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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Halloween Bridge Tally Card Rust Craft #3952 Unused Gilded Moon Vintage

Rust Craft was a small paper manufacturer out of Boston, Massachusetts. They began in 1906 and lumbered through until merging with Norcross in 1981. In terms of their Halloween output, their Golden Age, shared with so many other manufacturers, was the 1920s. Collectors began noticing the eccentricity of their designs perhaps five years ago. Their output was small relative to Beistle, Dennison and Gibson (in that order) so opportunities to buy Rust Craft items from the 1920s in near-mint or better condition aren’t plentiful. This tally sold yesterday for a sum undreamt of just a few years ago. I feel the value runway for Rust Craft small paper is long, so if you like their design aesthetic, plan on buying now rather than later. Rust Craft was disciplined about marking their wares and assigning stock numbers to them, but not always. I feel that in the first season they decided to take the Halloween plunge they hadn’t codified their design aesthetic. (I haven’t been able to pinpoint that precise year.) Pieces I suspect were made by Rust Craft then have a larger form factor, a simple color and design scheme and are sometimes hand-stamped “Made in USA.” I think this “loosey-goosey” period lasted maybe up to one season.

Vintage HALLOWEEN c1920 PLACE HOLDER Rust Craft SCARECROW Art Deco EX CARPENTIER

I was interested in bidding on this Rust Craft item, but when I looked more closely at it I was afraid that the greetings card may have been trimmed. It is hard to be sure, but I was concerned enough that I decided to pass. If the buyer is a reader, please let me know if it appears trimmed in person.

12/16 Update: The buyer shared close-up photos of the card’s borders. The item had not been trimmed post-production. Yay! The card is a rare and desirable Rust Craft product in near-perfect condition.

MINT Unused Vintage Halloween Tally Cards Jack o' Lantern Rust Craft

Rust Craft produced some of the more innovative small paper designs. I’ve become an avid collector of their Halloween output. This tally is not often found in collectible condition. Can you guess why? If you said its slightly larger-than-average size and its very irregular borders - go to the head of the class!