It’s hard to know what went wrong here. (You know the market is seriously overheated when an ending price of $705 for a paper Halloween decoration is considered insufficient.) Whether it was the not-insignificant condition issues, the corrected error on size or vintage Halloween fatigue from simply too many solid items being listed too often as too closely spaced intervals, this item should have brought much more. This is one of the items from my reference that is most often inquired about as to my intention to sell it. Another hasn’t come to market in many, many years. I suspect fatigue is the most impactful cause, although the case for fatigue is not airtight. Check out what the same seller realized in auctioning one of the trio of eccentrically-designed 1950s Beistle witches - $1,325.99.
Prices have become such a turn-off that I have actively explored other forums where price sanity is more of the norm. I encourage people to attend the larger antiques shows where there are more chances at finding things reasonably priced. Trading with other collectors is another activity I find to be much more fun than trolling through the eBay detritus to find a few jewels that then typically spiral to too-lofty levels.
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
Rare Halloween Beistle 1930’s Party Place card Witch Black Cat JOL Antique
Beistle produced this place card with a flip-out base during the interval 1931-1932. This is one of four designs that constitute a complete set. I’ve never seen packaging for this set so they may have been sold singly. You can see all four designs on page 223. In my opinion, this is the tamest of the designs. It was rare for Beistle to produce place cards with any embossing, so this set is near-unique in that respect. Prior to this current bubble in small paper pricing, a mint complete set sold ~2007 for $900, an anomalous price at that time. God only knows what such a set would bring today. This item up for auction is in fair condition. It will be instructive to see what it fetches in this time when many collectors seem to have lost their minds in valuing small paper.
08/25 Update: This fetched $112.50.
Antique Halloween Skull Die Cut Beistle USA 1930'S Human Skull in Cauldron
I can't recall seeing one of these up for sale for many, many years. This skull table decoration with a flip-out base was made by Beistle from 1930-1931. The one in the collection is unmarked, but this one has the diamond mark that was discontinued right around this time. This is a rare item with a sustainable guide value of $375. Given that one hasn't surfaced in some time and the propensity for some collectors to spend foolishly, who knows what this will fetch. I will be watching.
10/23 Update: As I suspected, this flew right by sustainable guide value, fetching $460.
Early Beistle Halloween Stand-Up Scary Face JOL
This is an exceptionally rare Beistle item. It is a table decoration with a flip-out base like the two shown on page 251. I feel it was produced only in 1930-31. An example of Beistle being frugal - except for the flip-out base it is identical to their Jack-O-Lantern Fortune game - I don't think this was a strong seller for them. I bought the one in my collection in 2007 in a private sale. Until this listing, I have never seen it anywhere else, ever! It will be instructive to see what this fetches.
