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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

BEAUTIFUL VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DIE CUT CENTERPIECE PARTY FAVOR W/WAX BAG AS STORAGE

This is not a vintage, authentic Beistle centerpiece. I’ve handled several of these and this one is wrong on several matters. The colors are not the rich ones you’d find with an authentic Beistle product from the 1950s. The colors seem to be more consistent with a copy. The paper gauge seems to be wrong, too, although that is hard to tell with the poor photographs this seller has provided. Lastly, and most problematic, the pieces seem to be glued together. The seller cryptically writes that, “The item is hooked to itself by each panel”. Again, the poor photos don’t really lend themselves to close inspection. A truly authentic example is all one piece, easy to do if you are Beistle, hard to do if you are offering something that happens to be fake.

This same seller has another listing of four “stained glass” diecuts. These also contain irregularities that cause me to question their age.

01/05 Update: I’m glad to see this sold for a pittance as I feel it has decorative, not collectible, value only.

Happy Holidays!

Hello There,

Thanks for following my blog during 2022!
I haven’t been posting much over these last few weeks as there isn’t much to comment on. This is typically a fallow time for listings of vintage Halloween goods.

I’ve been busily preparing for my March 2023 auction. There will be over 100 lots of great stuff. The auction will kick-off in later February of 2023 and end on Sunday, March 5, 2023. Stay tuned for more details.

In the meantime, have a great holiday season!

MBL

Vintage Halloween Cat Paper Decoration Black/Silver/Orange Wow!!! Rare!!!

This small cat decoration was produced by Hallmark during the later 1920s and into the early 1930s. Their output using the semi-glossy paper stock will have a red reverse.
Hallmark small paper, especially the designs with a yellow reverse, have been mighty movers in terms of valuation over these 18 months.
Two manufacturers that had a significant output of Halloween small paper that may be undervalued relative to where I feel the market is headed are Hallmark and Rust Craft.

Vintage Halloween Paper Covered Gift/Candy Boxes 1950s? Pumpkin

I’ve wondered about these boxes over the years. One sees the same pleasing design again and again, so how many years were these distributed? When were they distributed? I speculate that locally-owned candy shops throughout regions of the US could order these generic seasonal boxes from some industry-specific wholesaler for their customers - customizing them upon purchase of a filled box with stickers or inserts containing the name of the shop selling the candy. Readers, what do you think? By the way, this listing ended with the seller accepting an offer of $70.

Vintage Halloween crepe paper DECOUPAGED on canvas panel

I appreciate how clever this fine seller is to find ways to preserve the under-rated artwork found in so many crepe paper designs. It seems the Golden Age of crepe bolts was during the later teens and into the twenties. I recently acquired a large collection of vintage paper, including much crepe paper. Being a market segment I’ve not previously spent too much time learning about, it is fun seeing some of the clever designs printed back then.

Happy Halloween 2022!

Hello Faithful Readers,

The season is barreling to a close for 2022. I’m sure most would agree that it simply flew by.

I’m beginning to gear up for my March 2023 auction of vintage Halloween items. I’m really happy with the line-up. Stay tuned for more details.

Happy Halloween! Mark

VINTAGE Halloween Winking Pumpkin Candy Container. Bottom slideds off.

This isn’t a vintage item unless you define vintage as being less than ~25 years old. The candy container in the collection on which this item is based measures 4.5” high by 3” across. (The felt tip on the nose of the actual winking JOL candy container is even reproduced here, testifying to the lack of artistry by whomever produced this.) This item has only modest decorative value - no true vintage value.

ULTRA RARE Vintage Halloween Horrible Witch Decoration Crepe Skirt Beistle 30-31

Although this was the first and only time I’d seen that coloration of the crepe skirt, I still fell down when I saw this result, plaintively moaning that our hobby has been captured by the well-heeled. Not many collectors can drop nearly $8,000 on something like this. (Now, the end result was warped by two uber-aggressive bidders. Remove those bids and this item would have ended in the ~$2,200 range. I wonder if either bidder ever really expected to pay that much for it? If not, the result nicely illustrates the risk in placing sky-high bids on eBay.)

This same seller has yet another one of these listed now, albeit with different crepe colors and in unrestored condition. What will it fetch?

If someone wants mine, I’d be delighted to sell it for $5,000.