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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Vintage Halloween 1930’s Beistle Hallowe’en Tango Cat & Orig. Glassine Envelope

Wow! How many times have you seen a near-mint Beistle Tango Cat with its original glassine envelope? Answer: Maybe never! This is one of the best listings gracing eBay in 2025. Beistle produced two Tango designs - this cat and a scary witch - for only a season or two beginning in 1930. I suspect they were not brisk sellers. Here is what I write on page 225: “The construction of this Tango figure did not lend itself well to survival over the decades. Opening and closing the honeycomb stresses the main body and degrades the honeycomb. The points along the border typically are creased and bumped. Because he cannot stand and must be hung, there are invariably creases or repairs at the feet. The severity of these nearly always present condition issues has a direct correlation to value.” This listing deserves the attention of all collectors who understandably treasure the Beistle aesthetic. I hope it does well.

Vintage Halloween Hat with Plume, Flying Witch and Black Cat; Beistle, 1920-21

What a magnificent early Beistle hat. (Boy, does that witch need a shave!) The Beistle script mark was used only on their earliest products, so this hat might actually be from 1918-1919. It seems to be made from an onion skin paper grade like the many more common German hats from this same era. The image of the cat is also so well rendered. The fact it has survived over a century with its jaunty plume attached is a marvel. It’ll be fun to see what this fetches.

04/11 Update: This great hat brought nearly $160.

Vintage Halloween 1920s Beistle Mechanical Jointed Bat

This is an astonishing result. This mechanical bat was produced by Beistle. It was sold in an envelope with a mechanical owl during the 1920s. (Beistle used at least two different colored envelopes. Some envelopes were tissue thin while others were of a medium-gauge card stock.) These bats typically bring about half of what this brought. I attribute it to the confluence of these factors: condition, the great photos, the clear description and the paucity of quality items on eBay right now.

Very Rare Antique Vintage Halloween 1930s Beistle Honeycomb Witch and Moon Hat

This exceedingly rare hat was produced by Beistle from 1933-1937. It is one of the four designs that comprise the full set of what Beistle called New Moon Hats. After all my years of collecting, I have found only three of the four. The one that’s missing is this very design, but the condition was too compromised for me to even consider acquiring it. Even with its condition and the time of the year, it did fetch an astounding $212.51.

Vintage Halloween 1930 Beistle Black Cat Jack-o-Lantern Bat Nut Cup

It’s not every day that you see this Beistle nut cup come available. As I write on page 221, I suspect this design was issued for a single season, in either 1930 or 1931. They were sold in envelopes of four with a stock number of 760N. This seller is stellar. I have had many thoroughly positive interactions with him over the years, so I don’t understand the feedback left on a transaction involving a Kokomold item. You can deal with him with confidence.

Beistle Beistle’s Halloween Party Helps Fortune Telling Game Antique Rare HTF

Beistle enveloped items are having their well-deserved moment in the sun. Beistle was clever in that they very often used the same concept and items but wrapped everything in new packaging. They issued this game in both enveloped and boxed sets. The envelopes are more common. This listing is appealing in that there is double collateral and three extra JOLs. What’s not to like?

Very Rare Beistle Vintage Halloween Party Centerpiece -Owl, Scarecrow, Black Cat

Beistle produced only two table top centerpiece designs in 1955. Both are quite coveted and typically bring far more than this one brought. Condition certainly contributed to the ending price, but time of year may have played a part as well. As I write on page 233 about these centerpieces, “It, for me, represents the last gasp of the best of Beistle’s iconic imagery before the blandness and silliness of their later designs ran rampant.”

Vintage Halloween Singing Moon Beistle Diecut 1935 SAMPLE Look

I’ve never understood the attraction of this diecut. (Another design from the same set is a donut and cup. That, too, leaves me cold.) Great companies like Beistle can’t always hit home runs. No organization does. However, sometimes the strike-out is so spectacular that I wonder if the Art Director at the time was sacked for poor judgement. This design rivals the Dennison frog diecut for having little logical tie-in to Halloween iconography.

VERY RARE Antique Vintage Halloween Full Set 4 Flip-Out Placecards Beistle 31-32

After wading through the tiresome lingerie listings by the seller, iiniim, that eBay somehow allows to clutter up what should be a stand-alone Vintage Halloween category, it was oh-so-nice to see this listing for a set that is truly exceedingly rare. Beistle produced this lightly embossed complete set of four place card designs during the 1930 and 1931 seasons. I don’t think they actually produced many. Remember that the tentacles of the Great Depression were infiltrating all economic sections of the global economy at that time, so virtually all firms were under great pressure. I think Beistle took a flyer on these, as they differ so much from their usual fare. I haven’t seen a complete set offered publicly for many years. (I did hear of a private transaction where a collector shelled out $3,500 for a truly mint set maybe 2-4 years ago.) It will be instructive to see what this set fetches.

08/24 Update: This complete set of four fetched $2,650. I feel that’s the right price for a complete set these days. $3,500 should be considered the high-water mark, with waters that will almost surely not crest that high again. I expect to see more of these surface now.

Vintage Halloween SET OF 5 PUMPKIN HEAD CUT-OUTS w/ENVELOPE - BEISTLE VERY RARE!

This is a nice set - and hard to find. As these great sellers have indicated in their listing, their assortment of four designs over five cut-outs mirrors the set in the collection. I have often said that quality control back then, especially with Beistle, wasn’t to the high standard we assume and expect from today’s producers. Interestingly, many of the truly vintage bags Beistle used have the circular Moon Republic Bag Company mark. I’ve not been able to discover anything about this firm. Even though the envelope is not in stellar condition, it would look darn good framed. The sellers are top-notch, so deal with them with confidence. It’ll be instructive to see what this fetches.

05/21 Update: This sold for $467.99.

vintage Halloween decoration

Beistle produced a set of eight small diecuts during the early 1950s, of which this is one. It is a great set overall although there is one clinker - the maniacal clown. (You can see the full set on page 157.) The smoking JOL, the skull with the racing cap and the witches are truly super designs. Diecuts from this set have been bringing strong dollars for the last few years as collectors wake up to the set’s appeal.

Vintage Halloween Owl Cat Bat Jack O Lantern Honeycomb Band Hat Beistle # 1

I’ve always liked this great Beistle band hat design. They released it as a stand-alone hat in 1933 and discontinued doing so in 1941. Beistle entered into what I call their fairy mania phase in 1923, so this hat was released well after that mania had ended. In the year this hat was released the country was ensnared in the icy grip of the Great Depression. This is a good example of how companies with a reservoir of designs to call upon used already completed work to try to make some money when the retail markets were oh-so-tight. Production was ceased as WWII began for the USA in December 1941.

Vintage Halloween Party Invitation Opens Up Grandfather Clock USA

I was initially excited when I saw this listing, then I realized that it is missing the mechanical piece that should be present between the front and back. This piece was meant to move both to the left and to the right sides revealing spooky imagery. (See page 124…) One complete example sold in my March auction for a record $3,600, so the missing component has a major bearing on value. Even though the remaining invitation looks great - what is missing is important.