Global Santa collection exhibiting at Thronateeska Heritage Center in Albany | PHOTO GALLERY

ALBANY — Some people say there’s no Santa Claus, but don’t tell Don Fisher that. He’s been searching for — and finding — Santa for 28 years.

Mobile users can view the “Santa Goes Global” photo gallery here.

Big and small Santas, fat and even skinny Santas. Soft and fluffy ones, ceramic, plastic, old and new. In his stockpile of an estimated 4,000 Santas from every corner of the globe, Fisher has most every version of that jolly old soul.

“I’m an obsessive person. I’m obsessed with everything,” Fisher said. “When someone says they can’t find something, I can find it. I love scavenger hunts.”

Fisher, a hairdresser by trade, says his obsession began around 1986 when he bought a Santa with blue eyes, and would up with 28 various blue eyed Santas as Christmas gifts.

“From that point on, all my clients brought me Santas for Christmas,” Fisher said.

The sleighfuls of Santas eventually became difficult to manage and house, so years ago Fisher worked a deal with Bobs Candy Company to store the old guys. When Bobs packed up and moved its plant to Mexico, Fisher switched to Plan B and put his collection on loan to the Thronateeska Heritage Center at 100 W. Roosevelt Ave., where once each year it’s pulled from storage and assembled in the Science Museum for visitors to enjoy.

The “Santa Goes Global” exhibit opened Friday and will be on display through New Year’s Day.

“It takes at least three weeks for them to set it up and put it back in archival storage,” Fisher said. “But that way, I don’t have to keep them in my house. Letting them exhibit is my thank-you to them for taking care of all that. I can always visit my Santas and I hope other people will.”

Fisher admitted, though, that while he loves his jolly collection, he wouldn’t be despondent if he lost it all tomorrow.

“I’m sure I’d live through it,” Fisher said. “My thrill isn’t so much with the Santas, but in finding them.”

While almost every sort of Santa populates Fisher’s collection, his favorites are the “vintage” variety, which might be found languishing in “grandma’s attic.” He finds them at antique stores, estate sales, on his frequent trips to Europe and especially on his haunts of local Goodwill stores.

About the same time that Fisher succumbed to his Santa doll obsession, he began to dress like Santa, talk like him, and even wear a fake beard — but only around Christmas each year, of course.

“At Porterfield (Methodist) Church I was asked to take the part of Santa, when the man who’d done that passed away,” Fisher said. “Later on, I started visiting the children of some friends. I went to their houses the week before Christmas and on Christmas Eve. I got a lot of enjoyment from that.”

These days Fisher, aka Santa, is booked solid through the Christmas holidays, he says. The “gigs” he plays include Doublegate and Stonebridge country clubs, banks and other businesses, as well as private parties. For the third year straight, he’ll be Santa at the Albany Christmas parade, riding alongside “Mrs. Claus,” Sarah Carter.

Until last year Fisher, 65, wore a fake white beard to look convincing in his role. That’s not necessary any longer, he says, especially since recent surgery caused his beard to curl into a pleasing Santa style.

“I’m a hairdresser, so I know those kinds of things can happen,” Fisher said.

“Santa Goes Global,” Don Fisher’s collection of international Santas and related items can be experienced at the Science Museum at Thronateeska, where Santa Fisher will appear 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. this Saturday for Selfies With Santa. That will be a chance for families to get their pictures with their favorite Christmas icon using their own cameras or cellphones. Contact the Thronateeska Heritage Center at (229) 432-6955.