another set featuring witches, that all ended today with very strong results, contributing to the data indicating that small paper is one of the hottest sub-genres currently. Whitney made these intelligently designed nut cups during the 1920s. These sets seem to have 6 designs each. I bought all the cat/mice nut cups from the same source about a year ago for an average of $48 each. The four that ended today ranged from $76.85 to $99.99, a steep increase in one year.
A Word on eBay....
I registered to buy and sell on eBay back in 1997 when their emphasis was on catering to those interested in offering vintage items for auction. Over the years, and seemingly at an accelerated pace, eBay has paid more attention to developing their fixed price/Buy-It-Now sales of all products at the expense of those wishing to sell through an auction format. They have also emphasized buyer protections while seemingly not doing enough to bolster reasons why sellers of vintage goods should use the site. eBay has inexorably raised their selling fees and it is hard to avoid using Paypal and being nicked their ~3.25% fee, even though eBay and Paypal had a corporate parting of the ways ~two years ago.
Regular readers know that I have long bemoaned the "light touch" eBay takes in patrolling their listings. They introduced automatically relisting unsold items so now eBay's categories are often clogged with the same tired items no one has wanted for weeks and months on end. In short, it has become less of a desirable selling venue for those wanting to share their vintage treasures with a wide community.
As a less desirable selling venue, the risks of selling hard-to-find vintage items through an auction format with low starting prices have increased. I no longer believe that beginning things at $9.99, let's say, and allowing the eBay-defined market to set the price is the preferred route.
I feel that knowledgeable sellers of vintage Halloween items should use an appropriately priced BIN option with a Best Offer option activated or an auction format with a starting price that is no less than ~50% of SGV.
I don't feel this is an ideal new direction, but I do feel it is better overall than trusting a deteriorating venue to deliver desired results when using a low-opening-price auction format for vintage Halloween goods.
Vintage Beistle Halloween Die Cut Candy Container
This seller made an error selling this rare Beistle candy basket for less than $59.99 through a Best Offer scenario. Beistle made this for a single season in 1921. The designer went all out decorating every surface with now-iconic as well as odd art choices. (Check out the pine tree on one of the sides.) I haven't seen one of these come to market in many, many years. Given how hot Beistle is at the moment, I feel confident in asserting that an auction ending price would have far exceeded SGV of $325. These are very delicate items, and this seems to be in superb condition given that caveat. Reviewing the sold items, I see this seller sold a number of rare Beistle items for far less than SGV.
1930's -'40's Halloween Sample Book of Cats, Witches< JOL & Other
Even as an aficionado of vintage Beistle items, I'm puzzled by the ending price for this sample book. Sure, based on the photos there was a number of interesting and rare items contained within the pages, but they were all glued in, making their collectible value a fraction of what some of these items would have brought otherwise. I wonder, too - how is something like this displayed?
Dennison's Bogie Book - 1922 Halloween Catalog - vibrant color
Three Bogie Books from the 1920s are appreciably more common than the others: 1922, 1925 and 1926. The latter has always been common. Dennison must have been having a banner year then. The other two have become more common since 2012 when a largish quantity was unearthed in Kentucky, all in near-mint condition or better. Given that, this is a copy that is over-priced and over-graded.
Vintage Halloween Paper Hat ~Witch Riding Moon W/ Broom ~ Black Cat ~15" Tall
I'm surprised that this visually striking, large and very rare hat didn't bring more. I wouldn't need all the fingers on one hand to count how many times I've seen hats from this small set surface. Yes, there are some condition issues, but fairly minor. (The main fold is unavoidable as these hats were shipped that way from Shippensburg.) My feeling is that the buyer got a solid bargain.
Antique Vintage German Halloween Child Pumpkin Tea Set Anthropomorphic Pitcher
It is difficult to differentiate German and Japanese porcelain tea set items from photos alone. We know that the Japanese copied a limited number of items from the more competently made German porcelain line. We also know that there is no evidence that the Japanese output was ever contemporaneously marked. I feel this creamer is likely one made in Japan for three reasons. It has a plethora of knobby protrusions. The lip of the creamer is inelegantly large. There is an open area where the handle ends inside the creamer. The German made creamers do not have this opening. Given that this is likely a Japan-made item, be cautious when bidding. SGV for the German creamers is $175. One made in Japan should bring substantially less.
