When it comes to Christmas decorations, these collectors mean business.

And business continues to be good for Kansas City-based Hallmark Inc., which, while known globally for its greeting cards, is just as renowned for its annual new releases of keepsake Christmas ornaments.

The company itself, originally called ‘Hall Brothers,’ was founded in 1910 by 21-year-old J.C. Hall and his brothers, who seized upon the growing popularity of greeting cards in starting what would become a retail empire. Within 20 years, business was booming for Hallmark Inc. – so much so, that the Hall brothers signed the company’s first licensing agreement with Walt Disney – another household name who had roots in the Kansas City area – allowing Disney characters to appear on Hallmark greeting cards and other merchandise. It was only four years after the public debut of Mickey Mouse in Disney’s short animated film “Steamboat Willie.” The Hall Brothers company, meanwhile, would be renamed Hallmark Inc. in 1954.

A seasonal delight becomes a tradition

By the time the 1970s came about, Hallmark was a national brand with multiple licensing agreements. In 1973, the company began producing and selling a small line of Christmas ornaments, made up of just six glass ball ornaments and 12 figures made of yarn.

“Fifty years later, these ornaments that make up Hallmark’s collectibles history can be found for as little as $80 to several hundreds of dollars on sites such as eBay and hallmarkornaments.com, an online source for purchasing rare and hard to find Hallmark Keepsake and Christmas ornaments,” according to a 2022 article in The Journal of Antiques by its publisher, Maxine Carter-Lorne. “And it’s not just age that is setting value in the marketplace as Hallmark continues to intentionally release limited-run ornaments to drive the collector market.”

The publisher also writes that for novice and veteran collectors alike, there is one line of Hallmark Christmas ornaments that stands out above the rest.

“While the company has been producing ornaments since the early 1970s, its line of ‘Keepsake’ ornaments is the most collectible. Keepsake ornaments come in a Hallmark red box with the word “Keepsake” below the Hallmark name and are dated,” according to Carter-Lorne. “The collectibility of Keepsake ornaments is differentiated by a variety of qualifiers that include Storytellers, limited quantity designs, being part of a continuing series, using licensed characters, special convention and Hallmark member exclusives, and personalized ornaments.”

A dazzling cast of characters

Hallmark has even launched its very own Keepsake Ornament Club. Members of the club receive a bevy of benefits, including purchase coupons and reward dollars to be used on merchandise, access to purchase four new club-exclusive ornaments, early access to VIP member shopping events, quarterly newsletters, and members-only events and virtual experiences. Membership for 2026 is $49.99; for more information, visit https://www.hallmark.com/ornaments/keepsake-ornament-club/. Some of the most popular ornament series in the Keepsake line include Barbie, Star Wars, Peanuts, and The Wizard of Oz.

Characters from these series also appear in the company’s collectible figurines, popular all year long. In addition to the characters associated with these pop culture franchises, collectible figurines also include holiday and religious figures and scenes. Secular characters and symbols include the Grinch, Santa Claus, and even the leg lamp from the 1983 holiday cult classic “A Christmas Story.” Religious figures and symbols appearing on Hallmark’s figurines include angels and nativity scenes.

Hallmark’s collectible ornaments can be sold and traded on multiple websites – and they only continue to grow in popularity.
One of the most valuable Hallmark Keepsake ornaments has been their 2009 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation ‘Cousin Eddy’s RV’ ornament,” Carter-Lorne writes. “With the original box, some have recently sold on eBay for over $500. Another, released in 2015, is “Up On The Housetop,” one of which sold on eBay for $250 in September 2020.”

The collectors’ corner

Ornament and figurine collectors in cyberspace can connect to buy, sell, and trade their pieces on social media. Groups like ‘Hallmark Ornament Collectors’ currently clocks in at more than 17,000 members, while ‘Hallmark Ornament Collectors Chatter Group’ boasts 13,000 members. It’s a testament to the pieces’ status as cherished holiday treasures that will always make the season merry and bright.

The memories made with each Hallmark ornament hung on the Christmas tree and each figurine proudly displayed in one’s home are truly precious, according to the Keepsake Ornaments’ homepage on Hallmark.com – and you simply can’t put a price on that.

“What’s kept our brand strong for over 50 years?” the website asks. “A commitment to making memories, while creating a future that’s bright as can be.”

With Veterans Day comes an appreciation of the sacrifices made by the military servicemen and women who have defended the country from enemies both foreign and domestic. But what happens to the items they wore and carried with them into battle? Some are kept as cherished family heirlooms; others yet are donated or sold to military surplus stores, waiting to be adopted by those interested in military history. The list of items that find their way into such stores are as varied and diverse as the people who once used them.

Uniforms

Military uniforms can be repurposed into Halloween costumes or used in the great outdoors, whether camping or hunting or hiking. Military uniforms are usually good sellers at surplus shops because they’ve been made to last, standing up well to any kind of weather or activity.

