RARE Original Vintage Halloween Decorations Box for Set of German Diecuts, 1920s

Here’s a true piece of ephemera - a box from the 1920s that originally held a dozen of the detailed, heavily embossed diecuts that Germany produced from ~1920 through 1935, pre-WWII. These boxes seldom come available, especially in this bright, intact condition. I think the average retailer would not sell the boxed sets but only the contents, separately. Perhaps a few retailers did, but I think these boxed sets were sent by the Germans or the host of wholesalers used at that time to the retailer, which would then discard the box and sell the innards. I’m speculating here, but feel this is likely considering how few such boxes surface. This is a high-end item that collectors, and especially advanced collectors should covet.

06/30 Update: Although the final price was $770, which is a lot of cash, I was surprised that this didn’t bring more.

BOX FOR EMBOSSED GERMAN HALLOWEEN DIECUTS~1920'S~VERY EARLY DESIGNS~NO.669/45

Original boxes showcasing the various ways German diecuts were bundled and sold are quite a hot sub-genre at the moment. I sold one in my May auction (I'll be conducting another auction on this site in May 2016, again only open to those who have purchased a copy of my third edition.) for $425 and this very energetic box fetched $488.14. I've only seen this box design twice in 25 years of collecting. This very box, identifiable from the written markings, was sold on Ebay in early 2013, according to the photographic archives I've assembled, and now once again in 2015. An identical box, in better condition, sold in October of 2013. Other than these two examples, I've not seen this box design before. Kudos to both the seller - one of my favorites - and the buyer. 

Wonderful German 1941 Hallowe'en Decorations Graphic Box

This is a superb box! These boxes are quite collectible for a number of reasons, not the least of which is they are rare AND serve as good references as to which diecuts were sold as sets. However, the boxed set was not assembled and exported in 1941. The Germans were two years into the Second World War at that time and were not exporting paper goods. In fact, they dramatically ramped down their exports of such items in 1935 as the leaders of the Third Reich bent the economy to begin preparing for armed conflict. If you look at the photo showing the stamped date, the way to read it is clear: Sep 24 1330, with 1330 referring to some inventory number assigned somewhere along the way. The "1" looks in size and shape to correspond to the "330," definitely not to the other two digits, "2" and "4."