Tag: Valentine’s Day

Sweet Antique Candy Boxes

Valentine’s Day wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without the proverbial box of chocolates! These two boxes are pretty examples of sweet antique advertising ephemera.

antique chocolate candy boxes

The first box marked “Overhauser’s of Spokane” features a Victorian lady with a large hat. There’s a holly and berries sticker on the box that shows this box of candy from the Overhauser Candy Company (Spokane, Washington) was likely given for Christmas — but it’s still a romantic gift, right?

The second antique candy box also features a fancy Victorian lady wearing a large hat — with roses that match the other roses on the paper. This box bears a red and gold foil seal that reads “De Luxe Chocolates, Little Falls, Minn.” Remarkably, the original fancy embossed papers are still inside!

antique de luxe chocolates minnesota box

Both boxes are for sale in our Etsy shop, here & here. Or you can contact me at We Have Your Collectibles or the We Have Your Collectibles Facebook page.

Sweet Little Girls Looking For Love At The Opera (Antique Valentine Card)

This antique mechanical Valentine’s Day card features a pair of cute, chubby-cheeked girls. One holds a pair of opera glasses or binoculars and, when you move the section on the back, they move up and down. The girls eyes also move or “google”.

antique mechanical carrington valentine

The text also changes. First it reads:

I’m very very bashful as certain people know

Then:

So I’m sending this to ask you if I stand any show

Here it is in action!

The artwork is similar in style to the Campbell’s Soup Kids by Grace Wiederseim Drayton, but there is no mark for the illustrator. The back is marked Carrington, for the George S. Carrington Company, with a ‘G’ in tree logo.

If you are interested in this antique mechanical die-cut valentine, it’s available for purchase in our Etsy shop. Or, you can contact me directly at my dealer’s website, We Have Your Collectibles, home of Fair Oaks Antiques.

vintage antique mechanical valentine carrington card

A Sucker For Valentines

These vintage Valentine’s Day cards are also holders for lolly pops or suckers. The half-circle tabs pop-up, and the stem of the sucker would be slid through the openings, thus delivering an extra sweet greeting — with pop related puns, of course!

Produced by the E. Rosen Company of Providence, RI, these vintage die-cut cards measure approximately six inches tall and are printed on cardboard stock as opposed to thin paper.

(These cards, 1930s and 1940s, are from my own collection; but you can find cards for sale here.)

This pair of traffic signal cops or police officers shows that the one with green ink is older than the black ink; the one with green states that the patent is pending.

These cards were part of a long tradition of delivering holiday candies. E. Rosen Co., which also operated as School House Candy, is also noted for the highly collectible figural plastic candy holders, such as Easter bunnies, Santas, witches, and Valentines hearts. Those plastic pieces are marked Rosbro, a sister (or brother) company of Rosen as both companies were owned by the same family.

E. Rosen Co. was acquired by Sherwood Brands in 1998; Sherwood went into receivership and among the assets auctioned-off in 2012 were intellectual property rights, including Rosen names.

Sails All Set For Vintage Valentines

One of the things I like best about vintage Valentine’s Day cards, especially the children’s cards, are the puns. (It bears repeating!) The other thing I like about vintage Valentines are the graphics. So much nicer to look at than today’s pop culture Valentines, I think. …Then again, today’s stars and fads will become the nostalgia of the future. But then that just means I still have time to change my feelings about them.

This vintage Valentine combines both puns and great graphics — with a few other goodies we don’t see today. This vintage Valentine greeting card featuring a little boy sailing as the captain of his ship is slightly embossed, die cut, and has a stand on the back so it can be displayed.

The best thing about it though is that both the bottom of the card and the stand are rounded, so when the card is standing up, it rocks and rolls, like the motion of the sea!

I can’t keep all the lovely vintage Valentine’s Day cards (or anything else I get my hands on), so I’ve listed it and others for sale. Sometimes, scanning and blogging about things is enough time to cherish something before letting it go to another collector. Hopefully one who won’t have to keep things stored, but can display it and let it be adored.

Harping On Valentine’s Day

Another one of those vintage valentines with the circled numbers on them, this one has three angelic baby cupids with a large harp. The hot pink is quite vibrant!

There are no marks for maker or anything — but like this vintage valentine with soda pop bottles, this one has red printing or stamps on the back too. There’s another baby cupid and hearts with arrows through them and the words or names “Bud” and “Dick” too. You can make of all that what you will. *wink*

PS I just realized in the scan of the front of this valentine one one cupid’s foot was bent back. It’s there, just creased.

I’ve Got Your Number, Valentine

I recently acquired a small lot of vintage valentines. Most of them were the type kids passed out at school, and each of them has a number penciled on the front, placed in a circle. While this may detract from their value, I find the idea of a youngster implementing some sort of ranking or even an organizational system rather charming!

I’ll be posting more of these vintage valentines at Kitschy Kitschy Coo.

Vintage DIY Valentines Kit

A vintage kit for making paper Valentines, circa 1940s, from Gibson, the greeting card company. This kit was to make eight different Valentine’s Day cards for “kiddies.”

Inside the box (with charming graphics) there are eight cardboard bases for the cards, eight lace Valentines, two sheets of die-cut graphics to decorate the cards with, and, or course, eight envelopes.

For sale from Jones Antiques.

Vintage Valentine’s Day Greeting Cards

I’ve posted a lot of other cute, kitschy and even racist vintage Valentine’s Day cards at my other blogs, but it wouldn’t be fair not to show off some of my own vintage greeting cards for this holiday from my collection here, would it? *wink*

The first is an Ameri-Card (# X-6545/8 D) that asks, “‘Hula’ ya luv?”

Second, this vintage die cut, red flocked pony Valentine’s Day greeting card. (Opens up for the poem & signature; marked Whit. O-372A U.S.A)

Last, but not least, a vintage Valentine’s Day card from EFCO (5-9453, Litho in U.S.A.) with “just an old-fashioned girl getting into shape to send you this…”

“Old fashioned Valentine!”

Which is where you see that the pink Xs shown in the hourglass die cut opening that looked like a corset was actually the trim on a less risque card — from an older lady. (I suspect that the man who received this might have been more than a little disappointed, even if he had a good sense of humor. *wink*)