Is Your Valentine Worth A Fortune?
As seen in the Solon Life Magazine (February 2014) & EzineArticles.com
When you think of February, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Snow? Leap Year? Groundhogs Day? The Super Bowl? If you are like us and many fellow romantics it is Valentine’s Day of course!
February 14th, the time school children begin looking for the perfect box
of cards and decorating a box that will hold all their Valentine’s that a special someone or friend has secretly exchanged with them. For many it is a time to contemplate that perfect gift or card for our special loved ones. Candy? A card? Flowers? Maybe… Jewelry!?!
We can learn a lot from looking back at history. Written Valentine’s had been around since the 1400’s, but it wasn’t until the 1800’s Victorian era when we began to see the popularity of decorating our love
letters really take off! As technology advanced so did the creative and unique quality of the Valentine. This is considered “The Golden Age of Valentines”. It was common to see people proclaiming their love by adding silk ribbon, lace, feathers, some had moving parts, pop-up features and paper honeycomb décor.
Collecting Victorian or Vintage Valentines can be a fun walk down memory lane but it can also be very profitable. Collectors look for many varieties such as:
- Acrostic – the name is strategically spelled out
- Chromolithograph – a method of printing multi-colour prints
- Cutout – paper is folded several times and cut in a lacelike pattern
- Dimensional – there are several layers, parts may move or pop out
- Mechanical – has moving parts
- Rebus – pictures illustrate meaning instead of words
- The Love Knot – looped heart shaped ribbon or paper containing secret messages that must be read by turning the knot around and around.
As with any collectible, condition is number one! Edge wear, tears, discoloration, tape/glue residue definitely hurts the value of these treasured memories.
Another historical and romantic yet secretive gift of the 1700’s Georgian era, are Eye Miniatures or Lover’s Eye. These were given to individuals who had a very intimate relationship. Only they, in theory, would recognize the identity of the small hand painted eye of their lover, which was typically hand painted on ivory. These could come in the form on a pin, pendant or ring. Since “no one could identify whose eye it was or the significance” attached to the object, these could be worn in public instead of confined to a locket. There may be only 1000 of these still around today and therefore very valuable.
Is your Valentine worth a fortune?
Here are a few examples of recent auction results:
– Nine Victorian fold-out Valentines with die-cut chromolitohgraph layers, 11″ tallest of lot, sold for $60 on august 10, 2013 at Ron Rhoads Auctioneers in PA.
– A fantastic collection (flat, stand-up, 3-D, mechanical) of Victorian Valentine cards, in excellent original condition. It was sold for $3500 on February 24, 2012 at RM Auctions in Indiana.
– Two Georgian Lover’s Eye Miniature lapel pins were recently sold for $3000 on September 15, 2012 at Susanin’s Auctions in Chicago.
– A Victorian Yellow Gold Lover’s Eye Pendant containing a lock of hair in hidden compartment (common feature at that time) sold for $2200 on December 8, 2013 at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago.
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A glazed oval miniature painted portrait on ivory framed by a serpent with a ruby eye, ca. 1820, sold for $4500 on December 8, 2013 at Rago Arts and Auction Center in New Jersey. It was original and in very good condition.
Think you might have a valuable Valentine worth a fortune? Call a
qualified appraiser to help you discover your hidden treasures.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8273629