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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

EXCEEDINGLY RARE Antique Vintage Halloween Diecut & 11 Coordinating Placecards!!

This is a result that is more of a function of two determined bidders who surely never dreamed that one of them would be on the hook for such an unsustainable sum. (Take a look at the bidding history.) In conversations with several collectors as to whether I’d be bidding, I said I wouldn’t be as I didn’t want to pay what I thought FMV would be, $2,500. Imagine my shock when the ending price was $4,900. Allow me to temper my shock with repeating that this is a one-off result due to only two bidders AND with the observation that I had never seen any one of the items that comprise what I hope is a complete set. The art is sublime and very reminiscent of Rust Craft. I appreciated how the seller pointed out the “Gertrude” by-line. Fascinating! It will make an astounding display - albeit a very costly one, at ~$415 per item.

SCARCE Antique Vintage Halloween Crescent Moon & Cat Diecut Decoration Germany!

The Germans designed many Halloween diecuts that are true eyeball grabbers. They came up with two similar large crescent moon designs - this one with a cat perched on the Durante and the other with a perched owl. Seldom does one see one of these large diecuts in such splendid condition. Just look how sharp those points are! This seller, who largely sells things on commission for others, has been on a tear lately with nice items that have on several occasions garnered bids I don’t understand. (An example will appear below.) This diecut should do well. It’ll be fun, and perhaps unsettling, to see what it fetches.

3 Antique Beistle Halloween Die-Cut Nut Cups Original Packaging-Black Cat

I enjoy seeing listings like this one that shed light on the production history of an item. The similar item shown on page 221 has packaging characteristics that firmly date it to the 1930-1931 season. This listing shows an envelope that is plain, lacks a stock number and seems to be made from the same thin-paper stock Beistle used during the early 1920s. It makes me question my belief that these nut/candy trays were produced for a single season. It’s hard to chart the birth/death of Beistle products because Beistle catalogs are scarce compared to those issued by Dennison. Beistle sent their catalogs to retailers, who would use them to order for their brick and mortar shops. (As an aside, there seems to be an abundance of Beistle catalogs from 1948, so perhaps they had a change of strategy for that season.) In any event, these nut/candy trays surface infrequently enough that they were surely produced for a small handful of seasons.

NMINT PLUS Antique Vintage Halloween Cat & Pumpkin Candy Container Germany 1920s

The seller noted that some fellow collector had concerns as to whether this candy container was truly vintage. Several things puzzle me: What was the specific concern? Was it a true concern or was the concern conveyed to the seller for mischievous reasons? Why would the seller not have had the confidence in her own judgment to ignore the fellow collector rather than give the expressed concern any airtime? The actual owner of this wonderful candy container contacted me to ask whether I had seen the listing and whether I had formed an opinion. (This owner is one of the most knowledgeable, honest and picky collectors I know - and he’s been in the hobby for longer than I have. By the way, I admire pickiness.) I told him that on the few occasions this container surfaces, I make a point of looking at the photos. Why? Well, many serious collectors have invested in a copy of my third edition. On page 69, relative to this candy container design, I write, “Reproduced versions of this container with a smaller pumpkin base were made beginning in the mid-1990s. These new versions tend to be heavier and lack the detailing of the originals.” Truly vintage examples of this particular candy container are easy to identify vis-a-vis the soulless reproductions cranked out beginning in about 1995. When I glanced at the photos the seller provided I thought that it was a beautiful, truly vintage container that any collector should be proud to own. And it is.

08/02 Update: This item sold for $2,253. If someone would like to buy the one in the collection shown on page 69, contact me. I’d sell it for $2,150 - postage included.

RARE Antique Vintage Halloween Paper Mache Pulp Owl Wall Decoration FN Burt 20s!

This F.N. Burt owl design is exceedingly rare, especially with this pleasing use of two colors. The light spray of the coloration, giving it a pastel feel, is exquisite. I have had two examples of this pulp item come through over the years. Both were a simple black. This design was meant to be hung. Neither of the examples I have handled had any sort of perforation to the back. Some end-user or end-users added the divot and the hole. Neither would have been present at the time of sale. The ending price was more than I would have expected.

Interest has been strong in these non-embossed thin-paper-stock diecuts Beistle produced during the early 1920s.Beistle produced a handful of designs, then varied their offerings by size. This is the larger version of the broomed witch diecut. These diecuts bend and crease easily. The typical example is riddled with pinholes. This particular example seems quite crisp, so I’m not surprised the prevailing bidder paid $77. I do hope the bidder objected to it being sent Priority Mail. There isn’t any reason to send something that weighs an ounce or two via Priority Mail. On another note, I dislike when sellers cram a series of disjointed words into the title line hoping the search function will highlight the listing.

~Vintage~ Halloween Wooden Drum- Devil and Pumpkin~ Germany~

I doubt this is a truly vintage item. The rim may be vintage but the skins with the images are inconsistent with any other such thing I have seen. The buyer paid $300, so if it is a married item (old rims merged with new skins), the money was ill-spent.

Vintage Halloween Series 6931 Fairman, Pink of Perfection Postcard

What? I remember it wasn’t that long ago when one couldn’t give Fairman cards away! (I queried the seller and discovered the ending price was the result of an error by the prevailing bidder entering $9,998 rather than $99.98. The seller cancelled the transaction and relisted the card.)

SCARCE Antique Vintage Halloween 2-Sided Skull Lantern Decor Dolly Toy 1936-50s!

If you’re in the market for this skull lantern, this example demonstrates exactly what you want to see - a rich tan patina. When this was first produced decades ago, the lantern presented as off-white. But given the high acid content of the cardboard stock used, truly vintage lanterns will always have this kind of patina. This lantern design was reproduced some years back. I still see them now and then. They present as white - sometimes a bright white. If you see such a lantern, it isn’t vintage.

antique Trade Card McLaughlin's XXXX Coffee fold out Halloween Pumpkin Head

Admittedly, this trade card is exceedingly rare. This is only the second time I’ve seen it.) A few years ago I was invited to a collector’s home in southern California who had a few Halloween things amongst her main collecting area, advertising. She had a few Halloween things she was open to selling. Although the outside of the home looked normal, inside it was a dust bowl. A hoarder, the house was hard to maneuver through. Sadly, it was filthy, so I quickly exited as I didn’t have a respirator. She had great German candy containers that were so covered in dust it was difficult to see much of them. She had Christmas feather trees that were so laden with dust that the old ornaments hanging there so forlornly long ago had lost any shine. How does someone live like that? She had tossed some items she was open to selling on a bed that reminded me of the bed lived upon by Big Edie in the great film, Grey Gardens. Out of this pitiful dreck, I seized upon the McLaughlin Coffee trade card in surprisingly good condition - just before I could no longer hold my breath. It cleaned up well!) The condition of this example gives me pause. Someone wanted it badly enough to pay $72, making me wonder what the one in the collection is worth.