Release Date: 1993
Product Code: XZL7000
Retail: USA $12.95
Branding: Springbok by Hallmark
Completed size: Approximately 20″ x 20″, wreath-shaped
Box Dimensions: 11.5” x 11.5”
Manufactured: USA
No. 001
Released: July 1991
Ornament: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701
Series: Star Trek: The Original Series (25th Anniversary)
Product Code: QLX7199
Artist: Lynn Norton
Original retail: $20.00
Dimensions: 1.75” H x 2.5” W x 5.5” L
Branding: Keepsake
Material: Styrene
Packaging: Gold speckled
Magic: Blinking lights
Power source: Pigtail
Front box text:
MAGIC BLINKING LIGHTS!
KEEPSAKE ORNAMENT
ENTERPRISE NCC-1701
STAR TREK
Saucer Lights Blink
25TH ANNIVERSARY
Starship Enterprise
Back box text:
Handcrafted – Stardated 1991
This unique ornament, with its bright blinking lights, commemorates the 25th anniversary of STAR TREK and celebrates the holiday season.
Lights blink automatically and continuously.
Ornament plugs easily into any of the light bulb sockets on a miniature tree light string. Use only with standard U.L.-listed light strings of 3.5- or 6-volt bulbs.
Attached connector cord allows for easy placement on your tree.
Not for use with blinking lights.
Complete display instructions enclosed.
Bottom box text:
1991 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures. Mfd. for Hallmark Cards, Inc., Authorized User. K.C., MO 64141 Ornament Made and Assembled in China Connector Cord Made in Taiwan Connector Cord U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,218 Circuitry U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,079 QLX7199
Pros: This is the one that started it all—the very first Star Trek Hallmark ornament. A true milestone. For longtime collectors, it’s a must-have and a nostalgic anchor for any display.
Cons: The blinking red and green lights on the saucer section haven’t aged as gracefully. Instead of enhancing the design, they clash with the ship’s otherwise clean lines and subdued aesthetic. A little less “holiday disco,” a little more starship elegance would have gone a long way.
#10: 1991 U.S.S. Enterprise
Retail: $24.00
2021 Secondary Market: $124.95
Size: 5.25” L x 2.5” W x 1.75” H
Code: QLX7199
The 1991 U.S.S. Enterprise was not only the first in the Star Trek line of ornaments but helped blaze the way for Hallmark’s entry into pop culture ornaments, so it is fitting that we begin our countdown of the Top 10 Star Trek Keepsakes with this ornament.
Released to celebrate Star Trek’s 25th anniversary, the ornament is a fairly detailed reproduction of the Enterprise. The ornament had a pigtail that plugged into a light strand that provided power for its light features. In the early days Hallmark was hesitant to stray too far from the holiday theme so simple red and green blinking lights were added to the hull’s edge to give it a Christmas feel. In addition to the holiday lights, the bridge dome and primary phaser array dome on the underside would light up white. Unfortunately, the Enterprise’s nacelles did not light up and there was no audio function for the ornament.
The Enterprise was sculpted by long-time Hallmark artist, Lynn Norton, who explained the early design days of the Enterprise,
“We really had to convince our art directors we could go beyond cute and traditional and make really believable small models to be used as ornaments. Our commitment to high quality fit right into the Hallmark ideals for product. Now, I also had to fight the initial idea of having a string of garland hanging along the edge of the primary hull, and Santa Claus popping out of the bridge — true story! I wanted to make it as accurate as possible. I’m very aware of the changes to that first ornament. Because it had big, thick circuitry inside for lights, the ornament had heat dissipation problems. We had to build a big cavity into it so the circuit board would not melt the plastic. Also, the ornament had to fit into a ‘printer’s box’ store display with a limited space, and I had to shorten the nacelles for it to fit.”
startrek.com
The Enterprise ornament proved to be hugely popular upon release. Kevin Stevens reported on it’s popularity:
“The Starship Enterprise ornament was unveiled in July 1991. By August, Hallmark found that demand for this particular ornament was overwhelming; it appealed to collectors of Keepsake Ornaments as well as Star Trek fans and collectors. The Enterprise proved to be the most popular ornament made by Hallmark since the Keepsake line was introduced in 1973. By October 1991, Hallmark made the unprecedented decision to go back into production with the Enterprise ornament. Still, by December these supplies of ornaments were also depleted. It immediately began climbing in value on the secondary market.”
