Seasonal collecting

Collecting Christmas Stamps: Annual Issues, Seals, Covers and Holiday Postmarks

Every December, post offices around the world sell stamps with nativity scenes, Old Master paintings, snowmen, ornaments and Santa. Collecting them is one of the most approachable corners of philately: the material is plentiful, the designs are often beautiful, and you can add to it every year. This guide explains what actually counts as a Christmas stamp, the different ways to build a collection, and how to avoid confusing postage with the charity labels that travel alongside it.

What counts as a Christmas stamp

Three kinds of material get lumped together under "Christmas stamps", and only one of them is postage.

Christmas seals belong to the wider family of non-postal labels philatelists call "cinderellas". If you are not sure whether something in your box is postage, our guide to cinderella stamps walks through the clues.

A short, careful history

A few landmarks are well established and useful for framing a collection:

• Canada, 1898. Canada's Imperial Penny Postage map stamp carries the inscription "XMAS 1898" and is often cited as the first stamp associated with Christmas, even though its design is a world map rather than a holiday scene.
• Denmark, 1904. Christmas seals began in Denmark, where a postal clerk, Einar Holbøll, proposed selling holiday labels to raise money for children's health causes. The idea spread to many other countries.
• United States, 1962. The first U.S. Christmas stamp was issued in 1962, and the Post Office has issued Christmas stamps every year since, typically with both a traditional religious design and one or more contemporary designs.
• Britain began issuing annual Christmas stamps in the 1960s, and many other postal administrations, from the Vatican to Australia to the Nordic countries, issue them every year.

Beyond these, dates and "firsts" for specific countries are easy to get wrong in online lists. If a particular claim matters to your collection, check it in a standard catalog or a specialist society's publications.

Ways to build a Christmas collection

One country, every year

The most popular approach. Pick a country and try to complete its Christmas issues from the first year to the present. It gives you a clear checklist, a satisfying sense of completion, and a new addition every December. The U.S. series is a natural starting point for American collectors because the material is everywhere: in mixtures, on old holiday mail and in dealers' stock.

A design theme across countries

Many collectors prefer a thematic frame: Madonna and Child paintings, nativity scenes, angels, winter landscapes, Santa Claus, or Christmas trees. This crosses borders and lets you compare how different countries interpret the same subject. It works well alongside a broader worldwide collection and turns duplicates from mixtures into useful material.

Formats and production

Modern Christmas stamps come in sheets, booklets, coils and self-adhesive panes, and many issues exist in more than one format. A format collection, with booklet panes, coil strips and plate number pieces, rewards careful study. If you go this way, our guides to booklet panes and plate blocks and margin markings are useful background.

Christmas mail as postal history

Envelopes from the holiday season tell their own story: December postmarks, greeting-card rates, seals stuck next to stamps, and special holiday cancels. This is a cheap and surprisingly rich field because ordinary holiday mail survives in family papers everywhere.

Collecting Christmas seals

Seals have their own devoted collectors. In many countries they were issued annually by a charitable organization, which makes them a natural year-by-year series, much like postage. People collect them as full sheets, as singles, and on cover, where a seal sits next to the postage stamp on a holiday envelope.

A few things to keep in mind:

• They are not postage. A seal on its own did not pay for delivery. A cover franked only with a seal is a curiosity worth examining for postage due markings.
• Sheets often carry information, such as the issuing organization and design variations within a single sheet. Keep sheets intact if you have them.
• Specialist catalogs and societies document seal issues and varieties. General stamp catalogs usually don't list them in detail.

To see the range, browse vintage Christmas seal sheets on eBay.

Holiday-town postmarks and seasonal covers

A small number of post offices have names that make them magnets for holiday mail, such as North Pole, Alaska, Santa Claus, Indiana and Christmas, Florida. Each year people send cards through these offices to get the town's postmark, and some offices use special seasonal cancels.

Covers from these towns are fun and plentiful. What makes one more interesting than another is usually the postmark itself (date, design, clarity), the stamp used, and whether the cover went through the mail. For general guidance on reading postmarks and backstamps, see our guide to duplex and machine cancels. On eBay, search North Pole postmark covers or Santa Claus, Indiana covers.

Condition, soaking and storage

• Self-adhesive stamps: many modern Christmas stamps are self-adhesive. Their backing adhesive doesn't always release in water, and soaking can leave residue or damage. Many collectors save used self-adhesives on neatly trimmed paper instead.
• Water-activated gum: older used stamps can usually be soaked off envelope paper. Follow a careful method; our soaking guide covers it. Separate stamps on colored envelope paper first, since dye from red and green holiday envelopes can run.
• Check the cover first: before soaking anything, look at the whole envelope. An unusual postmark, rate or route can make the cover more interesting intact. See look at the cover before soaking.
• Mint stamps: store flat in a stock book or mounts, away from heat and humidity.
• Seal sheets: store flat in archival sleeves; they crease easily along perforations.

What about value?

Be realistic. Modern Christmas stamps were printed in very large quantities, and most are common in both mint and used condition. That's part of the appeal: you can build a complete, attractive run without a big budget.

Exceptions exist, as with any modern issue: genuine production errors (missing colors, imperforates, misperforations) and scarce varieties. Anything claimed as an error should be compared against catalog listings and, if the claim matters financially, submitted for expert opinion. Our guide to errors, varieties and freaks explains the difference between a real error and a common printing shift.

To research what something actually sells for, look at completed sales rather than asking prices. For example, check sold U.S. Christmas plate blocks and read our guide to using eBay sold listings so you compare like with like.

A starter checklist for a U.S. Christmas run

1. Print or write out a year-by-year list of U.S. Christmas issues from a current catalog.
2. Decide: mint, used, or both. Decide whether you want one example per design or every format.
3. Go through your own holiday mail, family papers and mixtures first. You'll likely fill many spaces for free.
4. Fill gaps through club swaps, dealer boxes and online lots.
5. Add a seasonal cover or two each year for context.
6. Buy the current year's stamps at the post office every December so the run stays complete.