Friday, May 18, 2012  

Romantic Valentines


The Victorians' love for Valentine greetings made them quite popular during the nineteenth century. These cherished tokens of affection were greatly collected and displayed in groupings on mantels, shelves, on top of pianos, and on occasional tables. They were propped, displayed on easels, and sometimes framed.

There were different styles of Valentine greetings: shadowbox styles (1870's - 1880's), and Valentine novelties (1890's - early 1900's). They were highly detailed and colorful, often available as die-cut, gilded, embossed, paper-lace, heart-shaped, fan-shaped, or dimensional (such as folding fans or 3-dimesional props with easels or layers).

When collecting authentic Victorian Valentines, antique shops and estate sales are the best places to look. Victorian reproduction Valentines can usually be found after Christmas; they are reproduced by most greeting card companies and can sometimes be found in greeting card and specialty gift stores.

VictorianLiving.com's suggested resource list for finding Victorian Valentines:

The Scrap Album - take a page by page look at some beautiful authentic Victorian Valentines!

New York in Love: Nineteenth Century Valentines from the Collection of the Museum of the City of New York - another look at some nineteenth century Valentines.

Victorian Splendor & Country Delights - a beautiful assortment of Victorian Valentines cards, Valentines fans, stickers & more for sale.

Victorian Trading Company - beautiful assortments of Valentines cards for sale.

The greeting card images used
on this page are part of VictorianLiving.com's
purchased & personal greeting card collection.

 

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