It's Show Season in the Bay Area
Questions & Common Sense Answers
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By: Judy Penz Sheluk
As seen in The Antique Shoppe Newspaper, February 2007
According to legend, the first Valentine was sent in 270 A.D. by Valentinus, a Roman priest who encouraged young couples to marry. Unfortunately, the reigning Emperor, Claudius II, disapproved of Christianity, and of marriage, in general. It was the Emperor’s belief that married soldiers would soon forget that their primary allegiance should be to their country (and to Claudius), rather than to their wives.
Valentinus was not to be dissuaded, disregarding direct orders from the Emperor to cease his actions, and was sentenced to be beheaded. While imprisoned, Valentinus befriended the blind daughter of his jailer, and miraculously, was able to restore her sight. In turn, the young woman brought him food and delivered messages from well-wishers. On February 14, the eve of his execution, he wrote her a note of appreciation, signing it “from your Valentine.”
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Courtesy of Kathy Alpert, PostMark Press.
Ellen Clapsaddle was a prolific postcard artist, who designed
thousands of postcards during her career, and wrote the actual verse
to correspond with her images.
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During this same era, a celebration known as the Feast of Lupercalia had Roman maidens placing their names in an urn set up in the public square. Courageous bachelors then drew from it to obtain their lover or partner for the coming year. When the Romans occupied Britain, they brought this somewhat Pagan custom with them.
As Christianity began to take hold in England, a great effort was made to banish these types of rituals. Since the festival occurred at the same time of year as the martyrdom of Valentinus - and since it would have been very difficult to ban such a feast as popular as Lupercalia - the name was changed to Saint Valentine’s Day in his honor.
A precursor to the Valentine as we know it started in the 16th century, with religious mementos of the Sacred Heart motif created in convents in France, Germany, and Holland. These handmade devotionals are the epitome of the personal love token. Carefully crafted on parchment or vellum, their designs emulate the hand-tatted lace of the period.
Another forerunner to the Valentine’s card was made in Germany between 1780 and 1800. German Friendship albums measure about 5 in x 7-8 in, and are bound in leather and embossed with gold. In the strictest sense, these watercolors are not Valentines, but they are important, in that they introduce the symbols, sentiment and imagery which eventually found its way into our early and modern valentines.
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The custom of Valentine’s Day as an occasion developed gradually as the techniques of making paper advanced. Lace paper, made in Germany and Austria in the early 1800s, was brought to a new level with a new English technique introduced in 1834. The open-work, cameo-embossed lace paper allowed English publishers to publish elegant love letters, romantic stationary and Valentines for an increasing number of customers. These were intricate, miniature works of art which incorporated the use of ribbons and scraps, pearls and Dresden die-cuts, which might be movable, perfumed or adorned with tiny mirrors to reflect the image of the beloved.
Early American Valentines were largely handcrafted, and the influence of the immigrant German cultures resulted in folk-art paper items known as scherenschnitte (paper cutting), and fraktur (paper designs incorporating the German writing and imagery). With advances in lithography, several publishers of lithographs and wood engravings were making manufactured Valentines in New York early in the century. Nevertheless, it is a Massachusetts woman, Esther Howland (1828-1904) who is considered the ‘Mother of the American Valentine.’
The Howland family operated the largest book and stationery store in Worcester, Massachusetts. As an impressionable young student at The Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, (Class of 1847), Esther Howland had been exposed to annual Valentine festivities, which were later banned by the college for being too frivolous.
After graduation, Howland received an elaborate English Valentine from one of her father’s business associates. She convinced her father to order lace paper and other supplies from England and New York City. With these she made a dozen samples, which her brother added to his inventory for his next sales trip. When her brother returned with more than $5000 in advance sales, it was time for action.
Recruiting her friends, Howland established the first all-female assembly line workshop. She also established a cottage-industry, where ladies would have materials and samples delivered and picked up at their homes, thus mass-producing Valentines in quantity.
While Esther Howland was not the first to create Valentines in America, she is credited with having popularized the lace Valentine, and propelling it into a major industry: her business would eventually earn $100,000 per year. She sold her business in 1881 to an associate, George Whitney, whose company patterned many of their cards on the Howland model. Today, prices start at about $100 for a signed Howland, with pieces by Whitney starting at $25.
At the opposite end of the spectrum were ‘penny-dreadfuls,’ acerbic “comic” Valentines, which were produced in quantity in England from about 1840, and were popular in America from about 1848 to 1900.
Made on a cheap pulp paper, comic Valentines were frequently vulgar, and often destroyed. Aimed at occupations, appearance, or habits, nothing was sacred. These are not to be confused with fine English engraved examples, which were made from 1810-1840.
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Another Victorian passion was the postcard, with the Golden Age (1898-1918) providing collectors with a wide selection, many illustrated by talented artists such as Kate Greenaway and Ellen Clapsaddle. Ordinary Valentines can still be had for $5 or less, while collectors can expect to pay from $5-8 or more for a quality Valentine postcard with an aesthetically pleasing image. Exceptional images, real photos, cards with gold foil and embossing, quirky humor or “fantasy” images, as well as those signed by famous postcard artists can command even higher prices.
Though companies such as Hallmark first offered Valentine’s Day cards in 1913, and began producing them in 1916, the production of Valentines largely ceased by World War I. During the 1920s cards were not produced in great numbers and most were still in the flat, postcard style; it was not until the 1930s that folded cards were the norm. By the end of the decade, cards featuring Mickey Mouse had entered the marketplace.
In the 1940s, the war years were clearly evident, with many Valentines produced for soldiers overseas, with messages such as ‘For My Sweetheart in the Army.” The 1950s brought a strong departure from previous years, with long, thin ‘studio’ cards featuring alternative humor, and a modern, graphic look.
Since the 1960s, traditional valentines with red satin hearts, sachet centers, and simulated jewels and lace have remained popular, although alternate styles and themes continue to emerge with every decade, and generation.
Today, Valentine’s Day is the second largest holiday for giving a greeting card, with approximately 180 million cards exchanged – excluding children’s ‘classroom’ Valentines. In fact, about 30 percent of all modern valentines are designed for romantic love relationships. Valentinus would be proud.
Additional Resources for the Collector
The National Valentine Collectors Association, P.O. Box 1404, Santa Ana, CA 92702