Early Beistle paper has been white hot for some many years now. (Nothing points to this lessening!) The latest evidence is this auction result. Beistle began manufacturing these Johnny Pumpkins in 1919 and continued their creation only through the 1921 season. Here is what I wrote about this product line (appears on page 122): "Beistle issued the family in these formally designated sizes, all non-embossed on flat stock, medium weight cardboard: five inch, eight inch, eleven inch, sixteen inch and twenty inch, although there are variations to size of as much as one and one-quarter inch with nearly all of them....Beistle didn't take great care in differentiating designs within sizes. Sometimes the differences are obvious but sometimes the differences are just a matter of how much neck line, or lace or collar shows. Beistle was seemingly not prepared for the success of this line and cranked them out with limited quality control relative to exactly how the designs by size were replicated. This becomes more obvious the more examples one gathers together to compare." The one selling here for $136.49 was in very rough shape, yet still brought what it did.
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
