Die Cut Blow Out

Well, once again we find ourselves at the day before THE day.  Traditionally on this blog, today is the end of garage sale content with tomorrow reserved for photos of my home haunt.  Believe it or not, our outside still isn't decorated (as of writing this).  We had a new roof put on a little over a week ago (tornado damage last March) and I didn't want the decorations damaged by flying shingles.  Then it began raining (after a 3 month drought). And raining. And raining.  Today (10/30) is supposed to be cloudy but dry, so I'm going to go into overdrive and get the outside decorated.  Hopefully photos tomorrow will prove I was successful.

But for today, I thought I'd do a photo dump of all the diecuts I have heretofore not shown on this blog.  Some of these are from this past season, others I've found in prior years, but never posted (to my knowledge. Honestly, I didn't go through the blog and look).

Up first is a find from this year.  It's a giant version of the classic Beistle skeleton, measuring in at 54" tall.  I picked him up for $10 which I thought was a good deal.

Beistle Skull and Cross Bones Die Cut

This is another damaged die cut I found at the same sale as this witch.  Again, damage doesn't bother me.  These were meant to be hung in classrooms and homes year after year.  Damage is going to occur.

 This Skull and Cross Bones was made by Beistle in the 1960's.

Beistle Wiggling Witch

I hit a pretty good sale with some nice vintage Halloween diecuts this past Spring.  Oddly enough, there was only one other person looking through them. Unfortunately, that person got there just before me and grabbed some of the best pieces.  They left behind any that were damaged, so I was glad to save those.  The damage doesn't bother me.  This one has some tape tears, but I think it still looks great.

While the piece isn't marked, I can see by the art that it's a Beistle and various auctions for this piece corroborate that, at least for what that's worth.  It was also suggested she dates from the 1940's which I would agree with. I couldn't find her in either of my reference books.  

The witch stands 14" tall and is jointed at the neck and waist, allowing her to perform a nice little jig when wiggled.

Cat on the Moon

I'm posting this midday to make up for the missed posting yesterday.

The cat on this diecut is perched upon the nose of the moon who doesn't seem to mind.

It's made by Beistle and given it's heavy embossing, guess that it dates no later than the 1940's.

It's actually a swipe of a German design from the 1930's:

Image courtesy of eBay

Stirring the Pot

We're not done with die cuts yet, not by a long shot.

Here's another witch die cut made by Beistle.  It's another unusual one I've not seen before and was bought at the same sale as yesterday's witch.  I believe it's a bit older and probably dates to the 1940's or before.

Perched on her stool, she stirs the post of her ghoulish goo with a dead branch.  When's dinner?

 

Beistle Little Witch

Normally each season I try to limit the same kind of object to one per week, particularly die cuts.  But this year, I've come into a goodly number of them, many from the same sale, so I thought I'd start posting these a little more frequently.

First up is this Beistle Witch.  I'm not sure if she's supposed to be a child witch or just a short witch, but I like her and her frightened Jack O' Lantern.  It's one I've never seen before, and I found 2 at the same sale.

Not only is she small, the die cut is as well, measure 5 1/2".  If I had to hazard a guess, I would say she's from the 1950's to 1960's.

Hats Off to Halloween

These 2 hats came from the Halloween collector estate sale.  This first hat is large, standing 15" tall with an 8" diameter at the base (12" with fringe).  It dates from around 1950. Manufacturer is unknown.

Witch Diecut with (some) Crepe Hair

Another die cut from the lot I bought at this estate sale is this Beistle witch.  She probably dates from the 1960's.  

She too suffers from the years with creases and hair loss.  Pretty much like myself.

Beistle Creeping Cat

At the same sale where I found yesterday's die cut, I found this Beistle creeping cat.

Black (Cat) Gold

This find from a few months back just goes to show there's still some gold to be found in the wild.

Beistle Halloween Pirate Die Cuts

These early Beistle die cuts are probably my favorite ones found this year.

Decorations to Die (Cut) For

These late season Halloween finds came just in time to fill one day of my countdown to Halloween.  I was at the last day of a 3-day sale a couple weeks ago.  I wasn't expecting to find much, but due to an incorrectly posted start time (advertised as 8:00, but didn't open until 9:00) for the sale, I managed to be the first one in simply because I knocked on the front door to find out what was going on.

In the basement, I found one room of holiday decorations that seemed fairly ravaged.  Boxes were dumped all over the ground, so I started digging through.  In the pile, I found several bagged die cuts.

More Beistle Die Cuts

I've already posted most of these previously, but they're worth another look and there are a couple I don't believe I've posted before.  Some of these are marked "Beistle", some are marked "H.E. Luhrs".  Don't be fooled.  They're the same company. H.E. Luhrs was the founder's son-in-law and eventually president of the Beistle company.  These probably date from the 1940's or 50's.

Angry Beistle Pumpkin

Another estate sale find, this pumpkin is unmarked, but recognizable as a Beistle and can be found among others with differing expressions in Mark Ledenbach's latest fantastically illustrated 3rd edition of "Vintage Halloween Collectibles". Check out his site at halloweencollector.com.

And while I'm plugging sites, how about clicking on the Creature from the Black Lagoon in the upper right corner and visit some of the other great Cryptkeeper's sites participating in the Countdown to Halloween.

Fluorescent Beistle Decorations

I had completely forgotten about these Beistle die cuts I found some time in the past year.  I think they were mixed in with a bag of newer Halloween decorations.  The rule for new vs. old Halloween die cuts generally is the cuter they are, the newer they are.  

I love the bright, fluorescent color of these.  I bet they'd look great under blacklight.

Today's Garage Sale Finds

Today I'm going to forgo my usual posting of individual finds and give a complete picture of one sale I attended this morning. It will give you an idea of the diversity of things you can find at a single sale and a reminder that vintage items can still be found out there.

The phone rang at 7:00 a.m. this morning.  It was my mother-in-law.  Usually the combination of those two things would mean something bad happened.  But in this case, she had news of a garage sale across from her house in Lemay.  It's an older neighborhood and the family had been in the house for many years, so it sounded promising.

My wife and I headed over and while she visited with her parents, I crossed the street to the sale.

The first thing I spotted was a Mego Farrah Fawcett doll.

Halloween Hangups

No, I'm not talking about problems people have with Halloween.  I'm talking about those great cardboard diecuts from yesteryear.  If you're old enough, you probably remember them from dime stores, classroom walls and maybe even your own home.  Beistle was the predominant maker of these wall hangings, starting way back in 1900, although it would be a decade before they got into the paper decoration business.  I love the art on these.  Unfortunately, the artists are uncredited and I haven't been able to find a definitive list of artists who worked for Beistle, although H. E. Luhrs who married into the Beistle family and eventually became CEO was one of them.

I found this witch in the basement of an estate sale this past winter.  She stands a staggering 5 foot tall.

Happy Halloween 2012

Halloween snuck up on me again this year.  I did manage to get my annual outside display up and even a few decorations in the house.  Traditionally, Halloween usual spells the end of garage sale season.  Estate sales will continue of course.

Today's post features some Halloween-themed items I picked up throughout the past year at sales.

A few vintage Beistle die cut decorations

Octoberfest

I've written on Beistle decorations in the past.  Those were Halloween cut-outs and typically what most people think of when they hear the Beistle name. 

I found these German Octoberfest cut-outs at an estate sale last winter.  Most Beistle cut-outs were used to decorate homes and schools.  I'm not sure what walls these would have adorned.

Happy Halloween!

We just wrapped up our big Halloween bash and I thought I'd share a few Halloween-related items I picked up over the summer.

First up, some vintage Beistle Halloween cutouts: