Beistle Domino Masks vs. Beistle Domino Band Hat Masks

Even though I’ve been collecting vintage Halloween items with a curatorial eye since 1988, there are quite a few puzzles still existing. One that I feel has now been sorted involves Beistle Domino Masks.
If you look at pages 236-237, you’ll see three of the four examples from the set of four of what I called Domino Hat Masks. I called them that as Beistle’s own marketing verbiage referenced these items that way, even though I was bothered that they were not actually hats.
If you then look at page 94 of Lavin’s compilation, Timeless Halloween Collectibles 1920-1949 (Schiffer 2005), you’ll see the complete set of what she also called Domino Hat Masks. The confusion in my mind was reinforced by Lavin citing verbatim the Beistle marketing verbiage above the photos while the four items shown in the photos didn’t match the cited verbiage. “Four styles, Pumpkin, Bat, Owl, and Cat faces with black dominos. Each with orange-colored honeycomb tissue paper crown.”
Directly below that, Lavin quotes, “*The 1927 catalogue states, ‘The Domino Hat-Masks made their debut last season and judging from the repeat orders they must have become instantly popular. Why not? A Domino and a Hat in one.’”
I always wondered why there seemed to be a disconnect between the cited verbiage and the photos. The mystery, such as it was, was solved when I recently purchased a large, choice collection of mainly Beistle goods from someone who acted as a conscientious steward of the items since being found 45 years ago in a shuttered general store.
I now realize that Beistle first issued what I will now correctly call Domino Band Hat Masks in 1926-27, followed by the issuance of truncated designs of Domino Masks from 1928 through 1931. My supposition is that all four of the Domino Band Hat Masks are significantly harder to find than the Domino Masks as they were produced for a shorter period of time and in, arguably, smaller quantities. This theory is born out by the fact that I haven’t seen a Domino Band Hat Mask in any collection. With one exception, I haven’t noted any for sale except by zizsdream on Ebay in August 2021. That example was missing the nose.
As part of the collection recently purchased and referenced above, all four designs of the Domino Band Hat Masks were included. Interestingly, the design is printed directly on to the band hat. The design isn’t stapled or glued, but is part of the unified design. Below are some photos of the Domino Band Hat Masks now part of the collection.