When I first saw this listing I thought, My God! Except for in the pages of Lavin’s book, I have never seen this before. This was produced by Beistle for a single season, 1930. Now, think about what was happening at that time. The big economic story was what we now call The Great Depression. In mid-1930 when this mechanical invitation was produced, those icy fingers of depression were encircling and squeezing businesses as consumer spending plummeted. The plummeting continued as many thousands of workers were laid off. The average person was trying to feed themselves and perhaps a family. They weren’t spending money on such things as invitations to a Halloween party - no matter how cool the invitation was. And those few people that didn't know or care that the economy was crumbling merrily continued spending much as before. It was that person who would have bought this invitation. (This mechanical invitation was sold singly along with a white envelope.) So, what makes this particular invitation so desirable is that so few were made (Beistle didn’t know if it would survive the economic cataclysm, so they smartly made many fewer of their items than normal from 1930 through 1935.) and those that were purchased by the Mamie and Emily Baldwin’s of their day (A sly The Waltons reference…) didn’t waste them! To have one surface at all is so rare that I’ve never seen one before - BUT to have it be unused is the real point of its rarity.
As of this writing, this item has been bid up to $4,630 - primarily by just three bidders. Is it worth this? Well, yes, in that one person has bid that amount and would assumably pay that sum for it. Would I pay that or higher? Sadly, no, even though such items are in the top three of my favorite market segments. I think about what else I could acquire or what extravagant vacation I could underwrite with the money and the allure of owning something that I’d just toss in a display case fades very quickly. It will be fun (…and I mean it…) to see what someone is willing to pay for this rare gem - and I wish them the very best.
9/6 Update: This great Beistle invitation ended at $17,352.66. All the bidding activity was driven by just two very determined bidders past the $2,650 point. That’s important to remember. If another one was to surface, the bidding would surely end well below this price level. This was quite exciting to watch and has been the subject of MANY emails and phone calls. Beistle items of all quality levels have been on a pricing tear of late. Did you see this same seller had an orange Witch’s Mystery Answer Game in fair-to-good condition that fetched $863 today? On August 9 another seller had one in better condition that also brought big dollars: $1,007.99.
I am wondering if we are in the midst of another sustained pricing surge that will then plateau for a while. I’ve seen this occur in 1992, 1995, 2003 and in 2015. Only time will tell.
9/7 Update: The seller confirmed to me that the prevailing bidder did pay for this invitation. They said they will be packaging it MOST carefully.
