Decorating the Christmas Tree Is Big Business : Collecting: The significance of ornaments can range from an impersonal investment to a personal passion.

For most people who buy them, Hallmark’s Keepsake Ornaments are a chance to put a piece of Americana--a Barbie doll or a spaceship--on their Christmas tree. For some, it’s an appropriate gift for someone else.

But for others who collect them, the hundreds of perky ornaments issued annually are something else entirely. The significance can range anywhere from an impersonal investment to a personal passion.

After Hallmark became aware in the mid-1980s of the interest in the ornaments, it created two jobs to run a collectors club. Those jobs soon merged into one, and Rachel Perkal has held it for the entire 7 1/2 years.

“These people are truly passionate about their collecting,” Perkal said. “They are incredibly involved with it.”

One collector, who literally wrote the book on collecting Hallmark Keepsake ornaments, Clara Johnson Scroggins of Tampa, Fla., said an ornament she bought in 1977 for $3.50 is now worth $500.

“But then you have this collector from the heart, that just loves Christmas, just loves to decorate, not just one tree but multiple trees,” Perkal said. “They feel more alive at Christmas. Really, this is the high point of their year. That person is truly passionate.”

Hallmark said there are more than 100,000 members in its Collectors Club.

The company issued its first 18 Keepsake ornaments in 1973, six glass balls with art, and 12 made from yarn. They “just blew out,” Perkal said.

And year after year, the collection has grown.

This year, there are 240 ornaments. Each fits into a special category such as Miniatures, Showcase, and Memories. Some stand on their own, while others are parts of series. Some reflect popular culture, like “The Lion King,” while others are more traditional. Some have lights, moving parts, or let buyers record messages.

There are now thousands of Keepsake Ornaments. Six people in the world have every one.

“I have every Hallmark ornament they have ever produced. That’s the way I collect,” Scroggins said. “It is not greed, it is not egotism. It came out of those early years when not very many ornaments were made.”

Scroggins’ collection of more than 250,000 ornaments is worth several million dollars and kept in climate-controlled, secure storage, she said.

Scroggins started collecting in 1972, just after her first husband’s death and the year before Hallmark started its Keepsake Collection. She started collecting silver ornaments, but soon was collecting all kinds.

“At the time I kind of looked down my nose at Hallmark, because it was not the fine metal I had been buying,” Scroggins said.

But she soon appreciated the fact that Hallmark was giving people something they hadn’t had before: glass balls marked with designs or years, those marking special events, and single ornaments the buyer could give away.

Since then, Hallmark has expanded its line to include all kinds of materials. And Scroggins has written six editions of “Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments, a Collector’s Guide,” the first in 1983.

Scroggins is also one of those collectors Perkal described as simply loving Christmas. She starts decorating around Halloween, putting up several trees and wreaths, decorating each with its own theme, such as all sterling or all bells.

“They tell me I’m a natural Christmas lover,” said Scroggins, who is in her 60s. “I was born New Year’s Day. I came from a family of nine children. Everything was done big at my house, so I always thought in terms of big, lots. I have never been able to outgrow that.”