Love is in the air at Bonhams

Incurable romantics will be heading down to Bonhams Knowle salerooms on 12 February 2008 in the hope of purchasing a selection of beautiful Victorian Valentines cards.

For those who are not sure what to buy their loved one this Valentines Day, the thirty-four cards included in the sale provide the perfect solution. Estimates range from £80-150.

Entirely original, these cards are to be prized for their individuality, rarity and design. A far cry from the mass-produced cards we send today, each of these valentines was a labour of love for the artisan who designed and made it. Decorated with a variety of fripperies including lace, paper, fabric flowers and leaves, they are bound to have won over many hearts.

Victorian valentines cards are very popular among American collectors and as such diminishing numbers are found at auction today. The valentines vary in form; one has been preserved in the box that it would have originally arrived in.

The exchange of valentines cards on 14 February has long been a courtship ritual. The first valentines were sent by a young Frenchman, Charles Duc d’Orleans, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. He wrote endless love poems and letters to his wife in France from his prison cell, sixty of which remain in the British Museum.

It was not until the 19th century however, and the advent of the penny post, that the concept of sending valentines became popular. Given the moral climate of the time it is perhaps surprising that the Victorians were so fond of sending cards but this collection reveals their hidden romantic side.

It is impossible to say who sent and received these cards or whether the sentiments expressed in them were returned. What is certain however is that these valentines still carry with them the hopes, fears, longing and affection of the hearts and minds that gave them.