Collecting vintage Santa postcards and Christmas ephemera.
Somewhere along the way, I developed a weakness for vintage Santa postcards. I was already an avid collector of antique postcards and Victorian Christmas ephemera, but the Santas became a fascination of their own. The more I collected, the more I discovered how wonderfully varied these early Santa Claus illustrations could be—from traditional red-robed Santas carrying toys to wonderfully unexpected versions dressed in blue, gold and green, traveling by motorcycle or even hot-air balloon.
The Golden Age of Vintage Postcards
The early 20th century was an extraordinary time for illustrated postcards. In the United States, the period from roughly 1907 to 1915 is commonly known as the “Golden Age of Postcards,” when a change in postal regulations allowed the back of a postcard to be divided between the message and address, freeing the front from having to accommodate the sender's written message. Postcard collecting became enormously popular, with cards exchanged, saved and displayed in albums. Many of the finest examples were printed in Germany, where sophisticated color printing produced the richly detailed illustrations collectors still prize today.
More than a century later, those Christmas postcards are still collected—and the really special Santa illustrations can attract plenty of competition. I certainly discovered that once I began actively seeking out the best examples.
Bargains are definitely out there, and if you're patient, you can find wonderful vintage Santa postcards at surprisingly good prices. But once I became serious about building an exceptional collection of Christmas imagery for my digital graphics archive, I didn't always have the luxury of waiting for a better deal. If I found a truly special Santa, there was no guarantee I'd see that particular card again anytime soon—and I didn't want to let the best ones get away.
I've often paid $20 to $75 for a single vintage Santa postcard. Could I sometimes have found the same card for less six months later? Probably. But I was looking for exceptional illustrations, not simply the least expensive Santas I could find.
The Classic Santa in Red
Many of the vintage Santa postcards I collected feature the familiar Santa we recognize today: a white beard, red coat, an armful of toys and a snowy winter setting. But even within that familiar tradition, the variety of illustration styles, expressions and personalities is remarkable.
Santas Weren't Always Dressed in Red
Some of my favorite vintage Santa postcards show him dressed in colors we don't immediately associate with Santa Claus today—blue, green, gold, brown and other wonderfully unexpected combinations. In my own collection, many of the cards thatappear to be earlier examples, judging from the style of the clothing, the printing and the cards themselves, are also the ones where Santa is most likely to venture beyond his familiar red coat.
Many of these early cards are exceptionally beautiful pieces of printing. During the Golden Age of postcards, much of the finest postcard printing was done in Germany, whose printers were renowned for their sophisticated color work. German printing dominated the postcard market in the early 1900s, and the quality was considered superior; that changed dramatically with World War I, when German imports to the United States largely ceased.
For a collector—and especially for someone looking at these images as a designer—the richness of the color, tiny details and beautifully layered printing can be every bit as irresistible as the Santa himself.
The Whimsical Santas of Vintage Christmas Postcards
Some of the Santas I love most are the ones that make me smile. The artists and publishers of these early Christmas postcards certainly weren't afraid to have fun with their subject. Santa might arrive with his traditional sack of toys—but he was just as likely to turn up on a motorcycle or sail through the sky in a hot-air balloon.
These wonderfully imaginative scenes are part of what kept me collecting. Once you've discovered Santa speeding through the snow on a motorcycle, you start wondering what on earth he's going to be doing on the next postcard you find.
Santa Vignettes: Made for Creative Design
Vintage Santa vignettes are some of my favorite illustrations to work with because their softly fading edges make them especially easy to incorporate into new designs. Rather than being confined within a rectangular scene, the illustration can become part of a completely new composition.
When I prepare these illustrations for my digital collections, I almost always include an isolated version with the background removed, as well as a version that retains some of the original background. I often use both versions together.
Photoshop Tip: Blending Vintage Vignette Illustrations into a New Background
Vignette illustrations—images in which the artwork gradually fades away rather than ending at a hard rectangular edge—are particularly useful for incorporating into new designs.
When I prepare these illustrations, I generally include two versions: one with some of the original softly fading background intact onpure white, and another with the main illustration completely isolated on a transparent background.
My favorite Photoshop technique is to use both versions together. I start with the vignette version, then Shift-drag the isolated version onto it, placing it on a new layer directly above and in perfect alignment. I link the two layers and drag the pair into my design document.
I keep the isolated illustration on top and set the lower vignette layer to Multiply. Because that lower image is on pure white, the white essentially disappears in Multiply mode, allowing the original soft edges, shadows and atmospheric details to blend naturally into the new background. Meanwhile, the isolated version on top keeps Santa himself clear and vibrant.
This often gives a much more natural result than trying to cut around all those soft, irregular edges, which can make the illustration look pasted on rather than integrated into the design.
One caveat: this technique works best over lighter backgrounds. On a dark background, Multiply can make the vignette too dark or muddy.
Combining a vintage Santa with other vintage elements gives the original illustration a new creative life.
Beyond Postcards: Vintage Santa Die Cuts
Postcards weren't my only source for wonderful vintage Santa illustrations. I also collected antique die cuts and other pieces of Christmas ephemera, including some especially fabulous Santas.
Decorative die-cut scraps were enormously popular collectibles. People gathered favorite examples and pasted them into scrap albums, creating personal collections of flowers, animals, children, holiday imagery and countless other subjects. It was closer to collecting and curating a visual archive than to what we think of as scrapbooking today. Many of the scraps were beautifully produced, with exceptional printing, rich color and wonderfully imaginative illustrations.
Despite the name, an antique die cut doesn't necessarily arrive ready to use as a clean digital cutout. The original cutting can be surprisingly irregular, and pieces that have spent more than a century being handled or mounted in scrapbooks often require considerable restoration and careful extraction before I can turn them into usable digital graphics.
Creating today's scrapbooking designs with vintage elements from yesterday. The Santa illustration and digital papers shown here are all part of the Complete Vintage Christmas Collection.
Old Illustrations, New Possibilities
Looking back through these Santas reminds me why I became so fascinated with them in the first place. Some are beautiful, some are wonderfully strange, and some simply make me smile. More than a century after they were originally printed, they still have an extraordinary amount of personality.
Part of the pleasure for me has always been imagining what these old illustrations might become next. I love preserving the character that made me want to collect an image in the first place, while restoring and preparing it so it can become part of something entirely new.
Perhaps that's why I've never really tired of vintage imagery. A wonderful illustration doesn't stop being useful—or delightful—just because it's more than a hundred years old.
The Complete Vintage Christmas Collection
The Santa illustrations featured in this post are all part of my Complete Vintage Christmas Collection, created from years of collecting, scanning and restoring vintage Christmas ephemera.
The collection goes far beyond Santas, with restored Christmas illustrations, ornaments, florals, typography, papers, textures and other design elements prepared for use in your own creative projects. Many of the original pieces were collected individually over the years, then carefully scanned, restored and extracted to preserve the character and detail that made me want to collect them in the first place.
Explore the Complete Vintage Christmas Collection →
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