"Vinegar Valentine": A Gentleman's Pipe Dream

Here's a "vinegar valentine" postcard from the early 1900s, featuring a bachelor's "pipe dream". This gently joshing card was sent between friends, and saved in an album for over 100 years before I found it. It's really a beautiful card.

"Vinegar Valentine": 'Tis a Lemon That I Hand You...

Here's a postcard from my collection of "vinegar valentines," sarcastic, sly, or downright cruel cards that people sent to friends (as jokes) or to their enemies (not as jokes). 

These were quite popular in the early 1900s.

This card dates to about 1906, and is one of my favorites. 

Antique Dollhouse Icebox

We just had a big snowstorm here, and the day before, everyone scurried around like squirrels, stocking up on groceries in case they got snowed in. Coincidentally, I had just received my latest miniatures purchase: this 5 inch tall dollhouse icebox made by Hubley in the 1920s-30s, complete with its original glass "ice block," so I loaded it up too. Now everyone is prepared, including my dollhouse residents, and we won't suffer any Donner Party type disasters.

 

Here's the provisions:

And here's a close-up of the glass ice block. 

Amazing that this has survived!

Mundane Object Valentines

These little 1920s cards are some of my very favorites, and comprise what I refer to as my "Mundane Objects" valentines. I've found these over a number of years from different sources, but they seem to make a set. Many of the messages inside are puns, and feature a lot of intriguing historical slang. 

The brick reads: "You're a Brick...I'm 'Building Up Great Hopes' That You Will Be My Valentine"; "the pie: "If I Only Had the Crust...I'd Ask You To Be My Valentine"; the cork: "Gee! But You're a Corker...That's Why I Want You For My Valentine"; the briefcase: "To Make It Brief...I Have an Awful 'Case' On You"; the glove: "Do You Glove Me?... Be My Valentine"; and the plum: "I'm Plum Crazy About You!...Will You Be My Valentine?".

Flip Book Valentine

One of the most unusual valentines in my collection is this comical flip book from the 1930s. By turning the pages, you can make different characters (each with a great '30s marcelled platinum 'do!). Below you can see the three primary characters; by flipping the head and body pages, you can make variations, like the head of the first girl on the body of the third.

 

Change-A-Face Mechanical Valentine

Here's one of my favorite valentines: a mechanical change-a-face card, dating to the 1930s. By pulling the tab at the bottom, the goofy-looking boy's expression changes. Just a really fun valentine!

Here's the first face:

 

And here's the second:

 

Little Airplane Valentine

Just a sweet little moveable valentine dating from the 1930s. 

You can make the wings waggle up and down.

Courtship Sequence Valentine Postcards

Here's a great set of 1907 sequence postcards: these were mailed by the sender one by one, with the complete set telling a little story. These postcards were sent by a woman in Washington state who traded similar sequenced sets with a friend in Michigan. The message on the back of the first card reads: "Kind friend, yours received yesterday, couldn't get the rest of that set, therefore I shall finish with this." Pretty cool that these were kept together and saved for over 100 years!

 

Novelty Rebus Valentine

This is one of the most unique valentines in my collection. Made by Raphael Tuck in the early 1900s, it features a die-cut Dutch girl overlooking a rebus constructed of gilt paper utensils. Unusual and attractive, it's quite a treasure.

Toaster Valentine

Here's another unusual valentine, from what I call my "Mundane Objects" subset. There are all sorts of odd cards out there featuring items like hand mixers, television sets, briefcases, gloves, and many more things one wouldn't readily associate with Valentine's Day, like this toaster. Made in Germany circa the 1920s.

 

Vegetable Patch Kids Valentines

These three tiny valentines are some of my favorites. They date from the 1930s, and feature little characters peeking out from behind various vegetables, with appropriate puns inside each card.

The corn says: "Here's an 'Earful' -- I Want You for My Valentine"; the potato: "I Have My 'Eyes' on You"; and the lettuce: "I've Lost My 'Head' Over You."

