Learn about antiques and collectibles ith D G i C away

Each year, my Valentine seeks out vintage Valentine cards as well as a new Valentine card to give to me My vintage collection has been growing and although I love the messages in the new cards, it is the old cards that hold the most joy for me

The name Valentine comes from Saint Valentine who in A D 270 ignored Emperor Claudius’s edict forbidding marriage (Claudius felt that married men made poor soldiers since they were loath to leave their families for battle).

Valentine invited young lovers to come to him in secret, where he joined them in the sacrament of matrimony History claims that Claudius had this “friend of lovers” imprisoned and sentenced to death

It is said that he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and he signed a farewell message to her “From Your Valentine ”

Traditionally, mid-February was a Roman time to meet and court prospective mates, so Roman young men instituted the custom of offering women they admired and wished to court handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The cards took on the name of Saint Valentine

Charles, duke of Orleans, sent the earliest known card in 1415 to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London As time passed, Cupid, the naked cherub armed with arrows dipped in love potion, became a popular valentine image. He is associated with the holiday because in Roman mythology he is the son of Venus, goddess of love and beauty entury, “The alentine Writer” n England reds of suggested es for the young ompose his own rly 1800s, printers un producing a of cards with verses reduced postal rate ry made it easier to mail valentines.

The 100-year old art of cutting paper valentines with scissors, scherenschnitte, was brought to America by the Germans colonizing Pennsylvania These folk art valentines are highly sought by collectors At the turn of the 20th century, color and lace decorations, were popular as were mechanicals, valentine postcards, Kewpies, Kate Greenaway characters, and designs by other artists. By the 1920s, folded valentines in envelopes were the trend. In the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, packages of valentines and greeting cards were widely exchanged among school children Except for Christmas, Americans exchange more cards on Valentines Day than any other holiday

Come into Howe Mercantile and find VINTAGE cards for your special Valentine Faithful readers, please indulge me while I use this space to send my love to my Special Valentine

Dr Georgia Caraway, former director of the Denton County Museums for 14 years, and her friends opened the Howe Mercantile at 107 East Haning. Store hours are Thursday through Saturday noon until 8 p.m. She has written four Denton history books and has finished a 5th history about the North Texas State Fair and Rodeo that will be published in August. She hopes her next book will be the history of Howe PLEASE SHOP LOCALLY. We can show you Howe!