Beistle produced two skelecat designs, one in 1970 and the other in 1971. This is the first design that they abandoned as I think it didn’t appeal to shoppers. The next year’s design was much scarier, thus appealing to the design aesthetic popular with party-givers and goers at the time.
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Mark B. Ledenbach's vintage Halloween collectibles blog.
RARE 1970 Vintage UNOPENED 2 Jointed Skeleton Cats BEISTLE Halloween Decorations
I haven’t seen this skeleton cat packaging for some time, so the seller is correct. (I enjoyed reading the thorough description accompanying the listing.) Beistle was manufacturing great quantities of their designs by 1970, so this jointed diecut would still have an RSIN of 4. However, a still-sealed package is no more than a 3 on the same scale. Beistle issued two designs of the skeleton cats or skelecats. The predominantly green and white design is also quite good.
Old Vintage Halloween Cardboard Jointed Diecut Die Cut Skeleton Cat Beistle 1970
eBay is such a secretive organization. One screen shows that this 1970 Beistle skelecat diecut sold for less than the listed price of $100 due to the acceptance of a BIN offer, but doesn't reveal the exact selling price. Meanwhile, the screen shown here would give the idle browser the errant impression it sold for $100. Using a site created to provide real-time market information for items selling on eBay, I learned this sold for $88.99, a very fair price, indeed, given the condition of the diecut. I found out about this site from a faithful reader. Thank you, Paul, for helping this collector/researcher use a new great tool to track prices!
