With an imminent birthday, I’m feeling my advanced age! I remember when I could pick all items from this set of six all day every day for $45. How do newer collectors afford such things today? This item with nearly eight days left is already bid up to $255. I’m so glad I began collecting in earnest in 1988.
07/24 Update: This common diecut sold for $285.
This hat design was produced by Beistle, but much earlier than the seller guesses. It was produced for a single season - 1921. This example is in poor condition and the coloration seems off.
02/05 Update: This sold for only ~$20.
Dennison diecuts have increased mightily in price these last couple of years as collectors realize that few survived, especially given the thin paper stock they used. This howling cat with crescent moon diecut first appeared in their 1929 Price List pamphlet. Although it has a crease where the tail protrudes beyond the moon, the color is fantastic. It seems to have no other flaws. The seller sold this too cheap with a BIN of $144.49. These typically fetch $225 and up. The buyer got a bargain.
Wow, someone really wanted this German mini-diecut! Three bidders drove up the ending price to an unsustainable level. This is part of a set of six first produced during the early 1930s, then produced again from about 1945-1949. The others can be seen on page 185.
Although this boxed set of gummed silhouettes isn’t much to look at, if you are a Dennison completist it is surprisingly hard to find. This design, also made in black, first appeared in their 1921 Bogie Book.
09/03 Update: This sold for $49.00.
There is something very wrong here. With over three days left, this often-seen German diecut has received 132 bids and is now sitting at $3,550. This makes no sense. The vast, vast majority of these bids has been placed by a single bidder, followed by a bidder with a feedback score of 1 coming in and trumping the prior bids. I think this would be a great candidate for an eBay investigation.
Candles are a genre that hasn't caught fire (bad pun...I know...) over these many years, lagging the overall market like common tin litho noisemakers. This sale price for arguably one of the better Gurley designs is surprising. These typically bring $18-20, so to have one bring in more than double is unusual. I feel that candles, tin litho noisemakers and the more common pulp JOLs are great entry points for new collectors. They are plentiful, cheap and low-risk relative to getting stuck with a fake. (As I point out on page 87, the Gurley name was resurrected in 2006 and the new firm began producing candles using new molds.) Look to pay guide values for items within this genre. This result was great for the seller, but the buyer could have waited and gotten it at half the cost.
What?? I understand the concept of a "mint premium" but this result is stupefying. These routinely surface and typically fetch about $100.
This identically dual-sided diecut is of recent manufacture, probably issued by Radko. The details are such that I fear newer collectors may be confused by this listing, which is notable in what is not said. The word "antique" is misleadingly used, the type of material is not mentioned, nor are the dimensions. The shipping cost of nearly $60 is, of course, laughable. The truly vintage German diecut that this faux POS is modeled after looks very different. The expression of the cat is exaggerated, the eye colors are alien to vintage diecuts, the fur is overly modeled and it is dual-sided. Newer collectors, don't be fooled. This is an item with solely decorative value.
Although this diecut's RSIN is 3, it isn't often that you find one in this great condition. I don't know this seller, but he seems to have many diecuts available. I'd make an offer of $175-190 if you need this one for your collection.
I sure wish the photos were better on this listing. The seller grades this as "fine plus," but it is hard to make an independent judgement. Doing so is important, in that this diecut is so rarely found. One of six mini-diecuts made in Germany from the early 1930s through the late 1940s, this, in my view, is the one of the two best from the set, the other being the witch at her cauldron. (You can see the others on page 185.)
This seller had a great array of US and German diecuts up for auction, all of them in remarkable condition. I'm glad to see that they all fetched such strong prices. As I point out on page 151, this witch diecut often had a factory flat-edged moon, like this one does. It isn't a defect.
I saw this within ~45 minutes of it being listed and was in the process of buying it for the bargain basement price of $13.50 plus shipping, but my fingers couldn't fly across the keyboard quickly enough. Whomever bought this literally beat me out by seconds. These silver variants of the somewhat common Beistle set of twelve designs are hard to find. Being made from a thinner paper stock than the "normal" ones, finding them in solid condition is tough, too. The seller should be kicking themselves, as this was something that should have brought 11 times what it did bring.
This is a rare shade, made in Germany during the 1930-1935 interval. I have never been able to find one in good enough condition to become part of the collection. If you want to see one in perfect condition with robust colors, turn to page 48 to feast your eyes on photos showing both sides from Jason Walcott's collection. Jason, do you want to sell yours? :)
06/25 Update: This shade brought $255, quite a strong result given the fading.
It's always great to see near-mint German diecuts offered in this venue. This is one of a set of six crescent moon diecuts made in Germany in the 1920s. The others can be seen on page 184.
06/27 Update: This fine specimen brought an astounding $123.17, far higher than guide.
