COLE CAMP, MO. ? If Beverly Steffens, 74, had a nickel for nearly every one of the Santa figurines in her collection, she would have close to $4.

“There’s only a few ornaments that don’t have nickels in them because they’re too small, but all the models do,” she said of her collection.

She has 80 Santa “belsnickles,” created by Linda Lindquist Baldwin, of Joplin.

Steffens has been collecting Santa belsnickles for 10 years, ever since she read a newspaper article on Baldwin’s belsnickle business.

She was intrigued by how it got started and especially why a nickel is embedded in each Santa model.

That’s how much Baldwin spent in 1986 at a rummage sale on a tattered book about the ancient art of making the papier-mâche Santa figures.

At the time, she was a single mother working two jobs to make ends meet and attending college at night. She made one, and then another and another and soon discovered she had a knack for designing them and a head for business.

Her creations were featured on NBC and CNN.

Steffen’s collection of Santas was the centerpiece display at the Cole Camp museum recently.

Steffen’s favorite shows Santa holding a miniature Noah’s ark.

“I like it because I also collect Noah’s arks,” she said. “That year I really hit the bulls-eye because I got them both in one.”

Steffens is partial to the fisherman Santa because it reminds her of her late father, who also loved to fish.

“He didn’t wear tall wading boots like this Santa, but he really enjoyed his fishing,” she said.

Santa also is depicted riding a polar bear. Another model shows him sitting in a chair, attired in a peppermint pinstriped nightshirt, dutifully reading letters.

Baldwin’s creations are produced in China now, and are made from resin.

“She also designs snowsnickles (snowmen), broomsnickles (Halloween-themed), patriotic Samsnickles and other seasonal snickles,” Steffens said. “My youngest daughter, Brenda, collects snowsnickles and my middle daughter, Jana, collects broomsnickles because she was born on Halloween.”

Steffens has a few Samsnickles, but she said her heart will always belong to Santa.