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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

2 Vintage Halloween Cat Band Members Diecut Decorations Beistle Luhrs, 1940s-50s

Beistle produced the complete set of eight black cat band members for many seasons beginning in the 1940s. These two diecuts are representative of the other six - each playing a different musical instrument. The set has special resonance for me as it was the first thing I purchased when I began collecting in 1988. I was fascinated by the design while being mystified as to why some had white gloves and others had orange gloves. As this awesome seller points out, Beistle varied the set by the gloves. Over these many years I have upgraded the set several times, with the ones part of the collection now being near-mint or better. My favorite has always been the guitar player. Around 2003 a licensed set was produced that has notable differences from truly vintage set members. Read page 154 for more information.

05/19 Update: I’m flabbergasted that this pair brought $170.08! I’m thrilled for the seller, but the buyer will be hard pressed to sell and break-even.

Site Email Not Delivered

I realized this morning that I hadn’t received any emails from this site for ~2 weeks. I contacted my site host to inquire as to whether there was a problem. There was. Apparently, some setting on their end changed. This change caused Outlook to classify emails coming through my site as spam. Thankfully, the fix was easily made.
If you’ve sent emails through my site during the last few weeks, they never reached me. However, as stated, the problem has been solved. Please send away. Thanks!

RARE Vintage Halloween Orange Paper Mache Owl Container Decoration 3.5”

Prices for simple pulp items like this 1950s owl and a corresponding cat, typically seen with yellow eyes, have really escalated over the last 1-2 years. This owl is mystifyingly difficult to find in very-fine-plus or better condition. The example sold yesterday for $202.51 just edges in to the lower range of that condition scale. Maybe that accounts for the ending price. A few years ago, it would have maxed out at $70-90.

OLD Halloween Candy Container BOX, Little Witch Girl on Broom w/Bats, Dennison

Here’s a completed auction I found from about 1.5 months ago for a rarely seen Dennison Bon Bon Box. Dennison produced two designs, both shown on page 262. Both premiered in their 1919 Bogie Book. Of the two, this one seems to turn up more frequently. (I have yet to locate the second design for the collection.) I’m not surprised to see the strong dollars fetched for this diminutive box. Dennison items have been white-hot as of late, with special Carolina Reaper pepper-level hotness seemingly reserved for Dennison diecuts from the 1928-1932 period. I think the frenzy to obtain Dennison items from this period stems from whomever their art director was. He or she gave a specific, highly stylized look to everything from seals to diecuts. They left before the 1933 products were designed, as Dennison items from this year and for many years thereafter are forgettable.

RARE ANTIQUE HALLOWEEN WITCH PAPER LANTERN MADE IN GERMANY

This hanging witch with a latticed-paper body was merely one design among six that the Minnesota-based seller offered with very strong results. There were a few more Halloween designs produced beyond the six offered, but collectively the ones on eBay give a great representation of the cleverness, if not fragility, of these kinds of things. Because they are so difficult to display, I long ago purged the designs I owned from the collection, so it was fun and instructive to see what they fetch these days. The range was from $227 to $589. These are almost certainly among the earliest German paper Halloween items produced and exported to the United States.

ENORMOUS Vintage Halloween Ghost & JOL Store Display Candle Decorations, Gurley!

What a wonderful item! As this top-notch seller points out, this enormous candle was almost certainly a store display. (How I wish I could turn the clock back and browse the old “five and dime” stores’ Halloween displays!) I have never seen this before, nor have I seen any other candle store displays. It will be fun to see what this fetches.

05/05 Update: This magnificent piece is headed to Georgia for $338.33. The buyer has a great eye. I’m sure it will be a real eye-catcher in his collection!

HALLOWEEN Skeleton vtg die-cut 20" jointed decor 1920s figural Beistle import

Skeleton diecuts can be so boring, but this design has always made me smile. The figure may be waving while saying, “Welcome to your new home!” The seller states this may have been produced by Beistle. It wasn’t. This was produced in Germany for export along with a large number of other diecut designs, primarily pumped out from ~1920 through 1935. The waving skeleton was once seen more often - a statement that could be made for almost any vintage Halloween item. Prices are all over the board lately, so who knows what this will fetch.

halloween decorations vintage antique Witch And Cat Fan

It is nice to see a great item like this pop up on what has become a severely denuded forum for quality vintage Halloween material. Beistle produced this fan during the early 1920s with both black and orange honeycomb centers. (The orange center seems to be slightly harder to find.) It has been quite some time since I’ve seen one for sale, so if you are Beistle collector - and few Halloween collectors with taste aren’t - this may be your chance to acquire this exceedingly rare item. If this ends for anything less than $450, the buyer will have gotten a true bargain. Good luck!

