It was interesting to see what this lot brought. The lot consists of two four-sided light cardboard interlocking centerpieces, one comprised of four different vignettes showing cats on fence sections while the other is comprised of two different sides showing witches. Both were made by Whitney during the 1920s. These four-sided centerpieces seldom surface, and when they do they are invariably damaged in some way, most commonly by missing or creased tabs. Of the two, the cat centerpiece is more desirable and marginally more rare. Guide value for both together is $475, so these brought what I would have expected.
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
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.
Antique Large German Halloween JOL
A friend of mine bought this late 1920s German JOL because she had not seen one with molded depressions around the eyes, nose and mouth before. I didn't notice these depressions when I looked at the listing, instead wrongly focusing on the fact that the the bottom had been so obviously replaced. Given the rarity of such molded features, a true bargain was had for $99!
Rare Early Paper Mache LARGE Head Jack-O-Lantern Germany
I have received a surprising number of emails regarding this listing, all wondering if the world has gone insane. This has to be one of the least compelling JOLs I have ever seen, other than a cowboy JOL monstrosity owned, sadly, by two close friends of mine. This French's Mustard yellow JOL with its glaringly contrasting red certainly is unusual and memorable, much like once seeing a morbidly obese woman walking along a Hawaiian beachfront topless. Additionally, the shape is off and the condition poor. Why would it ever bring such dollars? As an aside, the seller states that this could have been made as early as the 1880s. There is no record of such things being made prior to about 1910.
Early Beistle jointed Halloween skeleton with orange background
This attractive skeleton diecut with its unusual orange background was manufactured by Beistle during the early 1930s. It has an RSIN of 2, which surely accounts for why this item, suffering from some serious head damage, still brought $35.77. I tend to think the guide value of $75 for a near-mint example is a tad low given the recent strength of the skeleton diecut sub-genre.
Antique Halloween Crepe Paper Candy Bag Trick Or Treat By C.A. Reed Co Vintage
This vintage bag produced by Reed has nothing going for it - it is simply orange crepe with a sewn black section and a formed bottom. This sort of generic item is not coveted by collectors and typically wouldn't rustle up even $5. However, the seller, mesmerized by the age perhaps, has slapped a BIN of $99.99 on it. It conjures the opening words to a melancholy Anne Murray tune, "Dreamin, I must be dreamin..."
JACK-O-LANTERN HALLOWEEN CANDY CONTAINER VINTAGE (??) PULL TOY BAT CAT WITCH OWL
I haven't seen one of these come up for sale in some time. This slot-and-tab candy box was made by the Dolly Toy Company of Dayton, Ohio under their Fibro Toy line. The items were produced sporadically between 1934 and 1953, much less regularly than the witch pulling cart and cat pulling cart Fibro Toys. These are never marked for some reason. They have not yet been reproduced. It'll be fun to see what this brings!
08/14 Update: This brought a healthy premium to guide value: $338.33 versus $250.
Early Dennison Nut Cup Candy Container unfolded Cat Bat Jol Moon ca 1920s mint
I love the four nut cups that comprise a full set, of which this is one. This was produced by Dennison in the late 1920s right before their art changed radically to a more cartoonish style. The four were sold only as a set. Its RSIN is 2, meaning "rare." Turn to page 259 to see the full set.
Early Beistle Vintage Halloween Invitations with Owl Envelope Witch/Cat/Owl
The seller left considerable money on the table listing this with a BIN of $150. This is perhaps the earliest Beistle packaging I've seen and probably dates to 1918. (Beistle didn't even have their name on the envelope, or a stock number or even a witty description of the contents.) If I had seen this I would have excitedly added this to the collection. I would think that owlcreek15 could have gotten at least double, and perhaps more, than the $150 BIN price assigned!
VERY RARE Vintage Halloween Witch on a Broom Diecut Decoration Germany 1920s-30s
The seller describes this broomed witch diecut as having some light fading, but the fade is intentional. There were a number of diecut designs produced for a season or two that had this color finish to them. Collectors sometimes pass these by thinking they don't want something so faded by the sun, but this is a mistake. I know collectors who seek these "faux faded" diecuts out specifically for their collections. This diecut is hard-to-find in any finish: faux-faded, regular matte or regular glazed.
