Vintage Valentines: A Picture Gallery

I have always loved vintage Valentines.  When I was a little girl, my family liked to antique together.  When we wandered through antique stores, I always looked at Valentines and holiday cards.   When I first heard of eBay, I browsed for vintage Dachshund Valentines.  And then I started selling.  I mostly sold vintage children's books at first, and then I added in vintage Valentines and vintage Christmas cards and ornaments.  I still love finding a big box of Valentines, scanning them, and listing them.  All of the cards pictured today are located in my stores:  eBay Valentines department, Etsy, and Bonanza. 

Here are a few of my latest vintage Valentines:

Three dogs in a barrel at sea.  This card is spectacular!  It is mechanical and the barrel rocks back and forth when you move it.

This heart-shaped card is 1920's vintage.  It features a little boy and girl under a big umbrella.  

 A sweet little bear has a plate of Valentine heart cookies.

Love this Mid-Century illustration of a girl in a fancy dress and hat.  "A Valentine for a Swell Sister."

Fun 1950's owl Valentine.  "Do I give a hoot for you, Valentine?"

Fun Mid-Century card for a husband -- includes several pages of illustrations:

 A cute kitten drinks an ice cream soda at a malt shop:

1920's or earlier card featuring a little girl with ringlets talking to a bird.  "I'm all of a twitter my Valentine."

This is an unusual mechanical Valentine!   The little girl's eyes open and close.  "Don't give me the shut-eye my Valentine."

A calico cat plays with yarn -- mechanical card.  (The cat's eyes move.)   "I love you and that's no yarn my Valentine!"

Fun Deco Valentine featuring a boy and girl fishing.  "If you're fishing for me use your heart as bait my Valentine."

This mechanical card features a dressed dog in a butcher shop chopping baloney.  The card is mechanical - his arm and the knife move.  "It's no baloney when I say I love you!"

I believe this older card is a Grace Drayton illustration.  It features a little girl with dumb bells who is exercising as her dog watches.  The card is mechanical -- the girl bends at the waist.  "I'm 'most reduced to tears, I'm so skeered I won't get the Valentine I want."

This mechanical card features a little girl in a flower hat that pulls up and down.  "Pansies tell what I can't conceal.  Look under my hat and see how I feel."

This is a fabulous mechanical card.  The little boy's arm and pig move back and forth.  "Tom, Tom the Piper's Son stole a pig one day - and as for you, your taking ways just steal my heart away!"

This is a lovely Charles Twelvetrees illustrated card.  It features a boy and girl on a toy horse:  "With your arms around me holding tight, we'll gallop on my hobby horse - 'cause love's in sight!  Be My Valentine."  The card has a honeycomb detail -- the horse's back folds out into a beautiful honeycomb.

Another Grace Drayton illustration.  (You will recognize her work from the Campbell soup kids.)   A boy and girl stand with an organ grinder and a monkey.  "Don't monkey with my heart - be my Valentine."  This is a mechanical card -- the boy's arm, the winding device, and the children's eyes all move.