Why Christmas cards are so common
In the postcard craze of about 1905 to 1915, Christmas was the biggest card-sending occasion of the year. Families mailed cards to everyone they knew, and recipients saved them in albums. The result is that almost every early family collection contains dozens or hundreds of Christmas and New Year greetings. With that many surviving, ordinary designs, like holly, bells, snowy cottages, angels and flowers, sell for very little individually.
The Christmas cards collectors want
Santa Claus. Santa is the most collected Christmas subject, and the more unusual the depiction, the better:
- Robes in colors other than red. Early Santas often wore blue, green, purple, brown or white. These are popular with collectors.
- Santa with technology. Santa driving an early automobile, flying an airship or airplane, talking on a telephone, or arriving by train.
- Full-figure Santas with toys and sleighs, rather than small heads in a corner.
- Santa in unusual settings, such as on a rooftop with an open chimney or at a window with children.
Hold-to-light cards. Cards with cut or translucent areas that glow when held to a lamp, showing lit windows, a moon or Santa's lantern.
Mechanical and novelty cards. Cards with moving parts, pull tabs, folding sections, or attached silk, glitter and fabric.
Known publishers and artists. Fine embossed cards from series by publishers such as Raphael Tuck & Sons, John Winsch and the International Art Publishing Company, and signed designs by illustrators like Ellen Clapsaddle.
Real photo Christmas cards. Real photographs of decorated stores, churches and homes, or families around a tree, can be more interesting than printed greetings, especially if the place is identified.
How condition affects Christmas cards
Because so many Christmas cards survive, collectors can be choosy. Bright color, sharp embossing and clean corners matter more for Christmas cards than for scarce real photo views. Faded, stained or worn Christmas cards are worth very little individually.
New Year, Easter and other greetings
New Year cards follow similar rules to Christmas: mostly common, with unusual designs, novelties and fine series standing out. Easter cards with dressed animals and unusual designs, Valentine's cards with mechanical features, and Thanksgiving and Fourth of July cards, especially patriotic Uncle Sam designs, can be more collectible. See holiday and greeting postcards for the full picture, and vintage Halloween postcards for the most valuable holiday of all.
Christmas cards in a collection
In most collections, Christmas cards are a large share of the cards and a small share of the value, unless there are unusual Santas or novelties among them. When you photograph a collection for a quote, a single photo of a stack of Christmas cards fanned out is usually enough, plus close-ups of any Santas in unusual colors or with vehicles, and any cards that light up or move.
How to sort a big stack of Christmas cards
If you are looking through hundreds of Christmas greetings, you can make quick progress by watching for just a few things as you turn the pages:
- Any Santa at all. Pause on every card with Santa, and look at his robe color and what he is doing.
- Anything that is not flat. Cards with flaps, pull tabs, cut-outs, layers, silk or glitter.
- Thick, deep embossing with gold highlights, especially with a publisher's name and series number on the back.
- Real photographs of Christmas scenes, stores or churches.
Everything else, the holly, bells, snow scenes and poinsettias, is part of the bulk of a collection. There is no need to separate anything; noticing these four things simply helps you describe what you have.
A note on value expectations
Because Christmas cards are so plentiful, families are sometimes disappointed to hear that a thick album of beautiful Christmas greetings is not worth much. The cards are lovely, and they still count, but supply is enormous. It is better to know that going in. The album's value is more likely to come from whatever else is in it: real photos, small towns, Halloween or other scarce holidays.
Christmas real photos
Real photo postcards of Christmas scenes are a less common and often more interesting corner of the subject: a decorated general store window, a church altar dressed for the holidays, children with new toys, a family gathered around a tree. If the place or family is identified, such cards appeal to local collectors as much as holiday collectors, and they deserve a closer look than printed greetings.
Questions people ask
Are antique Christmas postcards worth anything?
Most are worth a little. Unusual Santas, hold-to-light cards, mechanical cards and fine series cards are worth more.
What is a hold-to-light postcard?
A card with cut-out or thin translucent areas, often backed with colored paper, that glows when held up to a light.
Why is Santa sometimes wearing blue or green?
Before the red suit became standard, artists depicted Santa in many colors. Non-red Santas are popular with collectors.
Should I take Christmas cards out of the album?
No. Leave them in place and photograph a few pages.
A note on greetings from far away
Many Christmas and New Year cards in American collections were mailed by relatives in Europe, especially from Germany, Scandinavia and Italy, and carry foreign stamps and postmarks. These are part of the family history of a collection and are welcome, but their value follows the same rules: unusual designs and fine condition first.
Are New Year postcards worth anything? Like Christmas cards, most are common. Novelty cards, fine embossed series and unusual designs, such as early automobiles or airships carrying in the new year, are worth more.
Sources and further reading
Ready to sell? Compare where to sell old postcards, or see how to sell old postcards step by step.