Gadget Mania: Maker - Beistle: Maker of Paper Puff/Honeycomb Cards

A Token of Love

Standing Paper-Puff
circa 1920s
Made in USA
by Beistle

Beistle was founded in Pittsburg, Pennsylvannia by Martin Luther Beistle in 1900. He began with a small stock of wooden toys, calendars and artificial plants. Operations moved to Shippensburg, Pa by 1907. As the company grew the nature of their inventory changed. They found great success with their paper puff products and soon were making decorations featuring it for a variety of holidays. They did also create flat decorations. The company is still in business today with plenty of decorations to choose from, but their production of honeycomb valentine cards ended long ago.

Valentine Greetings

Standing Paper-Puff
circa 1920s
Made in USA
by Beistle

Their most sought after items are their old decorations for Halloween. The company is currently making reproduction decorations based on those popular vintage Halloween items - lots of great cats and pumpkins and even some neat honeycomb detailing in the collection.

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Standing Card with Paper-Puff Heart
circa 1930s
Made in USA
by Beistle

It was in 1925 that Beistle began making valentines. The first ones were all the pull-down style and featured a little rounded paper puff which they called a rosette hidden in the fold.

Loving Greetings

Standing Paper-Puff Basket
circa 1920s, 1930s
Made in USA
by Beistle

The 1930s saw the beginning of the production of large honeycombed hearts. Those were made into the 1950s while Beistle stopped production of their cards in 1939. They did continue to make holiday decorations, including ones for St Valentine's Day. In the 1950s they produced mainly centerpiece displays and hanging decorations in the 1960s. Today they offer an eclectic mix of centerpieces, garlands and personal accessories.