Sports stars, celebrities, and even cryptocurrencies all have rookie cards… Is there even a Santa Claus? These are the questions you might ask yourself after consuming too much nutmeg. And now that the season of giving is officially upon us, we want to spread some holiday cheer by highlighting a bigger niche than you might think: Christmas-themed trading cards.
So let’s dive into this fun corner of the trading card world. Old St., a goat that gives itself gifts. This is where Nick rules.
A Brief History of Santa Claus Trading Cards
1891 Woolson Spice Card. (Photo: eBay)
There is no specific origin story for Santa Claus trading cards, but some of the first examples of them in the United States date back to the late 1800s. Woolson Spice, an Ohio-based company, has created several artistic Christmas trading cards featuring Santa sitting around a tree with children or riding in his sleigh. Woolson Spice used the back of the card to advertise its products, such as Lion Coffee.
Strictly speaking, no 19th-century card is known among the collecting community as Santa’s “true” rookie card, but one of the most well-known cards from the era can be found in the 1890 Duke Holidays set. The popular tobacco company produced a 50-card set that included three Christmas cards, but only the American version included Santa Claus. According to a population rating report from Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA), fewer than 15 copies have been authenticated by the company. Examples of the cards are also in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection.
1890 Duke Holiday Christmas, American card. (Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art)
It’s very interesting to see the evolution of Santa Claus as depicted back then compared to today. Many early picture cards showed a slimmer-looking version, sometimes wearing a green or brown suit. It was Coca-Cola’s advertising in the early 1930s that solidified the image of Santa Claus we have today (although its originator was political cartoonist Thomas Nast in the 1860s). And yes, there are trading cards featuring old Coke commercials from the 1990s.
In the late 1980s, the sports card industry exploded in popularity and began producing more and more sets. One of the first Santa Claus cards to capture the attention of modern collectors was the iconic 1989 Pro Set Football card. Promotional cards were issued to card merchants and dealers during the holiday season, but demand increased because they could not be removed from packs.
1989 Pro Set promo card. (Photo: eBay)
The front of the card lists Santa Claus as a “player and coach” and depicts him wearing a baseball cap with his name on it and a red satin jacket with the NFL logo. Inexplicably, he’s holding trading cards identical to his own, creating an incredible card receiving loop. Behind Santa Claus, through a snowy window, are two Pro Set executives dressed as elves. (Leaf remade this card in 2021 instead, selecting notable figures from Donald Trump to Pele, which may complicate the search for a more valuable original.) . The back of the card includes key information about Santa Claus and a scouting report.
Pro Set began including Santa Claus cards in their sets in 1990, and they were so popular. All of these cards have been printed in much larger quantities and are readily available today, but the ’89 cards remain highly popular. gem mint” PSA 10 graded copies sell for about $500 to $750.
As the sports card industry continued to innovate in the 1990s, new opportunities opened up to celebrate the holidays through autographs and memorabilia cards. One of the first autographed Santa Claus cards can be found on Pro Line Portraits from 1991, with the rarest version limited to 200 copies.
In 1998, Upper Deck produced an oversized Kris Kringle promotional card featuring a velvety red piece of the “vacation jersey” available only to members of the company’s Collector’s Club. You can buy this card on eBay for about $20.
The 2007 Topps also has a Kris Kringle relic card, an autograph card, and a rookie card that pays homage to Mickey Mantle’s famous 1952 Topps card. The signed cards in this set are “Topps Santafied Autograph”, not “Topps Certified Autograph”. The back of the card says, “Santa signed this card with the same pen he uses to write all his lists.” “Naughty and good kids from all over the world.” The back of the relic card containing a piece of Santa’s clothing reads, “Tops purchased this clothing directly from Santa. Santa asked us to spread it as far and wide as possible so that everyone can cherish and keep Santa’s Christmas spirit. Whenever they want. Please come back every time.”
2007 Topps Holiday Set. (Photo: eBay)
In recent years, Topps has produced more Santa Claus autographs and relic cards for its Christmas baseball sets (more on that in a moment), but the releases have become decidedly less whimsical. “The artifacts on this card came from nothing,” the back of the 2019 offering reads.
Over the past decade or so, the hobby’s annual holiday set releases have produced more Santa Claus trading cards than ever before. The most recently released Topps Holiday set allows collectors to choose Mrs. You can get rare chase cards of other classic Arctic characters like Claus, Frosty the Snowman, the Gingerbread Man, and more.
Holiday themed sports set
The sports card industry offers several holiday-themed sets that add a seasonal touch to your collection with unique player-worn Christmas sweater cards and festive, very short print variations.
The main baseball card released around this festive time of year is the Topps Holiday. First created in 2016, this set includes Christmas-inspired designs of MLB rookies and stars, and you’ll find elves, snowflakes, and holiday lights hidden on the cards. Collectors can pick up autographed cards, player-worn Christmas hat relics, and the aforementioned rare Santa Claus relic/car card. The Topps Holiday set is a retail exclusive that can be found online and in stores like Target and Walmart.
2024 Tops Holiday Bobby Witt Jr. Image Variation. (Photo: eBay)
A few years after Topps Holiday was first released, Panini, which produces NFL and NBA licensed trading cards, began offering Hoops Basketball and Donruss Football holiday-themed sets, which also became popular with collectors. For Donruss Football 2022, Panini has released a visually stunning Santa Claus Downtown insert. Extremely rare case hits (traditionally there is only one downtown insert every few hundred packs) are still in huge demand, with 10 PSA copies selling for more than $1,500. A similar unique Clearly Donruss Holo card sold for $3,234.71 in June of this year. That’s the highest price ever for a Santa Claus card, according to CardLadder’s database, which tracks card sales across major online marketplaces.
I believe these pieces have less monetary value on average than many other sets and are more collector focused. But they still offer plenty of chase cards and autographed artifacts from top rookies and stars that can fetch you hundreds of dollars. PSA 10 Topps Holiday base rookie cards of superstars like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani sell for upwards of $100.
Classic Holiday Movie Trading Cards
An autographed A Christmas Story card from Peter Billingsley sold for $750. (Photo: eBay)
One of my favorite holiday traditions is sitting back, drinking a glass of eggnog, and watching a Christmas movie. This genre is now also spreading in trading card form. This year, actor Chevy Chase released a Christmas Vacation 35th Anniversary box set featuring autographed cards from the Griswold family and a personally used Chevy Chase relic card. The limited edition release of 300 boxes sold out quickly, but some ended up on eBay.
Cryptozoic Entertainment and Marquee Trading Cards recently put out a similar set based on the beloved holiday movie “A Christmas Story” to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the film’s release. Collectors can pick up single and dual autograph cards with cast members’ autographs, hand-drawn sketch cards, and serialized tracking cards. A sealed box can be found on eBay for around $130, plus a 1/1 Peter Billingsley (Ralphie) autograph card engraved with “I want a Red Ryder!” One has already been taken out of the pack and sold for less than $1,000.
Billingsley also signed Leaf’s cards, some with the “Oh fudge” inscription selling for $99 each. That’s exactly what someone might say after finding out their loved one spent $99 on an autographed Ralphie card.
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(Top photo: Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
