This partial set of place cards was produced by Rust Craft of Boston during the early 1920s. The seller is correct in claiming they rarely surface. I think the BIN price is too high. The set is incomplete and several have writing. I feel $400-475 is the appropriate price.
Blog
Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
Vintage Halloween Party Favors in original package of Five. Marked Beistle, USA
This is an envelope variant for the smallest of the Johnny Pumpkin family I haven’t seen before. The envelope is so plain! However, it sure is in nice condition and has its original contents. With only an hour to go, it has reached $405. Each of this-sized member of the family typically brings $80-90, so any further movement would represent what the bidders feel the envelope is worth.
eBay Frustration
Hi Everyone,
Well, eBay appears to be dug in on the wisdom of their focus on moving to what they call a “product-based category structure.” I called last week before a quick trip to SoCal and Disneyland. Although very polite, the rep offered zero encouragement that the status quo ante would be seen again.
I have modified my searches for vintage Halloween enough to get down to ~18,000 items, with 200-500 being added every day. I can’t imagine too many collectors going through such an arduous process, so this may be a boon for other sites or general antiques shows. The drawback for sites like Etsy or Ruby Lane is that these have only fixed-price listings with the sellers there generally having an exalted view of the worth of their offerings. I wish there was an auction-based site alternative to the “new and improved” eBay.
I know I’ll be adding items to my For sale page over the next few weeks. Many of you have written to say they will be anticipating my annual auction like never before. Although I truly appreciate that, I just wish eBay would reinstate the categories as they existed prior to May 11th.
C.1930'S DIECUT HALLOWEEN GIRL WITCH BLACK CAT MECHANICAL STAND UP CARD
This same seller has two from the set up for auction. There was a set of four 3-D cards produced before 1920. Two are shown at the top of page 286. (The complete set is now part of the collection.) Postcards with this same artwork were made contemporaneously with these stand-up 3-D cards. The eight individual postcards were combined to make the four 3-D cards. These postcards were published by Bergman as series 6070 and 6071. Each of the 3-D card designs is exceedingly rare. The cat is missing its tail in the example up for auction.
Vtg Halloween Beistle Die Cut Tissue Paper Honeycomb Witch Cat Owl 1930's RARE
Someone must have jumped up and down in excitement when snagging these rare Beistle roly-poly table decorations for a pittance. The seller was short-sighted to offer them as a BIN. They left a lot of money on the table. Beistle only produced these designs in 1930 and 1931. Any one of these would have sold for more than the trio fetched.
Vintage Halloween decorations Singing Black Cats die cut out feline lucky
This is one segment of a four-sided fence centerpiece produced by Whitney during the later 1920s. Each side is identical. Please refer to page 275 to see the example in the collection.
6 VINTAGE HALLOWEEN PAPER UNUSED HATS GERMANY 1930'S CRERE PAPER HONEYCOMB TOP
Don’t you just love it when a ready-made collection surfaces? Even though my interest in such hats is low, I can appreciate the creative, if not twistedly creative, imagery dreamed up by some long-ago German artisans. I’ve not seen the high-looking witch, the dapper devil or that snarling cat face designs before so these are rare. The set has been bid up to $224.50 with over three days remaining. I think they are worth no less than $150 each - so there is a lot of room to run.
Vintage Halloween EARLY MECHANICAL BLACK CAT PLACE CARD WITH MIRROR - RARE!
Isn’t this a great graphic? Great and rare - I’ve never seen this design before. You can’t go wrong in doing business with this outstanding seller. Be sure to check out what other treasures they have listed.
05/09 Update: I’m sure this outstanding seller was as gobsmacked as I was to see this place card haul in $384.99. As Beaver Cleaver would have said: Who’d a-thunk?
RARE Vintage 1940s Halloween Black Cat Windowpane Embossed Diecut Decoration
It’s nice to see some rare diecuts listed on eBay. This is one of two German windowpane diecuts this seller has listed now. Although this one may not be the strongest design, it is the hardest to find of the quartet. (These were produced during the 1930s, not the 1940s.) This example has the usual condition issues of border wear and wear off the high points, but is still quite nice overall. Vintage Halloween prices have been on a tear these last 12-18 months, so it will be instructive to see what this fetches.