Have a big work project and need appropriate clothing for your big home projects? Look no further than your nearest military surplus store. Old military boots are especially helpful for every activity from gardening to home reno-vations, according to the U.S. Armed Forces Superstore.

“Because of their durability, old military uniforms make great work clothes for chores around the house. Consider using them for landscaping, gardening, automotive and household repairs, and just about anything rough and dirty. Of course, this doesn’t apply to Class A or Class B uniforms,” according to an April 2023 article on the superstore’s website. “Old military boots are great for cutting the grass and using lawn maintenance equipment because they are steel-toed and can protect feet from flying rocks, fast-moving string cutters, and blades. Workshop at the house? Wear the old combat boots.”

Medals and ribbons

“Military medals are hard-won symbols of bravery, valor, and skill. Each tells a story of a moment in history and a person who rose to the occasion,” according to Collectors Weekly. “As works of military art, they can also be quite beautiful, whether their colorful ribbons bear enameled crosses, metal stars and bars, or commemorative coins.”

As of mid-October, listings of military medals on eBay spanned multiple countries and every major conflict in which the U.S. was involved. Prices ranged from less than $10 to as much as several hundred dollars for a U.S. Naval Service medal from the 1898 Spanish-American War.

And the most valuable medal ever sold at auction? That would be the Victoria Cross. According to Central Mass Auctions, only 1,358 have ever been made and issued to members of the British Armed Forces “for valor in the presence of the military. A medal worn by Captain Alfred Shout for his service in the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 sold at auction for $550,000. Less prestigious versions of this rare medal sell for around $2,000.”

For as long as humans have gathered around campfires to tell tales of the unexplainable, there have existed ghost stories.

Halloween itself came from the ancient Celtic tradition Samhain, which took place Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The Celts believed that on those two days, the dead were able to roam the Earth among the living. They also dressed themselves in dead animal furs as a way to confuse evil spirits – it’s how we arrived at our tradition of dressing in costume on Halloween night, in fact.

The big questions

Dr. Favin Martin of the private school Arcadia University in Pennsylvania is an expert on legends and lore. He says that although ghost stories are used to frighten and delight audiences, they also represent society’s larger questions about death and related topics.

“I would argue that ghosts are cultural agents, tasked with explaining the meaning of life and the afterlife,” Martin said in a 2024 article on the university’s website. “However, I would also point out that ghost stories allow us to think about our anxieties on death, the unknown, and unresolved conflicts. To that end, the perception of ghosts varies from being scary and evil, to lost wandering souls, with each story portraying the ghost differently.”

It’s never been difficult for us to picture ghosts – they usually are portrayed as being comprised of an airy, misty material; according to the Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, the early belief among many cultures is that ghosts were “the person within the person” – the person’s spirit – which appeared as “a white mist upon exhaling in colder climates.”

The golden age of ghost stories

Though the oral tradition of telling ghost stories by a campfire might best bring spooky tales to life, the technological innovations born from the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th and early 19th centuries helped spread them even further. Now, magazines (and later, books like pulp novels) could bring the dead to life, so to speak. They were published in periodicals like Good Housekeeping (hey, no one ever said those houses couldn’t be haunted).

Historians generally agree that the golden age of the ghost story began with the closing years of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1830s and ended with the start of World War I – a period of nearly 90 years. Many historians maintain that writers like Edgar Allan Poe ushered in this golden age; this age also gave us Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” written in 1820, in which the bashful schoolteacher Ichabod Crane is relentlessly pursued by the villainous and otherworldly Headless Horseman. Another Victorian author who would go on to achieve literary fame, Charles Dickens, wrote perhaps the most beloved ghost story in English literature, “A Christmas Carol,” a tale with a much happier ending in which Ebenezer Scrooge sees the error of his miserly ways after being visited by the ghost of old Jacob Marley and a trio of spirits soon after.

Petula Clark’s 1964 hit song “Downtown” made neon signs the nucleus of a dizzying world of excitement and thrills. Sing along if you know the words:

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?
The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares

 

So go downtown
Things will be great when you’re downtown
No finer place for sure, downtown
Everything’s waiting for you

By the time Clark’s now-iconic ditty made the Billboard Top 100, Vegas Vic had been beckoning travelers to the Las Vegas Strip for more than a decade. And though Sin City is synonymous with the electric hum of neon signs, it’s got some colorful competition in Cincinnatti, Ohio, which, like Vegas, boasts a museum entirely devoted to vintage signage. More on that later. First, let’s take a few steps backward in time as we examine the history of neon signs.

This story’s a real gas

Neon gas, found only in trace amounts in the Earth’s atmosphere, emits “a striking, reddish-orange glow” when electrified inside a sealed glass tube, according to the UK-based blog Neon Creations. Though the British can claim the discovery of neon in 1898, it was nearly five years later when French engineer Georges Claude invented neon lamps by applying high voltage to sealed glass tubes filled with neon gas. By 1910, Claude had demonstrated the first neon sign in Paris for a local business.

