With an imminent birthday, I’m feeling my advanced age! I remember when I could pick all items from this set of six all day every day for $45. How do newer collectors afford such things today? This item with nearly eight days left is already bid up to $255. I’m so glad I began collecting in earnest in 1988.
07/24 Update: This common diecut sold for $285.
Beistle released this suggestive devil design during the mid-1920s. They then released one without the tail, possibly due to feedback from their more prudish retailers, which is more commonly seen. The designs have never done much for me even though I generally appreciate the grimmer designs. The three-legged version and the more modest version both lack the charm of most of Beistle’s output at this time. I feel the designs lack inspiration. That said, this version typically brings strong dollars. Given the wealth of upscale listings from this fine seller, it’ll be informative to see if the number of listings impact the overall prices fetched.
07/24 Update: This sold for $555.
You are looking at one of the most elusive USA pulp figures out there - not that the item itself is all that rare - but to find one in near-mint or better condition is the rarely done trick. For some reason 9+ out of 10 I see are in this approximate condition. I delayed adding one to the collection for decades as one in the condition warranting inclusion eluded my grasp. Even in this condition, these pulp witches command prices in the range of $175-225 or more.
This is another surprising result. Up until about one year ago it was difficult to give these 1950s and 1960s foil decorations made by Happy Holiday away. Now, this pretty small market segment seems to have strengthened mightily. The seller has developed an excellent reputation within the collecting community for her pithy yet complete descriptions, many photos and quick shipping.
The Germans produced quite a few broomed witch diecuts, not surprising given the iconic nature of the image. Most of these diecuts are seen often, but this is an exception. The coloration with a touch of gray by the eye is appealing. The condition is outstanding, as is the seller, although her penchant for naming diecuts isn’t something I’m fond of. I’ve heard from a number of readers that this seller’s descriptions are much too wordy. Although I definitely agree, and feel reasonable yet substantial edits can be made, one cannot deny that zizsdream typically receives strong results. I know that the hobby will be pleased with a plethora of high quality listings she’ll be offering over these next few months, so I will be mentioning many more of her listings than normal. My typical practice is not to mention a seller too often as I’ve been told that a positive mention on my site tends to goose ending prices upward, and I don’t want to have any perceived favoritism, but the reality is that eBay has largely become a “quality vintage Halloween desert,” so when good things are listed I’m going to be inclined to mention them regardless of seller.
No better illustration exists of the crapshoot nature of eBay than this result. So many collectors, including me, were asleep at the switch when this listing ended, surely thinking it will go to the nosebleed levels cards from this series have been bringing, that we missed out on an opportunity to acquire an example at a reasonable price. Hence, it ended at $125.95 surely to the pure delight of the buyer and the consternation of the seller.
If you need any proof that small paper by the premier producers (Dennison, Beistle and Gibson), is still a hot market segment, look no further than this exhilaratingly stratospheric result.
This magnificent centerpiece was produced by Beistle in 1955. Beistle’s design engine was sputtering at this time, so much of their output then was forgettable and/or retreads. However, they managed to probably even surprise themselves with the two (and only two) centerpiece designs made at this time. Both are full of action and easily captivate the eye. They rarely surface in collectible condition. When they do the common defect is total separation at one or both joints. Although this example doesn’t suffer from that defect, it is by no means perfect. In my view, though, the defects are reasonable and to be expected. As I type this, the bidding is already at $200.50 with 15 bids, so I fully expect the ending price will be significantly higher. The two 1955 centerpieces are amongst my favorites in the collection. They are large, bold and pretty damn awesome.
07/14 Update: This sold for $382, lower than I would have forecast.
This seller is squandering chances for a sale by having perhaps the most anodyne header she could devise, poor photos that don’t give any hint of the state of the embossing and by having an opening bid that is much too high. Sigh….
This tin litho tambourine produced by Chein during the 1930s is in exceptional condition. I see no dimpling to the front, which is quite unusual. This should bring top dollar!
Here’s a true piece of ephemera - a box from the 1920s that originally held a dozen of the detailed, heavily embossed diecuts that Germany produced from ~1920 through 1935, pre-WWII. These boxes seldom come available, especially in this bright, intact condition. I think the average retailer would not sell the boxed sets but only the contents, separately. Perhaps a few retailers did, but I think these boxed sets were sent by the Germans or the host of wholesalers used at that time to the retailer, which would then discard the box and sell the innards. I’m speculating here, but feel this is likely considering how few such boxes surface. This is a high-end item that collectors, and especially advanced collectors should covet.
06/30 Update: Although the final price was $770, which is a lot of cash, I was surprised that this didn’t bring more.
This is truly one of the best examples I’ve seen of this rare and very desirable slide box set of Dennison cut-outs, offered by one of eBay’s finest sellers.
06/21 Update: This sold for an astounding (and puzzling) $915.86.
It is unusual to see the original battery holder extant with these pulp JOLs. To eliminate the risk of fire due to burning a candle, this manufacturer changed their mold to enable a battery holder with bulb to be attached to the back. This seller obtained this particular pulp JOL through me some years ago. He’s a great guy and a knowledgeable collector.
Any of the House of Fate cards are desirable and very rarely surface. It was exciting to see this listing. This card comes from a series manufactured by Whitney in the early 1930s that they called The House of Fate. The cards are superbly designed with pull-away roofs containing the printed fortune. I believe that nine constitute the complete set, although that is just a guess. At first glance, the differing base designs look similar. However, when you closely examine the cards, there are always very minute differences present. I'm puzzled as to why Whitney would have introduced these subtle differences. It doesn’t seem cost effective. Perhaps we'll never know. Whitney went out of business in 1942. (Check out the eight examples on page 278.) The last one on eBay sold in September 2018 for $550, a truly out-there result. What will happen with this listing?
06/22 Update: This sold for $535. Wow! I’ll sell all of mine in one fell swoop for $500 each. Contact me.
Beistle was (and possibly still is) a clever company in figuring out ways to prolong the life of certain of their Halloween best sellers, like the cauldrons. I think for a season, and possibly two, between 1928 and 1932 Beistle thought to slap some streamers to the bottom of the largest of the three cauldrons and design a rather pallid structure to support the cauldron. They then dreamed up the name for this newish design and hurriedly created an envelope for it. I feel all of this was done rapidly as the Rustic Fireplace itself is uninspired. The envelope bears none of the over-the-top design elements and use of vibrant colors seen with so many of their other envelopes. That said, these original Rustic Fireplaces are hard to find. (The envelope, which you can see on page 127, almost never surfaces.) The sellers are great people with a deep love for and knowledge of vintage Halloween memorabilia. You can certainly buy from them with great confidence. It’ll be fun to what this listing brings.
06/16 Update: This brought a head-scratchingly low $159.50. The buyer got a bargain.
