Vintage Valentines

I’ve mentioned before that I was born on Valentine’s Day. Yep, that’s pretty neat. I have red hair too; that’s also pretty neat. You can imagine why all those school parties were extra special for me. Remember making the bag or box to hold all your Valentines in? I loved Valentine’s Day. However, sometimes it’s easy to feel cheated. You know – birthday on the same day – maybe not as many presents. Worst of all, you have to SHARE with everybody else. The cards themselves have always been of interest. A few years ago my Mom and Dad were at a local estate auction of a woman who had been my fifth grade teacher. A box came up for bids. My Mom had seen the box earlier in the preview time before the auction began so she knew what was inside. There was a bag full of old valentines among the contents. Mom asked my Dad to bid on it for me and he won the bid. It turns out the old valentines were ones that past students had sent to my teacher. Some of the names signed on the back I recognized. Most were from students a couple of grades ahead of me in school. For me it was a priceless moment when my Mom gave them to me. I was a teacher and I was being given my teacher’s old valentines from her classroom. Another surprise waited in the box as well. In the box was a roll of tiny school pictures. These were the kind the teacher used to identify her students or cut apart and put in the student file. Better yet, it was MY fifth grade class. I loved the found treasure. Over the years I’ve sent a couple of those old valentines to friends from class just to reminisce.
Currently they’re packed in an old lunch box somewhere in a box that has of yet not been unpacked from my summer move. But alas, I have some new ones to add to my collection. I was at a thrift store on Sunday and picked up a few. They tend to show up this time of year. Some I bought are signed and dated 1928-29. (See the butterfly one?) I got them all for less than a dollar apiece. Please notice that most have little blonde girls on them!! On this day associated with red I want to know what happened to the little redheaded girls. You can see I found only one – a cute little redhead with a bob hairdo. She’s my favorite find – go figure!!