Dennison Skeleton Diecut

This Dennison Skeleton appears to have had a rough life.  Screws in his femur, a plate on his pelvis and even some string holding his humerus together.  Of course, he has nothing on Evel Knievel.

Mondays are to Die(cut) For - Dennison Witch

This huge Dennison Witch diecut was another find at the Halloween collector estate sale.  She's a little worse for wear, but vary rare to find.  She stands a whopping 67" tall.

Mondays are to Die Cut For - Detour

This odd Beistle die cut dates to the 1930s and has similar coloring to the singing cat die cut shown in last Monday's post and in fact was part of the same set.  The full 12-piece set is featured on page 151 of Mark Ledenbach's 3rd Edition of "Vintage Halloween Collectibles".

It features 2 "scratch cats" seemingly stuck in traffic. I know how they feel.

Mondays are to Die(Cut) For

Welcome to day 2.  I thought I'd introduce a new feature here called "Mondays are to Die(Cut) For".  Each Monday, I'll post a new Halloween die cut I found in the past year.  I may post more than one at a time, because it was a pretty good year.

This first die cut certainly isn't my best find of the year, but there's a story that goes with the other ones I found and frankly, I don't have time to tell it.  Stay tuned.

Anyway, today's die cut is a ferocious kitty.  I'm not sure if this is cute or horrifying.

This isn't terribly vintage and I've said before I'm not a big fan of the "cute" die cuts that began appearing in the 70's and pretty much took over by the 80's.  This one seems to be a transition piece.  It has the cute pumpkins and bats and the cat is almost cute, but frankly, it looks like it would tear you to pieces if you ran into it on a dark night.

A (Hay) Seed of Truth

Dennison produced this Pa and Ma Pumpkin set of diecuts in 1964.  You can tell this is "Pa" by his broken and repaired glasses and by the ubiquitous hay stem clenched in his mouth. 

Eureka Clown and Ghost Trick or Treaters

This is another Eureka piece I picked up in the past couple months. I bought it at the same sale where I found the owl. 

Dennison Die Cuts

The Dennison Manufacturing Company of Framingham, Massachusetts was established in 1844 as a maker of paper jewelry boxes.  When Halloween became popular just after the turn of the 20th century, they began manufacturing party decorations.  By the early teens they were publishing party guides known as Bogie Books that told how to throw the perfect Halloween party and just happened to sell the necessary supplies.

These Dennison Die Cuts date from much later.  The first two die cuts date from the 1960's and are the large versions measuring 16" tall.

Honeycomb Pumpkin

My earliest memories of honeycomb holiday decorations are of the Hallmark Thanksgiving Turkey my mom would put out as a centerpiece on our dining room table.  My sister and I would fight over who got to assemble it.  We didn't have any Halloween decorations outside of my own drawings and school art projects.

It wouldn't be until as an adult I began collecting vintage Halloween I would discover how many different honeycomb Halloween decorations were produced.  I'll be showing some of those I found over the past year in upcoming posts.  Today, we'll start with the old reliable pumpkin.  "25" is stamped on this particular pumpkin reflecting the original price of a quarter.

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.

Amscan Spider Honeycomb Die Cut

This honeycomb spider die cut is made by Amscan and is probably dates from the 1970's to '80's, given its "Made in Taiwan" marking.

Amscan's corporate site hasn't been updated much in the way of history since the last time I wrote about it, however, I found additional information on the company and its founder from other sites.

Despite the corporate site's "About Us" stating "Our founders were American and Scandinavian…hence AMSCAN", the only founder I was able to identify was Elvera Svenningsen who started the business with $1,000 out of the family garage.  Elvera was married to Anders Svenningsen, clearly a Scandinavian name. Maybe Elvera was "American", although no mention is made of Anders playing a role in the company.  Elvera was an importer of honeycomb party decorations and "expendable turkeys"; I'm assuming the paper kind.

Amscan was eventually taken over by Elvera's son John who operated it until his passing in 1996.  John's children were not interested in the company, so it was taken over by employees who took the company public.  It has since expanded and even purchased Party City in 2005, the company that was once it's biggest customer.

Disco, Disco Die Cut

I found these well-worn die cuts in the basement of an estate sale marked at 50 cents each.  

Peck Skeleton Die Cut

It was hard finding an example of this flocked skeleton die cut by Peck.  The only way I was able to identify it as Peck was by the head which was available as a separate die cut.  I believe it dates from the 1980's, so I wouldn't expect it to be very scarce.

I found it at a garage sale for $1 which goes to show there's still some great stuff out there.

American Greetings Witch Die Cut

This past year's sales have produced a few new additions to my die cut collection including this witch from the 1980's by American Greetings below. 

For the most part, the 1980's produced a lot of wide-eyed black kittens, sugary pumpkins and friendly ghost die cuts from Beistle, Peck and others.  This die cut provides a little more scare than those and while it lacks the embossing of older die cuts, it does come with some good detail.

Happy Days Die(cut)ssected

Welcome to Day 31, and you know what that means. It's Halloween! Every year when I post my first Countdown, I can't imagine how I'll come up with a post for every day, but here we are. I hope I've added a little to the spirit of the season.

Growing up, my love of both Halloween and television blended in the month of October with the Halloween specials of my favorite shows. Back then, it seemed every show paid their respect to the season with injections of orange and black and ghosts and goblins.

One of my favorites is the 1974 "Haunted" episode of "Happy Days". I make it a point to re-watch it every year.

During this year's viewing, I took special notice of the decorations used in the show. Although the show is set in the 1950's, popular Halloween decorations of the early 1970's from companies such as Beistle and Peck are used. I decided to freeze frame scenes in the episode and identify as many as I could.

13 Black Cats

In hindsight, I should have posted this last Friday.

This pack of Peck "13 Black Cats" die cuts was still sealed when I found it. However, the staples were barely clinging to the plastic, so I didn't feel too bad opening it. The die cuts are flocked for that fuzzy feel.

Amscan Owl

This "honeycomb" owl Halloween decoration was made by the Amscan Company and probably dates anywhere from the 1960's to 1970's.

Die Cut Blow Out

The big day approaches quickly.  I was going to post these die cuts separately thinking I'd need to stretch things out a bit, but it looks like I have enough to finish out the season.  Up first is this Beistle trio of witch, cat and ghosts. By the way, the orange in these scans don't do the die cuts justice, they are much brighter and vibrant in person.  No amount of color adusting can replicate it.

Doing her best "Kilroy" impersonation.

Beistle Halloween Pirate Die Cuts

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