08/07 Update: This brought $141.89, very close to guide value, $135, so I'm glad the bidders weren't mistakenly thinking it was faded.
EARLY BLACK CAT HALLOWEEN CARDBOARD ACCORDION NOISEMAKER
I haven't seen this accordion-style noisemaker with handles before. Looking closely at the photos, the handles do appear as if they were originally with the noisemaker when produced. Virtually all of these sort of noisemakers I've seen with such handles were made in Japan, so it is possible that the original design was used by an unauthorized manufacturer in Japan which added these handles. (This is entirely conjecture on my part, however.) In any event, it is an interesting variant on a hard-to-find, typically German-made noisemaker.
08/08 Update: This sold for $110, indicative of the fact the buyer felt it was made in Japan, in my opinion.
VINTAGE GERMAN FORTUNE TELLING/MAGIC TYPE HALLOWEEN GAME-MIRACULUM
This dealer should know better than to list this item in eBay's Vintage Halloween category. It has nothing to do with Halloween. Some Halloween collectors do collect these fortune telling games, but the crossover only occurs when the game's imagery has some substantive or meaningful connection to Halloween. Other than an owl and a bat, this doesn't and therefore should be listed elsewhere.
1928 Vintage Halloween Spookville Table Decoration
This result makes little sense to me. What you have is merely a remnant from one of Whitman's rather pedestrian Halloween pamphlets consisting of pages of cut-outs. The graphics are not that compelling, the paper stock is thin and one cannot escape the fact that it is merely a remnant. Now, granted, eBay has really offered little to get excited about overall for years, but surely there are better ways to spend $339.
Vintage Halloween German Jack O' Lantern Pumpkin Tea Set Sugar Jar & Lid Germany
Every once in a while some stunning item surfaces on the world's most cluttered junk shop, eBay. This time it is this exceedingly rare German porcelain wonder made sometime between 1908 and 1932. The seller describes this as a lidded sugar, but I don't think that is correct. I feel this is a jam pot. This is only the third time I have seen this eye-catcher. The first time I bought what I saw - and now you can see it on page 120. The second time was an example with many repairs. This third example seems to be in collectible condition. Guide value is $900. If you collect these rare porcelain German items, don't let this one escape your grasp.
07/30 Update: This fine piece sold for $1,495. Now, if you look at the bidding history, the price ratcheted from ~$778 to the final price in literally 5 seconds. Take out the top two bidders and the price drifts back to what I consider to be the sustainable level - ~$900-1,000. What do I mean by a sustainable level? When items that rarely appear for sale materialize in an auction setting, there is typically a small handful of collectors who have the desire and the deep pockets to bid "whatever it takes" to prevail upon an item. (For a splendid item like this, I can understand the "whatever it takes" mentality - and was operating under that principle myself for decades as a collector.) However, when that same item appears again, one of that handful is now sated and the energy needed to propel the price upward is either entirely missing or dissipated. Therefore, the ending price drifts down to what could be considered the norm for the piece. I have seen that time and time again. Three years ago, two large identical Johnny Pumpkins were listed on eBay with the auctions ending within 3 minutes of one another. The first one sold for ~$600 while the second one sold for about half that. So, the lesson in all this is that the ending price of $1,495 for this fantastic jam pot is really not what another one would fetch. The seller happened to be lucky in that one hasn't been available for many years and therefore reaped the benefits of scarcity. If another one was to be listed next month, it would almost surely sell for what I consider the sustainable price to be - ~$900-1,000.
Rare Vintage Halloween Dancing Cats Centerpiece
I'm glad to see such great Gibson enveloped products being offered. (Ebay really has been a wasteland overall for a long time now.) This dancing cat four-sided centerpiece was made by Gibson during the later 1920s. The seller, a very nice person and long-time collector, is correct to point out that these centerpieces don't surface often in complete, mint condition. Almost always one or more of the delicate tabs are ripped clean off. Given that the envelope is also part of the package, both parties to the transaction should be happy with the final purchase price of $200. (eBay shows $225 but the BIN offer accepted was $200.)
