Beistle issued this JOL and corn shock design as part of an enveloped set of six designs during the early 1920s. (You can see this set at the bottom of page 218.) None of the designs come to market that often. This offering is hobbled by its poor condition and the very poor photos provided by the seller. Given how good cameras are these days, why would any seller post such photos?
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
VINTAGE 1930's HALLOWEEN Noisemaker SCREECH OWL SIREN HORN With Metal Top
This horn has long been one of my favorites due to its strong graphics. It doesn’t come available much especially in this stellar condition. (The seller is stellar, too!) This was produced by an unknown firm during the 1930s. I’ve often wondered whether Marks Brothers of Boston was the producer, but they were so diligent about marking their output that the lack of any such mark accounts for my uncertainty. The Germans produced a tin horn around the same time that they called a Screech-Owl horn (notice the subtle distinction), but their graphics are nowhere near as memorable as this US design. (You can see the German horn on page 193.) I hope this brings strong dollars.
02/24 Update: This great horn fetched $270.51.
RARE 1970 Vintage UNOPENED 2 Jointed Skeleton Cats BEISTLE Halloween Decorations
I haven’t seen this skeleton cat packaging for some time, so the seller is correct. (I enjoyed reading the thorough description accompanying the listing.) Beistle was manufacturing great quantities of their designs by 1970, so this jointed diecut would still have an RSIN of 4. However, a still-sealed package is no more than a 3 on the same scale. Beistle issued two designs of the skeleton cats or skelecats. The predominantly green and white design is also quite good.
2 Vintage Halloween Tin Litho Tambourine Noisemakers with Horn, Kirchhof 1950s!
Is this an aberrant result or are values for tin litho tambourines solidifying?
***RARE*** Vintage Halloween Witch With Fire & Broom Celluloid Viscoloid
One of my wishes relative to eBay is that they would choose to become more transparent about what items fetch when a “Best Offer” is involved. This listing shows a celluloid piece in less than pristine condition with what I thought was an offer price that would never be attained. Although the asking price of $2999.99 wasn’t gotten, what was the actual price at which the witch changed hands?
1950s Halloween FANNY FARMER Flying CHOCOLATE WITCH Candy Box Vintage Container
This is being offered in an auction setting with a minimum opening bid of $225. Really? This is a great example of sellers offering items with an inflated, wide-eyed view of what items will bring. I can see this pleasing example of Halloween ephemera selling for $75-95. Remember, this is the box only. The seller has listed the witch container in a separate listing with an opening price of $105.
SCARCE Vintage Halloween Porcelain Jack o' Lantern Tea Set Cup Germany 1914-32!!
This wonderful seller is right - collectors who have discovered the visual allure of the Halloween tea set line produced in Germany from 1908 through 1932 buy and hold. Pieces, especially the cups without handles, once surfaced with some regularity, but like someone without enough roughage, that regularity is now missing! When you see these, especially solid examples offered by trust-worthy sellers, both of which we have here, snap them up.
Awesome US ZONE GERMANY Halloween Composition JOL Pumpkin Head Clown
This listing yields at least two interesting things. I guess some Veggie figurals were produced post-WWII. Looking at the figural’s paint and the circular paper bottom there is nothing to differentiate it from others produced up to 2+ decades before. The other is the labels themselves. Look at how small and impermanent they are. If they were to be removed - and it would be so easy to remove them - there would be nothing to guide you from concluding it was produced as early as the 1920s. It doesn’t appear as if there is a stamped ink mark on the bottom. Interesting…
Vintage Halloween tin TAMBOURINE NOISEMAKER bat cat moon metal fabric paper skin
OK, this is a mash-up. This tin tambourine design was only produced with a decorated rim and plain taut paper front. The bit of crepe paper showing a broomed witch was added by some industrious person post-purchase no doubt wanting to make what is a plain front more visually interesting.
02/10 Update: This sold for $61.88, higher than I would have thought for an object that’s purely decorative.
Vintage Old Halloween Beistle Die Cut Shaker Whistle Noisemaker JOL Pumpkin
This noisemaker and the other two designs this seller is peddling are from the mid-to-late 1990s. They were imported new into the US by Blumchens. The seller uses the word “vintage” but doesn’t define it. I suppose in some universe an item that is at most 27 years old could be described as vintage, but I would use more specificity, like “newish” or “from the 1990s.”
Antique Old Halloween Dennison Place Card, RARE JOL Parrot Die Cut 3.75x4"
Boy, I sure wish I had seen this incredibly rare Dennison place card. Dennison produced great designs full of humor and whimsy. After about 1930 their production decreased dramatically due to the Great Depression. I assume this charming design was produced then. I had never seen this one before. I regret missing this listing.
1/31 Update: I contacted the seller, zipstoys, on the off chance they might have another one of these fantastic place cards. To my pleasant shock, they had one more. I purchased it for $200 total, with shipping and tax.
3 OLD HALLOWEEN BLACK CATS & JACK-O-LANTERN PRESSED PAPER PULP HANGING ORNAMENTS
The buyer of this lot of three German diecuts got a bargain. If these had been listed under “Vintage Halloween” rather than “Old Halloween” they would have received more action. The seller might have seen more, too, by listing them separately. The one on the right, the distressed maid with bangs, is the star of the lot. That alone should have reached what the entire lot brought.
Gurley 3-D "Burn Through" Jack-O-Lantern Black Cat Vintage Halloween Candle
This is certainly one of the better of Gurley’s small form factor candles, but I’m surprised that it fetched $45. These typically change hands at sub-$20.
Vintage 1940's Halloween Devil Lantern 2 Sided Cardboard
This is an example of what I strongly dislike about sellers on eBay. They know just enough to mistakenly think that any piece of vintage Halloween, no matter how poor the condition, is worth a fortune. This seller is offering this not uncommon devil head lantern produced by Dolly Toy for a whopping $249. Just look at the condition. There are significant pieces missing and an irregular hole at the bottom. The seller claims there are creases on the corners but they are all intact. That’s not what their photos show. This item perhaps could be bought for parts for no more than $30-40.
Hello Blog Readers,
At the repeated suggestion of a close friend and fellow Halloween collector, I decided to join Instagram yesterday. I don’t have much content up in just the one day, but will add some each day. If you’d like to see what I post, please look for “markbledenbach” on that site. (I may change my user name if I can figure out how to do it!)
MBL