These band hats surface so rarely that I sat up and took notice when I saw this listing. Beistle produced a small set of fairy hat designs during their fairy mania phase in 1923. Each is playful and whimsical while also subtly including hints of menace. It will be fun to see what this fetches. It has been years since one of this quality has become available.
08/24 Update: This sold for the wild price of $875.
This fairy honeycomb band hat was produced by Beistle from 1933-1941. Although the design existed prior to 1933, it wasn't released as a hat until 1933. This stylistically goes very well with their 1923 party set. SGV is $95.
Beistle issued a set of four of these fairy-themed party hats in 1923, the singular year of their fairy mania. Every example of this hat I have seen seems to have that top-most bit of the wing missing. The artist was even then pushing the boundaries of Halloween imagery. I suspect these were not produced in the large quantities associated with other Beistle products from this year - like their fairy-themed Halloween Party book - as these hats almost never surface. It will be fun to see what this fetches.
05/14 Update: This wonderful hat fetched $405, far above what I consider to be the sustainable price of $250. If you look at the bidding history, it rocketed off from about $225.