Strange New Worlds
The 1991 Starship Enterprise has held its own after thirty years and, no question, deserves a spot in our Top 10 list of Hallmark Star Trek Hallmark ornaments.
Check out the Top 10 and stay TOONED for #9 next week!
Article text:
Twenty-five years after embarking on its mission to “boldly go where no man has gone before” the USS Enterprise has crossed another frontier – onto Christmas trees across the country.
And even the stoical Mr. Spock would no doubt be tickled at its success.
Hallmark Cards has turned the famous starship into its newest Christmas ornament. The tiny model – about 5 inches long – features blinking red and green lights! Authentic markings and sells for $20.
The ornament immediately caught the fancy of Trekkies when it arrived in stores in July. Retailers now can’t get enough of the item to satisfy demand. Fans who want the Federation starship on their tree the Christmas are advised to get their names on a waiting list right away.
Dallasan Hallmark in Casa Linda Plaza has sold out of its stock three times, plus the display ornament, and is waiting for more.
That is, except for one ornament, whispch is tucked away out of sight of customers.
“I’m a Trekkie,” says cashier Josef Caldwell. “It’s for me.”
“It’s the biggest demand we’ve ever had for a single ornament,” said Betsy Helgager, spokeswoman for Hallmark in Kansas City, Mo. “We’ve heard about the waiting lists and all that. We expected it to do well, but… (Mitchell Diggs, Scripps Howard News Service)
This clipping is from The Country Journal in May of 1994. It is an article that covers Patrick Stewart and the last days of Star Trek: The Next Generation but what catches the eye is the Hallmark ad in the lower right.
Unfortunately, the image is too blurry to make out the details but it is a Rowe-Manse Emporium and Country Store advertisement offering a buy back program of the 1991 Hallmark Enterprise ornament. As the ad shows, Rowe-Manse was offering $150 for Hallmark’s first Star Trek ornament. $150 in 1994 is equivalent to $268.50 in 2021. The ‘91 Enterprise is currently available on eBay for $75 and up. Originally sold for $20, the Enterprise was a huge success and supply did not keep up with the high demand.
Roxanne Roberts of the Washington Post wrote on the ornament’s rarity in 1991, “Demand for the Starship is the greatest that Hallmark has ever had for any ornament, says spokeswoman Betsy Helgager. The company will not release production figures but the Enterprise, which premiered this summer at about 11,000 retailers, was quickly reissued this fall when Hallmark realized it had a phenomenon on its branches. Each store got about 50. Since the ornament went on display in August, stores have been inundated with requests. Most started waiting lists; after a while, they stopped taking names. On Oct. 1, when retailers were allowed to reorder the spaceship, Hallmark received more than $1 million in orders, said one representative. Most shipments were sold out the day they arrived. People are still calling, even offering extra money.“
In 1993, Kevin Stevens wrote for Strange New Worlds, “Prices for the Starship Enterprise ornament climbed to $175, eventually topping out at about $250. One dealer at a Los Angeles area Star Trek convention had priced the ornament at $400. Prices for this piece have since stabilized at about $200.”
The Rowe-Manse Emporium was a New Jersey business that sold collectibles, toys, jewelry, food and candy and was known for its wooden escalator. Unfortunately, this specialty department store went out of business in the early 2000s.
Source: latimes.com
Strange New Worlds was a science fiction collectors magazine published from 1992 through 1994, providing original articles, interviews, and news for science fiction collectors. This is a reprint of an article from Strange New Worlds Issue 10 – Oct/Nov 1993.
In 1991 Hallmark Cards produced the first in a series of Star Trek Keepsake Ornaments in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the television series. The Starship Enterprise ornament was unveiled in July 1991. The finely detailed ornament blinking red and green lights on the saucer section was a beautiful recreation of the classic starship.
Kevin Stevens is editor of Trek Collector, a bimonthly newsletter for Star Trek fans and collectors. He has been a Star Trek collector since 1972. His collection was featured recently on Los Angeles’ Fox TV news station KTTV.
Back issues of Strange New Worlds available here.
It has been 25 years since Star Trek’s Enterprise debuted as a Hallmark Keepsake Ornament. Over that quarter of a century it has been followed by nearly eighty more ornaments depicting ships, characters and scenes from all five television shows and three movies series. We have Lynn Norton to thank for sculpting all of the ship ornaments but 1992’s Galileo.
