Articles
Values from the heart
2/5/2008
Lasting romance is priceless; however, the Valentine treasures neatly bound or stored or displayed in a scrapbook most likely have more value to the recipient than to the collector.
Valentine's Day has a dark, violent, and kinky history dating to the Roman era. Remember reading Julius Caesar in school? The opening scene is the Feast of the Lupercalia, a gamy Roman fertility ritual that is now known as Valentine's Day. If you happen to have one of the first whips used, then you have a Sotheby's auction item! Most of the oldest Valentine treasures produced from about 1740 to 1840 are in museums and are rarely found by collectors today.
If you have an old scrapbook from the middle 1800's, then you might find one or two mass-produced Valentines that found their way from the market place to your collection. These fancy Victorian cards sell between $25.00 and $100.00 depending on how unusual they happen to be. However, most cards that are likely to be found in your scrapbook are from the 1930's through the 1950's and sell for $5.00 and under.
If you rummage through your cedar chest you might find a George C. Whitney creation of a fancy embossed card with paper lace from the 1870's. And if you are lucky, there just might be a unique stand-up card with a base and several three-dimensional fold-out layers that formed bells, fans, balls, hearts and other interesting shapes.
Hidden in a box you might have one of those Victorian style versions of mechanical cards that came in to vogue in the 1930's and are still being produced today. The motifs were automobiles, ships, and trains with moving parts with a paper lever to send these novelties into motion. A Victorian stand-up layered card with a girl in a mechanical swing made in 1895 just sold on Ebay for $85.00. However, don't run to the bank just yet as the going rates for most cards are under $20.00 each because the majority of them are sold as-is.
The most common item that you might find is Valentine postcards. These common treasures were afforded by the masses and were usually kept in albums for years along with other holiday greetings. These simple treasures are what appraisers come across the most and are valued at around $3.00 to $5.00 each.
Yes, romance is priceless but on the whole it is not worth much on paper!