We here in the United States were first exposed to these new signs in the early 1920s, purchased for a Los Angeles car dealership.

“From there, neon exploded in popularity across major U.S. cities, lighting up iconic spots like Times Square in New York and the casinos of Las Vegas,” according to Neon Creations. “Neon signs became symbols of innovation, nightlife, and glamour throughout the 1920s and 1930s.”

And, like nearly every technological innovation in the early 1940s, production of neon signs was paused in the interest of the U.S. and European war effort.

Part of the local culture

“Neon signs’ popularity dipped around World War II due to the war, but in the booming 1950s, neon was revived again with the Doo Wop style of design in architecture,” according to the New Jersey-based “Preserving the Wildwoods” blog. “Large, garish neon signs were used to draw customers into restaurants, commercial businesses, and motels. Towns like Las Vegas and the Wildwood became defined by their use of neon signs.”

The neon sign’s popularity reached its peak in the 1950s, with roadside motels increasingly using them to advertise vacancies. Beginning in the 1960s, however, neon signs began to fall out of favor with advertisers and consumers alike.

“By the mid-20th century, neon signage began to wane due to the rise of cheaper LED technologies, changing advertising trends, and urban decay in certain areas,” according to Neon Creations.

The box office success of James Gunn’s new film “Superman,” which soared into theaters last month, has once again thrust comic books and comic book characters into the spotlight of public consciousness.

One might think this highly collectible form of ephemera is on the downswing, but recent studies have revealed otherwise. A June 2025 article from Fortune Business Insights shows that the market’s value is projected to reach 17 billion by the end of the year and reach 26 billion within the next seven years. Whether in printed or digital form, there are plenty of reasons to crack open a new issue.

“The growing production of comics with engaging stories and attractive graphics to help illustrate the content is driving the popularity of comics worldwide,” the article states. “These books help readers improve their vocabulary, improve their creativity, and build a strong value system through a positive message.”

Kiddin’ around: Comics at the turn of the century

Comics and comic books as we know them can be traced back to the mid-1890s, with the full-color publication of “Hogan’s Alley” and its flagship character, The Yellow Kid. First published in Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World newspaper, gave rise to the phrase “yellow journalism,” which referred to stories that were sensationalized for the purpose of boosting newspaper sales. The bald, barefoot boy, dressed in a raggedy yellow nightgown, lived in a tenement ghetto in New York City, and was described as being “sweet and generous, with a sunny disposition.” The comic made use of thoughts and speech being represented in word balloons that appeared above its characters.

The comic book as we know it – a monthly printed book of comics titled “Comics Monthly” – wasn’t printed until nearly 30 years later, in 1922.

Hope for a world in need of a hero

Like so many forms of entertainment, comics of the 1930s were intended to act as a form of escapism for a Depression-weary American public. Enter National Allied Publications, the pre-cursor to DC Comics, from Jerry Siegel and Joel Schuster, a New York-based duo who, in early 1935, published its first comic. The next few years were dedicated to developing the character who would change the face of comics and pop culture forever. They named him ‘Superman,’ branding the industry’s first superhero as a beacon of strength, perseverance, and hope in a world being darkened by the prospect of a world war on the horizon. The Man of Steel would make his great debut in June 1938.

In those early years, comic books’ Golden Age, other superheroes would make their debut to critical acclaim, including The Flash and Green Lantern (1940), and Wonder Woman and Marvel’s Captain America in 1941.

“The period from 1938 through the mid-1940s represents the peak of comic book popularity. Whereas current monthly sales of popular comic book titles hover around 100,000 copies, in the early 1940s, Superman, Batman, and Captain Marvel titles each regularly sold in the range of 1.5 million copies per month,” according to an article on illustrationhistory.org.

The new scapegoat

Postwar America in the late 1940s and all of the 1950s saw a small dip in comic book sales as American families focused on building careers and lives together.

Psychiatrist Dr. Frederic Wertham’s book “Seduction of the Innocent” painted comic books as harbingers of societal and moral decay; his crusade against comic books and the comic industry was so widespread and feared that comic book publishers banded together to form the Comics Code Authority, an organization tasked with regulating the content churned out every month.

Among the Code’s edicts:

“In every instance good shall triumph over evil…”
“If crime is depicted, it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity.”
“Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities.”
“…vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism and werewolfism are prohibited.”

Comic books’ popularity rebounded during their Silver Age, which took place between the mid-1950s and early 1970s. During that time, comic books “saw a change from dark and supernatural comic book themes to the other end of the spectrum with books containing silly plots and a high degree of camp,” according to illustrationhistory.org. “Such plots involved Superbaby and ‘The Super-Monkey from Krypton in Superboy #76 (October 1959) and Batman and Robin teaming up with comedian Jerry Lewis to fight the Joker in Jerry Lewis #97 (December 1966).” The Batman television series of the mid-1960s would introduce even more bizarre characters and give the program an overall campy feel