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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.

Vintage 1930s Embossed BEISTLE Die Cut HALLOWEEN Silver Foil PUMPKIN Rats Mice

I love these silvered diecut variants from the long-produced complete set of twelve diecuts from Beistle. They began production in 1932 and continued with some interruptions through the early 1950s. (The variants were made for only a season or two very early in the total run.) When these hard-to-find variants surface, they typically are in poor condition. The ones being offered by this fine seller are in better-than-average condition. It’ll be fun to see what they bring.

Vintage Antique Beistle Witch 1950's White Mice Halloween Die Cut Embossed 18"

This large diecut, made by Beistle from the 1950s into the 1960s, has never gotten the collector love that it deserves. The artwork is excellent and the colors work. Given its size, most of these have substantial wear. This example, not coincidentally priced at SGV of $65, seems to be in exemplary collectible condition. 

08/01 Update: I was happy to see that this finished at $91.99. 

Vintage Halloween Nut Cup Rats Black Cat

This fine seller had four different designs, three from the same set and one from another set featuring witches, that all ended today with very strong results, contributing to the data indicating that small paper is one of the hottest sub-genres currently. Whitney made these intelligently designed nut cups during the 1920s. These sets seem to have 6 designs each. I bought all the cat/mice nut cups from the same source about a year ago for an average of $48 each. The four that ended today ranged from $76.85 to $99.99, a steep increase in one year. 

Vintage Antique Beistle Witch with White Mice Halloween Die Cut Embossed 18" US

This is an eye-catching and quite large diecut produced by Beistle during the 1950s and into the early 1960s. It measures a whopping 17.75" high by 12" wide. It isn't particularly hard-to-find, having been made for so many seasons. The guide value is $65, FAR above the price this seller established as a BIN. Since the seller is open to offers, a fair offer would be $65. It is too bad that the seller's eBay handle so aptly describes the price that they so obviously plucked out of thin air. 

7 Old 1930's Halloween Party Place Card Candy Nut Cups w Original Box - Whitney

I was fortunate to get mint examples of these superb 1920s Whitney nut cups from this seller a couple of months ago when he was selling individual items for $40 each.(Some also double as place cards.) These are exceedingly rare. I've not seen most of these ever before, so I was thrilled to get them. Whitney designs tend to be rather static overall, so these are a welcome departure from the norm. Whitney was out of business by 1942. 

VINTAGE 1924 BEISTLE HALLOWEEN HONEYCOMB HAT? CENTERPIECE? JOL JACK O LANTERN

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.