Reminisce with the images of antique holiday cards.

Carrying glad tidings and messages of joy, paper Christmas cards are considered ephemera, which comes from a Greek word meaning short-lived. “They were designed to be thrown away,” says Massachusetts dealer Mickey Novak. “The fact that they survive is a miracle.” These delicate pieces of history feature beautifully illustrated holiday and winter scenes. Santa Claus was a favorite subject and remains popular today. Many of these late 19th- and early 20th-century Christmas cards are lithographs, printed in Germany using a time- and labor-intensive process that produces brilliant hues. “The printing techniques were superior and the colors stunning,” says Maine collector Averyl Hill.

Expect to pay from $1 to thousands of dollars. Writing on Christmas cards will detract marginally from value; bent corners or cancellation marks that have bled through the paper detract more. Keep an eye out for signed works by artist Ellen Clapsaddle and anything produced by London publisher Raphael Tuck & Sons. Expect cards from the 1950s and ’60s to jump in value, says Novak, as baby boomers wax nostalgic about holidays of their youths.