It’s All in the Cards : Vintage Valentines Are on Display at Orange Coast College
Valentine’s Day. The day our thoughts turn to romantic verse, long-stemmed roses and, of course, the mating season of the Worm-Eating Warbler.
That’s right. According to some experts, it was the good example of our feathered friends that set Middle Ages folk courting and sparking on Valentine’s Day. Back then, they believed that birds began their amorous activities on Feb. 14. And if it was good enough for birds, well. . . .
In celebration of the day, the Orange Coast College library presents a collection of more than 40 vintage valentines dating from 1870 to 1950. The exhibit continues through Feb. 28. According to OCC librarian Christine Ragenovich, who owns the collection, these German, English and American-made cards are rarely seen in Southern California antique shops.
“I have yet to run across any real valentines in the shops,” said Ragenovich, who purchased most of her cards in the Southeast during the late 1970s and early ‘80s. “In this area, the best ones are usually found only in private collections, and the collectors tend to trade pretty closely among themselves.”
Although she’s unable to put a price on the collection, Ragenovich says it is not uncommon to pay $50 or more for a single card. In recent years, she has watched the values of certain styles double and sometimes triple. Ragenovich says she started the collection because she believes that vintage valentines are “something that makes you happy just to look at it, like a piece of art.”
Ragenovich’s collection ranges from highly ornate German “pop-out” or three-dimensional cards from the turn of the century to more light-hearted American cards. Cherubs, turtledoves and unabashedly romantic verse figure prominently. One 1903 German-made card shows a loving couple on either side of a gold-leafed filigree gate. Cupid approaches them on a flower-lined path, inspiring the message: “I wish you felt lonely/And life’s journey drear/And wanted me only/Your pathway to cheer.”
Another German card from that period shows a pair of doe-eyed cherubs supporting a globe (renamed for the occasion “Love’s Empire”), featuring such lovers’ landmarks as the “Sea of Agitation,” “Lonely Land” and “Lovesick Bay.” In return for the maiden’s undying love, the message promises “. . . thou shalt reign/O’er Love’s Empire/And away the sceptre/As its Queen.”
Less given to gushing, Americans take the direct approach. A 1940s card shows a dapper young couple on either side of a wood fence. The boy offers his heart and flowers to a miss with the words, “Don’t Keep Me on the Fence/Just Say You’ll Be My Valentine.” From the same era, a mechanical card shows a love-struck lad at the blackboard with the message, “See What I’m Writing on My Heart.” By turning a small disc on the side of the card, the valentine reveals the words, “I Love You.”
Several American valentines dating from the late 1800s are among the most valuable in the collection, said Ragenovich. Small and dainty, they feature a tiny portrait surrounded by a frame of hand-pressed paper lace. More a gift than a greeting card, one is presented in a decorated box bearing the words “Love’s Offering.”
There are a number of theories about the origins of sending cards for Valentine’s Day, says Robert Myers in his book, “Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays.” In an attempt to link martyrdom with romance, one legend finds Valentine, the Third Century Christian martyr, imprisoned and falling in love with the jailer’s daughter and sending her a letter (Hallmark cards being scarce in those days) signed “From Your Valentine.”
The school child’s practice of drawing valentines from a box may be inspired by the Roman celebration of Lupercalia, celebrated in February in honor of god Lupercas, when men drew the names of women from a box and were partnered with them for a year beginning in March. Christians altered this practice somewhat, substituting the names of saints for the names of girls on the assumption that young people would take on the virtues of their chosen saint. That idea didn’t catch on, however, and by the 14th Century, the old boy/girl method was alive and well across Europe. It wasn’t long before the progressive French introduced the idea of girls choosing boys’ names as well.
According to Myers, the idea of sending romantic notes or cards on Valentine’s Day may have begun as early as 1415 with Charles Duc d’Orleans, who sent his wife rhymed love letters from his confinement in the Tower of London. By the late 1600s, the exchange of hand-made valentines was common practice. English settlers in the New World established their own valentine customs--no small feat in a Puritan society that frowned on public displays of romance. (Myers cites the case of one Captain Kemble of Boston, who upon returning from a lengthy voyage, kissed his wife in public and was promptly thrown in the stocks for “lewd and unseemly behavior.”)
Commercial valentines, many of them German-made, came on the American market about 1800. By 1840, “pop-out” and mechanical cards with movable figures were popular. Comic or “vinegar” valentines, often credited to New York printer John McLoughlin, came into being about 1870. Today, with hundreds of different styles of valentines ranging from lavish and sentimental to simple and bawdy, the celebration of Valentine’s Day in the United States ranks second only to Christmas in the number of cards sent, with an estimated 900 million cards exchanged annually.
An exhibit of vintage valentines continues through Feb. 28 at the Orange Coast College library, 2701 Fairview Road in Costa Mesa. Library hours are Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission: free. Information, (714) 432-5705.