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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Vintage Halloween Die Cut Wall Decor WITCH w/ Cat & Pot m/ in U.S.A is 17 " Tall

I wanted to write about this design as it differs from most of Beistle’s output from that time - the mid-1950s through the early-1960s. This diecut was made for many seasons and is common. The design sensibility is not. Most of Beistle’s output at this time was cartoonish as the market swung sharply toward satisfying the nascent tastes of children and their parents’ desire to create a fun, light-hearted decorating environment so consistent with that relatively carefree time. It seems that some Beistle art director reached back in time for the imagery that caused so many units to be sold in stores throughout the United States. The witch and cat are cute but not entirely devoid of some level of menace. (I especially like the witch’s skull top button.) After this time, Beistle sagged into Halloween design obsolescence, not to really emerge with any consistency until they wised up and began re-releasing their 1930s greatest hits 10-15 years ago, with these sufficiently tweaked so that the newly released designs didn’t interfere with the secondary collector’s market.

Markdowns on For Sale Items

Hi Faithful Reader,
I’ve reduced prices on most everything on the For Sale page in order to clear the decks for many new items I have to list. Once 10-15 items have been sold, I’ll list new For Sale items in advance of my upcoming auction.
Auction emails will begin going out around February 9-10th. The preview period will begin the the 19th. The auction will begin on the 26th. The auction will end on March 5th. The line-up is quite strong this year.

6 Vintage Halloween Skull Skeleton Cardboard Paper Lantern Die Cut Decor Rare

The six imperfect but complete Beistle lanterns sold for ~$143 each, quite a bit considering condition and lack of scarcity. Beistle produced this unvarying design for many seasons, so if you are going to see a Beistle lantern, this is the design you’ll see. Far harder to find is the Beistle skull lantern that is primarily orange. Produced during the early 1930s, you can see an example on page 32.

EXCEEDINGLY RARE MINT Vintage Halloween Mechanical Witch Nut Cup Beistle 1930s!!

Beistle produced a set of four of these mechanical nut cups in one year only - 1938. I was fortunate to acquire four complete sets of these nut cups in 2014 from a seller in Massachusetts, plus a few singles. I kept one set, sold one set each to two close friends and offered the fourth and final set in my inaugural auction in 2015. That set was acquired by the person consigning this to zizsdream. So, this is one of the very nut cups from that 2015 auction. (I would expect the other three designs to follow from this great seller in short order.) These are intricate and delicate confections made from art Beistle recycled from earlier seasons. This recycling was common during these later Great Depression years when companies were just trying to survive.

RARE Vintage HALLOWEEN Scary WITCH 7.5" Die Cut PLACE CARD? 20s 30s Decoration

This odd item was produced by Gibson during the early 1930s. It was meant as both a place card and a napkin holder. I’m not sure how receptive the public was to this combination as they are seldom seen today. (There was another design, an owl. Both can be seen at the bottom of page 269.) The actual selling price was $110. I feel the buyer received a solid deal.

Old Vintage Halloween Cardboard Diecut Die Cut Out Table Decoration Beistle 1955

I have concerns about this item being a poorly done reproduction. I’ve asked the seller, who is a regular seller of vintage Halloween items, to include photos of the interior so that potential buyers can see how the sides are connected.

Update: The seller quickly added additional photos. After reviewing everything, this is what I wrote to the seller just now: “Hello, Thanks so much for adding the photos so quickly. Although the interior construction is consistent with a known vintage item in my collection, I feel this is a somewhat less sloppy reproduction than what another eBay seller offered recently. My primary concern is the lack of white in the piece. Truly vintage such items have a pleasing three-color presentation. The one you are offering has a two-color presentation. My feeling is that this was made to fool the newer collector. I feel it is a reproduction, not a truly vintage item. Best, MBL”

Another Update: The seller changed the listing after my input, offering it for a BIN for $59.99, with private offers to those having it on their Watch List at $49.99. Given that I feel it is a poor reproduction, the BIN price is much too high.

Yet Another Update: Some person acquired this reproduction for $47 plus ~$7 shipping. The listing shows it sold for $59.99, but that is just an artifact of eBay’s studied lack of transparency.

VINTAGE BEISTLE’S ‘HALLOWEEN PARTY HELPS’ - UNUSED SET TALLY CARDS W/ENVELOPE!

It’s nice to see a quality listing amidst all of the out-of-season listings of items produced only in the last few years. (There has been some great small paper offered by netantiques!) Beistle made these tallies for many seasons. The original strings are always pink, so what would have been the original color? Orange? The tallies typically don’t fetch much as they are common, but to have a complete set with its original thin-paper envelope elevates this listing. The fact that the sellers are A-1 people with deep knowledge of our fun hobby absolutely should spur collectors to bid. Don’t let this great item escape your grasp!

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.