05/09 Update: The buyer got a solid deal for $432. I’m surprised it didn’t bring FAR more. eBay is a weird marketplace.
2 RARE VFINE Vintage Halloween Diecut Decorations Silver Highlights, Witch, Owl!
Hallmark produced few Halloween diecuts relative to their overall Halloween output during the pivotal ten-year period beginning in the mid-1920s. I don’t know why this is so, but my guess is that their overall diecut output was so uninspired vis-à-vis their competitors (especially the Holy Trinity of Beistle, Dennison and Gibson) that sales were scant - so the firm poured more efforts/resources into their small paper items: invitations, place cards and tallies. Hallmark small paper items from this period are generally outstanding in terms of humor, an eccentric design ethos and the use of a subtle, complicated color palette. I covet these hard-to-find items and have assembled a respectable collection.
The description of their diecuts as uninspired doesn’t apply to these two beauties. The direct gaze of the witch is arresting, and is the stronger design of the two. (This design was also sold as a gummed silhouette around 1925. These were sold in enveloped sets of ten. An example is on page 287.) I like the use of brown with the owl. There are two Hallmark diecuts shown on page 165. The date attribution of these two diecuts as being from the early 1950s is wrong and has been corrected in the Errata. They were both produced in the mid-1920s, the same as with these two diecuts sold as a lot. I feel the skull and crossbones is the best design of the four and the rarest. I think I’ve seen it only the one time I acquired it. It’s great to see these rare treasures get the secondary market respect they deserve. Congrats to the buyer for their good taste!
34" Vintage Antique Made in USA Scarecrow Halloween Die Cut Articulated Jointed
Beistle produced this item from 1960-1962. As I write on page 162, “The dopey expression and the overall goofiness of the design are sadly too common with Beistle designs from this period.”
Vintage Halloween German Pumpkin Head Man w/ Stand Pressed Board Candy Container
This result defies my belief. There was a time not that many years ago when any such-sized member of the Veggie “family” would bring - at best - $300. I think this aberrant result is explained by the fact there were two bidders who were locked in a Pyrrhic battle-to-the-death match over ownership, surely to the stupefied glee of the seller.
VINTAGE 1960S HALLOWEEN BLACK CAT HARD PLASTIC STYLIZED FIGURINE
This is actually a game piece from the much-coveted Green Ghost Game produced by Transogram in 1965. The game is quite large and is composed of many individual pieces. The secondary market for this game and most of its pieces is thriving.
1933 DENNISON WALT DISNEY HALLOWEEN W/ MICKEY & MINNIE MOUSE PARTY PACKAGE SET
I’ve had numerous opportunities to acquire this one-off boxed set collaboration between Dennison and Disney and have always passed. The colors scream Halloween but little else about this set evokes much of a Halloween association. The effort put into this set by the companies was pretty minimal. I feel both firms were reeling from the Great Depression hard-set by 1933, and figured maybe something thrown together would sell. The centerpiece referenced on the box lid is simply a sad looking JOL with pasted on eyes, nose and mouth made from plain orange crepe bunched together at the top. The rest of the contents are forgettable enough that I feel the draw for the set would mainly derive from Disney collectors rather than Halloween collectors. That said, this incomplete set in so-so condition did bring strong dollars. I’d love to know if the dollars came from the Disney or Halloween side - or was the prevailing bid from someone who loves both fields?
1920s DENNISON MIDNIGHT REVELERS HALLOWEEN DIE CUT FULL MOON OWL PICTURE PUZZLE
Three of these interesting items were offered recently. Rather than Dennison producing these “Midnight Revelers” puzzles, I think it more likely Dennison licensed several examples of their diecut artwork to what is now an unknown firm. Dennison was arguably the most diligent of paper manufacturers at this time in marking their products and packaging. Although the contents of the envelope are marked, the envelope itself is strangely silent as to the manufacturer. I think the market recognized this at least subconsciously as the ending prices for the four on auction weren’t electrifying.