05/25 Update: I wasn't surprised this creamer fetched $132.50, as these Japanese porcelain items typically fetch far less than their German made counterparts.
Vintage Halloween Party Hat Witch Devil Black Cat
This pop-up hat was made in Germany during the 1920s. I've seen this style of hat several times, all with a different brim. The other brim is the same as shown on page 244 with a pleasing design of running cats. The thin tissue center is identical to the one in the book. I feel this checked brim is less visually appealing, so I wonder if it will affect what this ultimately brings. SGV is $160.
05/23 Update: I feel the checked brim acted as a brake on the price this fetched as it brought $117.50.
May 2017 Auction
Thanks to all those who participated in this year's auction! I had significantly more registered bidders than ever before, with a higher percentage of those bidders actually placing bids. The prevailing bidders were more numerous - nicely apportioned between familiar names and those whom I hope will become familiar.
By all metrics, this was a successful event.
I enjoy hosting it on own busy site, enabling me to restrict participation to those who demonstrated their care for our fun hobby by investing in the only broad-based and in-depth reference available.
The results closely tracked trends I've seen developing over the last 18 months. Small paper items like invitations, tallies and place cards, as well as post cards, games and diecuts typically over-performed while lanterns and candy containers somewhat under-performed. Tin noisemakers seem to have recovered some of their mojo from the chilly depths to which they had sunk. I forecast we'll see further strengthening of this genre.
Thanks again to all those who were part of the fun!
1925 Pop-Up Folding Halloween Party Invitation
The ending price of this remarkable pop-up invitation is another indicator of how strong the market is for unusual small paper. I recently purchased a sizable small paper collection out of Iowa. One invitation was from this same set. Also written in, it too had a date of 1925. Because I have never seen examples from this set surface prior to the last few months, I surmise these were made for a single season only. Given the graphics, the pop-up and the cool closing method (The "To Let" sign is perforated.) these were expensive in 1925.
unused Halloween diecut nut cup with BLACK CATS, pumpkins, mice - Whitney??
This pleasing piece of ephemera was produced during the 1920s, almost certainly by Whitney. (Frustratingly, Whitney marked nearly none of their output aside from post cards. One has to look at Whitney's art from that time using post cards and items from their boxed sets to gain insight into their aesthetic. Hallmark produced items with a similar aesthetic at this time so one has to be careful with attribution. Hallmark typically cared about their product enough to mark much of their output.) There are at least six different designs from this set, maybe eight. Small paper is hotter now than at any time since I began collecting in 1988. It will be interesting to see if the BIN option is exercised.
Antique 1907 Halloween GAME RARE JACK O LANTERN SAALFIELD PUB CO CLOTH PAPER
This is one of the earliest commercially produced Halloween party games. It is unusual to see this intact, because to play it you had to cut it up. That alone makes this a worthwhile something to acquire. Saalfield was a long-lived Akron, Ohio based firm best known for being a publisher of children's books. Founded in 1900, they survived through 1977. This party game was copyrighted in 1907 and produced for several seasons on muslin. There was a smaller enveloped version made from 1910-1919. This later version was printed on cheap paper that hasn't held up well over a century's time. The muslin game should fetch around $100.
vintage GURLEY O-PEE-CHEE Halloween Candles FULL CASE Lot of 12 NOS New
Candles are an excellent genre for those starting out in our fun hobby as they were typically nicely molded and remain affordable. The buyer of this lot got a solid deal as they were able to acquire a dozen nice candles and its unusual box for only $150. I say the box is unusual primarily because it represents goods sold in Canada. I am not sure if I've seen this particular iteration before. There were a good number of holiday candle manufacturers. Gurley was arguably the most skilled purveyor of these now-vintage candles as their designs were numerous and often inventive.