Blonde China Head "Pet Name" Doll

For a break from all the valentine posts, here's a much-loved toy: a 14 inch china head doll with the rarer blonde hairdo. She's from a series of dolls made in Germany by Hertwig from the 1890s - early 1900s with their names factory-painted on their shoulderplates. This one is "Agnes," and, as can be seen from her raggedy body, she was much-loved by her young owner. Miraculously, her head has remained intact and lovely after all these years...

 

 

Antique Auto Valentine

Here's a really lovely 1930s valentine: an old roadster complete with a chauffeur transports two young lovers to their romantic destination.

Homemade Cigar Box Doll Furniture

I was thinking that February, besides being the obvious month to showcase vintage valentines, is also a good time to highlight toys made with love, or toys that are now charmingly bedraggled by too much love from their young owners. So, if you're tired of the valentines, here's a change, although I guess it still is rather girly and schmaltzy. 

Anyway, here we have a fantastic set of lovingly homemade doll furniture. The bed, cradle, table, and small china head doll have been together since the set was assembled in 1914. I've added the larger china doll, because the little dolly clearly needed a mommy, and also the table accessories. For scale, the bed is 11 and a half inches long, and the littlest doll is just 6 and a half inches tall.

The furniture was made from cigar boxes, which I find just fascinating. Can you imagine a father today saying, "hey Susie, want me to make you some Barbie furniture from my Marlboro cartons?" Seriously though, I love finding repurposed items like this. It's as if it's been recycled twice: first by the parent who turned a discarded box into a beloved toy, and next by me, who bought it and kept it out of a landfill. (Go green!) Anyway, in the next photo you can see the cigar box markings clearly stamped into the underside of the little table.

The furniture also features handpainted faux wood grain, and the slats on the bed are actually numbered to show which order they go in (since, being handmade, the measurements are not quite standard).

And the neatest thing, which I've found on almost all the homemade doll furniture I've seen, is that the name of the little girl the set was made for is pencilled on the underside of the cradle, along with the date ("Marela, 1914"). I'm not sure why this was done so extensively, but toy collectors are certainly grateful for it now!

Antique Valentine Rebus Postcard

This is one of the most unusual antique postcard valentines I have. Dating from the early 1900s, it's essentially a rebus, and plays to the old adage that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach...

Creepy Cat Valentine

One of my vintage valentine collection subsets is "Creepy Valentines." It's really quite amazing how many weird and disturbing historical valentines exist out there. The creepiness usually comes from iconography that is no longer readily meaningful to us, as we'll see later on with some German postcards. But sometimes it's just strange design, like this:

  

In this spectacular example of a Creepy Valentine, a giant cat with real blown glass eyes and a moveable head (for extra horror) appears to be about to devour the small child who is obliviously offering him a sweetie...Made in Germany in the 1920s-30s.

Valentine Veggies

I love old postcards, vintage valentines, and anthropomorphic objects, so this fantastic item was a perfect find: a 1900s Raphael Tuck valentine postcard featuring "Mr. Carrot" and "Miss Bean". If you look closely, you'll see that the "fourteen carat gold" engagement ring is, in fact, made of carrot.

Candy Kid Valentine

Here's one of the most unusual valentines in my collection.

Dating from the 1930s, it features an actual candy (Necco wafer-type) in a lithographed wrapper as the head of the figure. It's amazing to me that this survived so long without being eaten by either the original recipient or a little mousie.

Bone Button Valentine

Here's a really unusual valentine I found this year. Dating to the 1920s, it features a bone button made into a little happy face...actually, the more I look at it, the less "happy" it appears, verging instead on "creepy," but still, a unique valentine!

Valentine Time

Yay: it's Valentine Time! 
Vintage and antique valentines are some of the other things I collect,
so I'll be showcasing some of my favorites this month.

Here are two of my dollies and teddies trading valentines 

in a display case at my library, 

and some highlights from the display.