Lynn Norton did a 2015 interview with Kevin Dilmore of startrek.com: “At Hallmark, Don Palmiter, Dill Rhodus and I brought fine scale model-making to the ornament business. We really had to convince our art directors we could go beyond cute and traditional and make really believable small models to be used as ornaments. Our commitment to high quality fit right into the Hallmark ideals for product. Now, I also had to fight the initial idea of having a string of garland hanging along the edge of the primary hull, and Santa Claus popping out of the bridge — true story! I wanted to make it as accurate as possible. I’m very aware of the changes to that first ornament. Because it had big, thick circuitry inside for lights, the ornament had heat dissipation problems. We had to build a big cavity into it so the circuit board would not melt the plastic. Also, the ornament had to fit into a ‘printer’s box’ store display with a limited space, and I had to shorten the nacelles for it to fit. I beat that poor design nearly to death, but it got us started and it was very popular with fans of Star Trek and of Keepsake Ornaments. When we reissued the ornament in 1996 for the show’s 30th anniversary, we used the same design.”
– See more at: http://www.startrek.com/article/hallmark-sculptor-lynn-norton-on-the-storied-history-of-trek-keepsake-ornaments#sthash.EKFFnHTi.dpuf
Original Retail:
Artist:
Novelty: String light
Box Text: This unique ornament, with its bright blinking lights, commemorates the 25th anniversary of STAR TREK and celebrates the holiday season.
Serial #: QLX719-9
Lynn Norton…”From the beginning, Star Trek imagined that we had overcome the problem of a ship having enough energy not only to propel yourself but to give yourself a comfortable living environment. As a design, it captured our excitement from the notion of flying saucer and the way we had come to imagine what a deep-space vehicle might look like. When you start thinking of the physics of propelling an object through space, it doesn’t have to look aerodynamic. It can be purely functional. The fact that it was a flying saucer is one of the things that captured my imagination right away. All space movies are really submarine movies. The Enterprise reflects all the elements of a submarine crew’s experience — living in close quarters in a hostile environment with nothing but a thin metal skin between them and oblivion — and put it in space seamlessly.
“At Hallmark, Don Palmiter, Dill Rhodus and I brought fine scale model-making to the ornament business. We really had to convince our art directors we could go beyond cute and traditional and make really believable small models to be used as ornaments. Our commitment to high quality fit right into the Hallmark ideals for product. Now, I also had to fight the initial idea of having a string of garland hanging along the edge of the primary hull, and Santa Claus popping out of the bridge — true story! I wanted to make it as accurate as possible. I’m very aware of the changes to that first ornament. Because it had big, thick circuitry inside for lights, the ornament had heat dissipation problems. We had to build a big cavity into it so the circuit board would not melt the plastic. Also, the ornament had to fit into a ‘printer’s box’ store display with a limited space, and I had to shorten the nacelles for it to fit. I beat that poor design nearly to death, but it got us started and it was very popular with fans of Star Trek and of Keepsake Ornaments. When we reissued the ornament in 1996 for the show’s 30th anniversary, we used the same design.”
– See more at: http://www.startrek.com/article/hallmark-sculptor-lynn-norton-on-the-storied-history-of-trek-keepsake-ornaments?ecid=PCID-2617611&pa=affcj#sthash.wtngTAh1.dpuf
on top of ornament: U.S.S. ENTERPRISE / NCC-1701 on front of packaging: MAGIC / BLINKING / LIGHTS! / Hallmark / KEEPSAKE / ORNAMENT / STAR TREK / 1991 / 25th ANNIVERSARY/ Saucer / Lights Blink / Starship Enterprise on back of packaging: Hallmark / KEEPSAKE / ORNAMENT / Handcrafted – Stardated 1991 / This unique ornament, with its bright blinking lights, commemorates the 25th anniversary of STAR TREK and celebrates the holiday season. / Lights blink automatically and continually. / Ornament plugs easily into any of the light bulb sockets on a miniature tree light string. Use only with standard U.L.-listed light strings of 3.5-or 6-volt bulbs. / Attached connector cord allows for easy placement on your tree. / Not for use with blinking lights. / Complete display instructions enclosed. / $20.00 on bottom of packaging: (C) 1991 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. / STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures. / Mfd. for Hallmark Cards, Inc., Authorized User. K.C., MO 64141 / Ornament Made and Assembled in China / Connector Cord Made in Taiwan / Connector Cord U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,218 / Circuitry U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,079 / QLX719-9
Hallmark Star Trek Ornaments 