I sure wish I could have been at that estate sale and snatched these items right up! The buyer almost surely got a tremendous bargain. Not only are the 1930-1 Beistle lanterns a key find, but the assortment of German diecuts is quite nice. Don’t let the small bat escape your notice. The lot has already been bid up to $356. It has a lot of room to run.
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
Vintage Halloween RARE 30s Beistle Paper Lantern Bat Witch Black Cat NICE Diecut
If you want a good laugh to kick off the weekend, look at this listing. The wildly optimistic seller has offered this for $749.99 with a “make an offer” option. (This isn’t a typo.) This common lantern isn’t even offered with a bottom. If you are inclined to make an offer, my guidance would be $40-60 isn’t unreasonable.
Vintage Halloween Noisemaker Crier RARE Witch Black Cat Meow Vo Toys
Here is a noisemaker that I’ve never seen before. Condition is problematic. The orange ribbons don’t add anything to the vintage item. Apparently the firm was based in Harrison, NJ. It doesn’t appear to be an independent entity anymore. Based on the imagery, I would guess this crier was produced in the late 1930s.
10/05 Update: This sold for $80.06.
Vintage Halloween RARE Beistle Paper Candy Basket w/ early images c. 1921 4.5"H
OK, this is one of the rarest Halloween items in the finest condition that has appeared on eBay in quite some time. Beistle produced this basket for the 1921 season. I’ve seen these from time to time but always folded and generally in tatty condition. (I mean, they’re 100 years old and weren’t designed for longevity.) This is a star listing - a true joy to stumble upon given all the crap one has to wade through on eBay since they collapsed the holiday categories. The last one sold for either right under or right over $1000 with no comparison for condition. Bidders - start your engines!
10/04 Update: This sold for a phenomenal $1,402.77!
Rare Antique German Halloween Diecut Paper Pumpkin Pirate with Cats Tiara
Of all the tiara or diadem German diecut designs, this is one of the hardest to find. As mentioned in a post some weeks ago, there was a strong blip up in prices for these tiaras for a short period of time, but that force has dissipated. These will typically now sell in the $700-1000 range. The last one sold for $597, a bargain compared to 18 months ago. I expect this one will fetch a bit more than that. We’ll see…
Vintage 1930s Halloween clacker tin litho noisemaker toy knocker
Kirchhof produced this design along with a companion design that can be seen on page 204 for a season, maybe two. The typical form of the noisemaker is a ratchet, so this clanger style is unusual, perhaps accounting for why it has already been bid up to nearly $200 even though the condition is rough. If you are going to see one of the pair, this is the design that surfaces a bit more frequently.
Vintage Antique Halloween Dennison Large Floating Specter Die Cut Diecut 1929
Given the sheer size of this spooky Dennison creation and its many protrusions and appendages, these are typically offered in poorish condition. This is in significantly better than average condition offered by a seller who knows what he is doing. This is a great item and I hope it does well. Know that about 15 years ago, well-done reproductions of this diecut appeared BUT they were very small compared to the truly vintage ones like this one. Bid with confidence!
Antique German Halloween Paper Mache Black Cat on Pumpkin Candy Container
This German composition candy container looks right to me. Beginning in the 1990s, this design was reproduced, but with at least two ways to immediately spot a reproduction: the pumpkin was not much wider than the cat’s bottom and the cat was mostly smooth with none of the detailing you’d expect to see with authentic German wares.
Vintage Halloween Decorations Witches Cats Pumpkins
These two shades are the first iterations of shades produced by Beistle as early as 1918 as part of their first party sets. The sets produced prior to 1923 were made in smaller quantities, hence pieces from these sets, especially these large shades, surface far less often than pieces from the 1923 fairy-themed sets produced in booklet, boxed and enveloped forms in near-shocking quantities.
RARE Vintage 1920s Antique Paper Halloween Party Witch Fortune Wheel Pumpkin Cat
This iconic Beistle game, produced from 1928-1931, is seldom seen in this near-mint condition. The witch’s hat is nearly always damaged in some way. Although there is a slight bend toward the top of the hat, this is still leagues ahead of what one normally finds when examining this game. Beistle produced two sizes of this game with a honeycomb base. The smaller one, measuring ~9” high, is seen much less often. It’ll be fun to see what this brings.
VINTAGE HALLOWEEN EMPIRE BLOW MOLD SPOOKY HAUNTED HOUSE 13' - 1969 MINT COND
Vintage 1960s blow molds are yet another market segment that has seen steep climbs in value these past 18 months. This skewed perspective haunted house is one of the better designs. It’s hard to wrap my mind around the very real fact that these common items command such high values in today’s market.
VERY RARE VINTAGE 1923 BEISTLE HALLOWEEN FAIRY CLOCK ENVELOPE MADE IN U. S. A.
What treasures are coming to light! It must be that time of the year. Beistle was deservedly known as a firm that often took as much care in their packaging as with the items contained within. Many of their envelopes, like this one for their 1923 fairy clock, are works of art. Few of these envelopes survived, and those that did are typically found in the same condition as this one - rough. Even so, I expect this will do well. I’ll be monitoring…
09/21 Update: This sold for $405, not as well as I had expected.
Vintage Antique HALLOWEEN Party Invitation Ghost Pumpkin on Telephone RARE
It is great to see some quality small paper items surface on eBay. This is one of the best designed, enigmatic invitations Dennison produced. This first appeared in their 1922 Bogie Book. It was sold with stock number H83. One hasn’t surfaced in a while. What will it end up bringing? (By the way, I’m not a fan of reserves. This seller has placed a reserve on the listing that may dampen interest.)
09/19 Update: The ending price of $157.49 was surely lower than if the seller had just listed it for $9.99 with no reserve.
Vintage/Antique Over-the -head Mask Halloween
These over-the-head masks were first made in Germany during the teens. This one is particularly spooky, don’t you think? These were relatively expensive when first produced and tended to be sold at the “better” stores. Today, few have survived and the current price on this mask of $760 with 1+ days to go illustrates their desirability and scarceness.
09/19 Update: This scary item fetched $1,375!
RARE antique German Halloween die cut windowpane with witch vintage GREAT!
I’ve seen many examples of this diecut over the years. The condition of this one being sold by a knowledgeable and honest seller is in the top five of all those I have seen. Because these are so large they are prone to lots of surface paper cracking and typically have suffered the indignities of tape and multiple punctures. The description indicates this example has largely escaped those problems. The way the colors have mellowed on this one is pleasing. I hope this does well. It is heartening to see such a quality item amidst all the crapola that one has to wade through now since eBay changed their holiday categorization system.
