The manufacturer of the large line of noisemakers with this design was too long unknown. Finally, I can say the manufacturer was Spearhead Industries, Inc. of Eden Prairie, MN. They incorporated in 1968 and have long been out of business.
08/12 Update: This tambourine in such nice condition fetched $296.03.
Beistle produced this game during the late 1940s when they were clearly running out of gas from a design perspective. They were so adrift at that time they actually produced three in the series. Although this is a fine seller with an item in unused condition, the only word it evokes is meh.
08/15/Update: This fetched $72.
This soulless item has modest (very) decorative value only. It is a folk art item made for that market during the 1995-2005 interval. The design is based on the genuine item long part of the collection, even down to the nose. (See page 132.) The seller describes this as in “very vintage condition.” What does this even mean? The answer: nothing.
Beistle produced five different designs in this large form factor, all with scalloped edges, beginning in 1932. You can see four of these designs on pages 149 and 150. The enduring mystery of this set involves the fifth sibling - a puzzled skeleton in a graveyard shown on page 137. Whereas the other four typically trade in a range up to $700, the skeleton has routinely brought a minimum of $3,000, with several examples far exceeding that figure. The mystery is why the latter diecut is so scarce. Catalogs from the 1930s show the skeleton over several years, but I know of perhaps ten in existence, 3-4 of which are in poor-to-fair condition. My working theory is that Disney objected to the design as being too reminiscent of one of their shorts and demanded their removal from the market. (Now, I have zero proof of this theory, but I’ve struggled to come up with a real-world answer to the mystery.) If anyone can shed light on this matter with some proof, like Ross Perot, I’m all ears.
An interesting market segment that has recently gotten definite heat are pop-ups from the 1960s. Those produced by Hallmark seem to be especially hot. I’ve recently sold several 1960s Hallmark pop-ups. Although their Haunted House is perennially popular, this 1960s graveyard pop-up is almost never seen. The fact that the original envelope is extant is a definite plus. It looks to be in very-fine-plus or better condition. This is definitely worth acquiring. I know this seller. He is a long-time collector and a truly nice person.
08/15 Update: I’m glad to see this fine pop-up fetched $280.
I’ve only seen this seemingly semi-finished, oddly-constructed tin litho clapper a handful of times in 35 years of collecting. Each one has that same plain-Jane handle. I have not been able to pinpoint the manufacturer with high confidence, but am confident that this tin treasure was made for a single season in the late 1920s. I see that it has been bid up to $300 with nearly six days remaining. It will be fun to see what this fetches. Tin litho items in fine-plus or better condition are overdue for some market love.
08/15 Update: This fetched $407.51.
Halloween values seem to be soft at the moment with exceptions, of course. The mystery here is why this broomed witch diecut, produced by Beistle during the early 1960s, has been bid up to $104.50 with a tad less than two days remaining. The condition is quite bad with more than some rubbing and creasing at the edges. There is a tape remnant in a prominent place and the witch’s hat is missing its pointed end.
I’ve noticed a trend of some sellers over-grading the condition of their wares. Being a collector of Bronze Age DC horror comics as well, I’m sensitive to how paper items should be graded. I almost never use descriptive terms like “mint” or certainly “dead mint.” When a seller uses such terms really peruse the item being sold. If it doesn’t meet that lofty condition threshold, call them out on it. Few truly vintage Halloween items will actually meet that threshold.
This rare German diecut has surfaced twice in the last 18 months, in addition to this most recent listing. Both earlier listings ended at multiples of what this one brought. It could be due to overall condition, the fact that the seller started the listing at too high of an opening price, or simply the few collectors who really desired this desirable diecut and were willing to step up have been sated. Although our fun hobby has a larger collector base than ever, those willing to spend in excess of $1000 on any one item is quite small. This is one of the German diecut designs that was produced only in 1935 and shipped to the eastern area of Canada.
This result, when the overall market has been soft, beggars belief. This is merely a copy of an original photo. It is an interesting photo, but it is ONLY A COPY! When you look at the bidding history, as in almost all such cases, two bidders intent on prevailing drove this price up and up beyond the even-then unreasonably high price of $60 placed by a bidder other than the two that drove this to the stratosphere. Wow…
When I was browsing the listings I saw this and thought, “I haven’t seen this Japanese ratchet design in some time.” When I took a closer look and realized it was actually produced in Germany, my eyebrows raised in pleasant surprise. Seeing this design from Japan is good, but seeing the much rarer (and I feel, more desirable…) German version is a true treat. The added kicker are the sellers. You’d be hard-pressed to interact with two nicer people.
The Germans didn’t produce a great number of tin holiday designs during the 1930s, the decade this was issued, due to constraints placed on their use of metal by the Versailles Treaty. A high percentage of what they did produce during this time skewed to the edge of normality, certainly one of the reasons German holiday tin from this era typically does so well. The sterling feature of this design is the cigarette shown on only the one side. This one surfaces rarely, so although this is a bit rough compared to other items this seller has been offering of late, it may be worth a look.
This is a superbly crafted item - one I’ve not seen before. As the great seller states, this piece was made sometime during the interval of 1891-1918 based on the mark used by the Schmidt and Company’s Victoria Porcelain Factory in Altrohlau, Bohemia. A different set, this one complete from the same factory during the same interval, can be seen on page 130.
A long-time reader sent me an email wanting me to confirm this devil is not a vintage item. I so confirm. These soulless space-takers started polluting the hobby in 1995. This was produced sometime during or anytime after that year. It has decorative value only, perhaps $20-25, well below the $1500 the optimistic seller has as a BIN.
I added ~30 items to my For Sale page yesterday afternoon. Go ahead and check out the page. You may find something you can’t live without!
One sees many of these punch games - but this is an earlier one made by Masters of Brooklyn, NY during the later 1930s. The most commonly seen versions were produced later in Japan and are marked as such. So, the fact this is an earlier version in unplayed condition should give it a slight boost to value. The seller started it at $35. There is already one bidder, but I feel the game as it is won’t bring too much more. We’ll see…
