Q: This pop-up Valentine was made by American Greetings and was printed in Italy in 1994. It’s 8 1/4 inches high and 6 inches wide. Does it have any value? A: American Greetings traces its beginnings to 1906, when Jacob Sapirstein (1884–1987), a Polish immigrant, began importing postcards from Germany and selling them to drugstores […]
Valentines
Q:I have several Valentines that belonged to my uncle and were given to me when he died. Some have “To” and “From” and the names and date written on the back. What are they worth?
A: Valentines were first mentioned in literature in the late 1600s. They were handmade until the early 1800s, when commercially produced valentines became available. By the mid-1900s, millions of valentine greeting cards were mass-produced. Old valentines are collectible. Some collectors look for mechanical cards, 3-D pop-up cards, or cards with other special features. Most valentines sell for $1 to $20, but some sell for a few hundred dollars. Some with cut paper designs sold for several thousand dollars in recent years.
Vintage Valentine’s Day Cards
Dear Lee,
Of course we all know about Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. We have learned about it from our parents, friends, teachers, books and newspapers. But much of what we believe and the way we celebrate has changed through the centuries. Here are some dates, places and celebrations from earlier days, very different from the sending of romantic cards today.
No one is sure who the first St Valentine was. There were at least three St. Valentines in the Third century A.D. who are said to have died in mid-February. One was a Roman priest and physician who is said to have performed miracles, one restoring a blind girl’s sight, and was executed by the Emperor Claudius II in 269 A.D. Another was an Italian bishop who was beheaded, also in Rome, about 70 years later. And another died in North Africa but little more is known about him.
Research suggests the first idea of love to be connected with Valentine’s Day was by Geoffrey Chaucer, best known for The Canterbury Tales, written in the late 1300s. In his poem The Parliament of Fowls, he writes about the “mating of the birds” around the feast day of St. Valentine. That was the start of writing love notes and giving gifts.
In the United States, the first commercial valentines were made in the 1840s by Esther Howland of Massachusetts. How they were made and what they were made of helps tell the age of a saved card. Esther used real lace and fancy envelopes with her freehand drawings. She started an industry making cards with the help of artists and printing machines. Her cards were lavish, sophisticated and expensive.
By the 1890s, there were “mechanicals,” valentines with moving parts, and embossing. Cards became cuter and smaller in the early 1900s, and postcards became important in the 1920s after the invention of the postage stamp lowered mailing rates. Honeycomb tissue that popped up when the card was opened was used from the 1840s to the 1930s, and it is back in favor again. “Penny Dreadfuls,” insulting cartoons printed on a single sheet of paper, were very popular in the 1930s. They lost popularity in the 1940s. Small die-cut cards picturing children were sold on a long sheet of thick paper to be punched, not cut, out. Five-and-dime stores sold packets of 25, one for each classmate and a large one for the teacher, with envelopes for 19 cents. Everyone in the class could receive a card so no one would feel left out. And by the mid-1940s, heart-shaped boxes with chocolate candy were being designed just for the holiday.
You can also date old valentines by the style of the clothes, cars, hairdos, even houses or, perhaps, a phone. Save the cards that indicate a date, like the year of an Olympics, World’s Fair or Disney movie.
This year find a card showing a person wearing a mask — a sure winner years from now when the masks will be long forgotten, or the viewer will be too young to remember when they were important.
Romance may be in the air, but did you know that Valentine’s Day started out as the Roman festival called Lupercallia that included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery? The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just killed. Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them, believing this would make them fertile. The matchmaking lottery involved young men drawing the names of women from a jar. The couple would be together, so to speak, for the duration of the two-day festival.
Not very romantic, right? Modern Valentine’s Day started sometime in the 14th century. It may have taken its name from a Roman priest and physician who was martyred about 270 by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus. It became more a day of romance (and not whipping).
Valentine’s Day greetings cards started appearing in the 1500s and by the late 1700s, they were being commercially printed. The first printed cards were used in the United States in the mid-1800s, and the elaborate, flowery cards are popular with collectors. Hearts, flowers (usually red roses, the symbol of beauty and love) and Cupid abound.
All types of valentines are popular with collectors and prices range from 25 cents to more than $100. Some collectors hunt for Victorian valentines with die-cut images that open into three-dimensional views. Later versions, like the valentine pictured here, with folded honeycomb paper that pops open into a design, are more expensive. This valentine is from the 1920s-1930s and is worth about $10 to $20.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
How to Spot a Valuable Valentine
What could be more fun than hunting for valentines? They’re pretty and romantic and very collectible. Antiques and collectibles expert, Terry Kovel, answers five questions to help get a new collector started.
1. What makes a valentine valuable? The most valuable valentines have clever sentiment and designs—they are pretty or unique. Collectors also look for valentines that relate to the news of the day or that are signed by someone significant. Valentines can also function as decorative hangings. Terry collects valentines and displays them. “I actually have some unusual Victorian valentines framed in my powder room. The best one has lace trim with a small wax cupid figure in the center.”
2. What kinds of valentines are available? Fancy handmade cards made of paper, lace and ribbons that were pasted together like those by Esther Howland, the first person credited with the commercial mass-production of valentines in the mid-1800s in Worcester, Massachusetts, are very desirable and sell for a lot of money. Collectors love Victorian three-dimensional valentines that feature die-cut images that open into three-dimensional views. Later versions from the early 1900s with folded honeycomb paper that pops open into a design are also expensive. Some collectors look for postcard valentines, die-cut school-type valentines from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, and mechanical valentines with moving parts from the 1950s. Avoid the inexpensive single sheet “penny dreadfuls.” They are insulting comic valentines from the 1920—very inexpensive but hard to sell.
3. Are there any new valentines that have collecting potential? Terry suggests looking for valentines that reflect current news, pop culture or historical events. “There’s a lot of history in valentines. Look at the hairstyles, clothes, cars or trains that are pictured. They can help date them.” Consider valentines with Disney and other characters from books, cartoons, movies and television shows. New technology has also introduced talking valentines—cards that include a song or the sender’s recorded words. “But be careful with these,” she cautions, “because they stop talking eventually.”
4. Where does an interested collector find old valentines? Terry suggests starting your search in the attic at Grandma’s house where “there may be some tucked away in a box for sentimental reasons.” Dealers who specialize in valentines can be found at flea markets or ephemera shows. Look at house sales and in thrift shops, too. Great valentines may be found in old scrapbooks.
