I wonder if the buyer knew this is an incomplete set. The unmarked and unremarkable glassine envelope adds very little to the value, so the seller has to be thrilled with the selling price. (Although eBay shows the selling price to be $$259.99, it was actually $200.) There are six cards to the complete set, produced by Whitney during the 1930s. The complete set can be seen on page 273.
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
Vintage Halloween Place Cards Four Cats On Fences - Rare Great Condition
This set of place cards was produced by Whitney during the 1930s. The full set of six is shown on page 273. This seller shows the rare glassine envelope. The information from the envelope indicates that Whitney sold two sets of these place cards in one envelope. They probably sold these as one set in one envelope early one, then switched to greater quantities per envelope as the design aged. I’m speculating but that would be consistent with practices by other producers.
Vintage Halloween Place Cards Lot
This partial set of place cards was produced by Hallmark during the later 1920s. (The H within a circle is the mark Hallmark used at that time.) Hallmark undoubtedly used the imagery under license from Nash, as this imagery was first used by them as part of their postcard line. (I don’t have my postcard reference with me just now, so I am citing Nash from what may be a faulty memory!) These Hallmark place cards are fairly common. The child in the spotted costume may be the hardest to find of the four shown. The seller is asking $300 for them. I feel an achievable total would be $70-85.
Rare Complete Set of Rustcraft Halloween Place Cards in Original Box
The seller states this set is rare. They couldn’t be more right! I don’t think I’ve ever seen even one of these designs before much less a full set complete with the box. Rustcraft was known as a quality manufacturer with whimsical and eccentric designs. This is a true treasure.
Beistle Halloween Hallowe'en Place Cards Witch Broom Decoration Envelope 1920s
Beistle issued at least two packaging variations containing these place cards meant to be suspended from the edge of a glass. Both have the same stock number, 584, but one enveloped set contained six place cards whereas this one contained ten place cards. However, both should contain an assortment, whereas the set on offer here contains all witches. A proper assortment would contain three designs - a witch, a black cat and a ghost.
Vintage Halloween Score Cards PRINTED IN GERMANY
These beautiful and exceedingly rare German place cards brought about what I thought they would. (I felt they would bring $200 each and they brought ~$186.) I've tried to obtain cards from this set for years to no avail. I find them strangely compelling. Congratulations to both the buyer and seller!
3 Early Dennison Halloween 1920S Place Cards Cat Witch Jack O'Lantern unused
I don't believe that any of these three place cards comprising this lot were actually made by Dennison. I think they were made by another company with or without permission from the original designing company. The cat face has a strong resemblance to one of Dennison's designs, but their name is spelled out in the artwork along the inside of one ear. This cat face has rather blurred art there, leading me to believe this was not made by Dennison. The JOL is from Hallmark or another firm with the witch being by another manufacturer altogether. Given the similarity of the edge colors and the uniformity of the "Made in USA" printing on the reverse, I feel quite confident asserting that these were made by an unknown third party with or without authorization. I feel these are therefore around $15-18 each, so the buyer paid a premium, almost certainly in the mistaken belief they were buying a trio of Dennison items.
06/21 Update: The buyer of this set contacted me to say he would be contacting the seller. Here is what I wrote to him on Monday: "The seller of the place cards is a good person who is really quite knowledgeable about vintage Halloween paper. I understand how the mistake was made given that the cat face is an iconic Dennison image, and all of them had the same look and feel. The trio of items is still great – just not Dennison – and not commanding the premium that Dennison so often brings.'
Beistles Halloween Party Helps 3 Novelty Place Cards In Envelope Witch/Cat/Ghost
Beistle issued these in at least three packaging variants. One was under their "Party Helps" line with an envelope containing the three place cards shown in this listing. The stock number was 527. The second variant was for an envelope containing four place cards (still just the same three designs...) with the stock number of 757. In the envelope of four in the collection, the fourth is a duplicate of the owl. The third variant was an envelope with a plastic front containing six place cards with a stock number of 657. Interestingly, there are not two of each design but two ghosts, one witch and three owls. One could surmise then that the owl is the most common of the three designs and the witch the least common. I don't know if that is correct, but if you happen to have either of the final two variants, please check the contents and let me know the design distribution.
2 Assorted VINTAGE 1930's HALLOWEEN Party Place Cards w/ Black Cat, Moon
The place card on the right was made by Whitney during the 1930s and is one of six that comprise a complete set. Unfortunately, it has been trimmed, which greatly reduces value. Each place card from this set should have six complete fence posts. Bear this in mind if you are inclined to bid on this lot. To see the complete set, turn to page 273.
Beistle's Halloween Party Helps 3 Mechanical Novelty Place Cards Witch/Cat/Ghost
This was a packaging variant I hadn't seen before, a bit earlier than the one on page 220, the envelope of which housed 4 items, but only these three designs. These great Beistle enveloped goods are very much in demand.
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.
Halloween Party JOL Scarecrows Place cards table decoration Dennison Co 1919
Dennison boxed items are one of my favorite collecting genres. I haven't really seen too many of these little gems listed this season. This box is early and quite desirable. Dennison was well into its adventure into boxed holiday items and was finding it to be a lucrative business. This set is one of the first of their large form factor designs, quite detailed and a bit saucy. Their place cards lost this innocence during most of the 1920s and regained it briefly from 1928-1931.
Whitney Company boxed set of Place Cards – Rare – 1920s
Several of the items shown as original contents for this box actually don't belong. Married content for boxed sets is common, but it is better, of course, to have items that actually were once included in the box (i.e. actually made by Whitney) to be sold with the box. As such, the price for this lot is too high.
