Holidays - Vintage Valentines

Hello! Although I like vintage Valentines, I have not been an active collector of them, in part because they can be pricey. But thanks to generosity of friends - and a bit of thrifting on my own - I do have a small collection to show off!

As mentioned recently, a friend's mother had saved valentines from when she was a girl. This mother is now around 76, so her childhood valentines have been around awhile! My friend sent them to me last year - I didn't know she was doing this, so it was quite a pleasure when I opened her package and found those vintages goodies inside. They are cute:

Quite a-peeling, is it not?

The ever-popular Bingo game!

Don't we all want to masquerade as roosters? Not!

Just look at those adorable faces!

Notice the old-style stove behind this young lass.

Who could resist this rabbit?

As I love cats, I had to include this one!

There were many more that I could have shown, but you get the idea as to how cute these older-style Valentines were! Makes the ones produced today look really lame by comparison! By the time our daughter began school, I thought present-day valentines were so blah, she and I used to make her classroom valentines.

I was rewarded with another friend's thoughtfulness this year when I received the following in the mail from her:

My friend's enclosed note mentioned that she'd found this valentine in a local antiques store and was told it dates from sometime between the late 1920's-early 1903's. The red part that you see on top of the lawn tool used to smooth dirt is a folded-up honeycomb tissue section. 

Not only did my friend thrill me with with this vintage gift, but she had taken the trouble to send it to Loveland, CO for a special postage cancellation: "Valentine greetings  From a city with heart,  Loveland, Colorado  Home of fabulous art!" What a unique touch to a unique gift!

I am very grateful to these friends! 

Of course, I look for older Valentines at thrift stores and estate sales. The latter location is where I picked up this:

This one looks old but I'm not sure how old. Loved the cat duo!


A couple of weeks ago I purchased a set of Valentines at a thrift store - I'm guessing they're from the 1970's, so not super old. Still seem more interesting - and better quality - than what is sold today.

Very appropriate for where I live!

Notice the mushroom with hearts on it - that is what led to me to believe that these Valentines might be from the 1970's, as the mushroom was a popular motif then. 

Another bunny:

This one looks as happy as can be hopping around! 

This Valentine was surely inspired by astronauts landing on the moon, so undoubtedly this design was from the very early 1970's. 

By the way, I paid 25c for this set of Valentines, which numbered 40, with about 25 different designs in all. 

Last but not least, here is a handmade valentine from around 1967:

I made this for my mom and it was returned to me last year after her death. It's supposed to be a scene of a school crossing guard and three children walking by holding Valentines. "Stop! Be My Valentine" is what I had printed. 

I guess it's not too bad, but unfortunately I never really did learn to draw much better than this!