Cider Keg Moon

Sane Halloween Observer

As might be guessed from the previous blog introduction there is a real thrill discovering sets, or additions to sets, (by someone who loves obscurities). And these cards really wowed me! 

Here are five (are there more?) wonderfully illustrated and poetic cards featuring weird witches, bedraggled cats, skulls, elves, and an odd moon seemingly spirited up from a cider keg. These likely date from the early 20th century, judging from the addition of gold (below) seen during 1920's / 1930's paper goods by Rust Craft, Whitney, Dennison, and Gibson.  

These seem close to character designs found on a Whitney (?) product (particularly the witches and cats)... but I'm no longer certain after noticing items from another postcard set (example shown below) with a "M in a teapot beanpot" mark on the back:

Update 12-1-2014: an active member of the Vintage Halloween group on facebook (www.facebook.com/groups/vintagehalloween/) was kind enough to jump in with possible identification details (of the single postcard above) which led me to a web page by the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York - check out their publisher list http://www.metropostcard.com/publishersm2.html which identifies the mark as a Miller Art Co. postcard. Could this be the same company that produced the set above?

This same facebook member also notes - "For your future reference, if you have a logo, but no name, here is a site that lists publishers & printers by logo: http://spec.lib.miamioh.edu/"