I’ve had several email exchanges with the wonderful seller of this rare German fence diecut. She saw the article in a recent issue of Antique Trader listing my ten favorite vintage Halloween items. One of them, this diecut fence design, I valued at $4,500. That estimated value prompted her to list the fence diecut she acquired ~30 years ago from an estate sale, wherein she and a business partner acquired a box of vintage Halloween items for pocket change. She told me that through a thrift or antique shop she used to run with that partner, all of the Halloween items acquired that day were long ago sold - except the fence. She listed the diecut on eBay with a “make an offer” feature. She said she received multiple offers in the $2,000 range (c’mon people!) and declined them all until someone stepped up and paid very close to my estimate in the Antique Trader. Although she received a market price for the rarity, nonetheless she was sad to see it packaged up and sent away to the savvy buyer. (I say savvy because when something this rare pops up, you pay up. Those offering a pittance for a treasure hoping to snag a bargain happily lost out.
Now, eBay’s increasingly opaque system shows the fence diecut selling for $1,000. Reading this post, you know now that is inaccurate. (I strongly dislike the opaque approach eBay takes to reporting actual selling prices. It is a true detriment to understanding the foibles of the secondary markets.)
This diecut is rare enough that I wasn’t able to locate one good enough for the collection until just 2-3 years ago. Know that these diecuts were shipped folded. The fold line is between the second and third figures. Although there aren’t too many complete examples extant, many of the ones I’ve seen have separated at this fold line. Many, too, are missing the left-most figure for some reason.
