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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

ANTIQUE 1918 BEISTLE HALLOWEEN PENNANT BANNER

This pennant banner is one of the first - if not the first - such design Beistle produced. (Finding banners hard to display, I haven’t made an effort to collect many of them.) The value I derive from this auction listing is to see what basic designs Beistle initially produced. Some were quickly ditched (spider web, stand-alone broom, corn shock and ears of corn), while others clung on through the early 1930s. Many of the images here were also in Beistle’s earliest enveloped party sets.

ANTIQUE VINTAGE HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN GARLAND DECORATION MADE IN US AM

This is a very rare banner, made by Beistle during the early 1920s. I've actually seen it only once - and that's when I bought it many years ago. It is a basic design with no mark, indicating it is early.  It is complete with its full complement of 13 JOLs and two hanging ends. SGV is $300. 

08/11 Update: This fab banner scored a very high price of $412.99. Congrats to the buyer!

09/01 Update: Another one sold from the same seller today for $474.99. 

Vintage 7 Foot Halloween Banner - A Beistle Creation - Unopened - Pre 1960

Although this is not an item from Beistle golden age, it is still a nice banner. Being inside an unopened package with its original header card, this should have brought more money. I attribute the fact that it didn't to the well known phenomenon of "I've spent my vintage Halloween budget by early October" syndrome. The best time to sell vintage Halloween is from early May through the end of September. Although some lots here and there may sell well outside of this time frame, most don't bring what could be considered full value. Casual sellers of vintage Halloween material reflexively think that listing such items in October makes sense. It doesn't. Collectors generally have their displays out by mid-to-late September and have exhausted their budgets by the end of that month. The month of October is typically a great month to be a buyer - no doubt as the prevailing bidder on this banner feels.