04/26 Update: Whomever the buyer was got a solid deal in that the selling price was a mere $281.87. I am surprised by this result.

halloween decorations vintage antique Witch And Culderon 1925

Beistle made three sizes of their iconic cauldrons from 1928-1932. This appears to be the middle size, measuring ~7.5” across. Although there is wear on this item, it is noticeably absent from the arch, which alone is compelling. The seller’s unusual spelling and Hemingway-esque description may limit “watchers,” so a bargain may be in the offing. (My mention of it may obviate these seller-imposed disadvantages.)

1930s RARE? Vintage Halloween OWL IN TREE WINDOWPANE Embossed Diecut GERMANY

The full set of these German windowpane diecuts comprises four designs. The owl typically lags the other designs in terms of value, all else being equal. I feel this reality is driven by the static and uninspired imagery, especially compared with the other three designs, which can all be seen on page 170. These large diecuts typically have significant edge wear and cracking of the surface paper. The wonderful seller seems to place too much emphasis on WorthPoint. This design has come available quite a number of times over the last few years on eBay alone. I’ve even offered two in my annual auctions since 2015. The ending price for this listing is in rough parity with what these have been fetching.

Vintage Halloween 1930's Tambourine - Kirschhof - NICE condition - RARE

This is an elusive tambourine with at least two variants. The version in the collection has a decorated rim that gives the piece a desirable finished look. This listed version that changed hands for $225 has an undecorated rim. It’s unknown whether the differing versions were made at the same time or even by the same manufacturer. I’d love to know, though!

Rare Vintage Halloween 1930’s Skittle Game Piece Germany 3.75”

I watched this listing with great interest. For a long time I referred to these kinds of items as skittles based on information given to me long, long ago by Paul Schofield and Mary Lou Holt. That information was incorrect. These kinds of items were really table pieces that could act as a place card holder. (Many of the wood bottoms had grooves to hold a place card. Others didn’t, so I suppose a place card could have just leaned against it.) There were apparently two sets made. An example of the more common set is shown in this listing’s final photo. Others can be seen on page 26. The larger item, which sold for $405, is part of a set that truly is not often seen. Another from this set can be seen on page 26. I’ve long coveted examples from this latter set, but don’t own a single one. The date on this, if correct, confirms my hunch that this rarer set was made after the more common set. I suspect the rarer set was produced for a single season. I know I have a photo of many of the items from the rarer set somewhere. If I find it, I’ll post it here.

RARE 30's Original Beistle Vintage Halloween Lightning Wumpus Electricity Dragon

This devil Lightning Wumpus seems to be in very nice condition, indeed. Typically, these are pretty well thrashed given their size, fragility and many pointed edges. I haven’t seen one in this stellar condition in some time. The partially extant glassine envelope (The seller incorrectly describes it as plastic.) is seldom seen and should act as a minor accelerant to the ending price. Beistle produced this design, as well as three others, during the interval of 1929-1931. (You can see the others on page 146.)

04/12/Update: This sold for a strong $1,009.

1930s? VERY RARE Vintage Halloween CAT FACE *Beistle??* CANDY CONTAINER Diecut

This is a candy box that I’ve not seen before. (This wonderful seller, who has been offering some great paper items, is one that I recommend.) It is sizable and surely would make a statement in any display. A new collector who I’ve come to respect has relayed to me that he feels it was made by Ann-Dee Specialties of Bayside, NY. (Look on page 56 for a JOL candy box produced by them.) Although that may very well be the case, I feel it more probable that it was produced by Merri-Lei, a firm known for their many creations using the striated glossy paper stock found with this listing. Whichever firm produced it doesn’t change the fact that this is something rare.

04/12 Update: This sold for an astonishing $454!