Valentines cards dating back to 1856 to go up for sale at Fernhurst auction

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Valentines cards dating back as far as 1856 are set to be sold at an auction in Fernhurst, West Sussex next month.

They’re just one lot in an auction devoted to antiquarian and secondhand books at John Nicholson’s of Fernhurst, West Sussex, on February 18, where they are expected to fetch somewhere between £20-£30.

Live online bidding, as well as information about other upcoming auctions, is available online at https://johnnicholsons.com/

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John Nicholson’s has been the premier specialists in the South of England since 1980, with regular sales focusing on paintings, sculpture, Islamic, Chinese and Asian art – they also famously set the record price for goods sold outside of London in the UK at auction, fetching £540,000 for Francis Hayman’s portrait of the Samuel Richardson family.

The Valentines Cards are part of a wider auction of secondhand and antiquarian books.The Valentines Cards are part of a wider auction of secondhand and antiquarian books.
The Valentines Cards are part of a wider auction of secondhand and antiquarian books.

Named for an early Christian Martyr, Valentines Day rituals go all the way back to the 14th and 15th centuries – possibly even earlier – but it was only in the 18th century that it started to transform into the kind of ceremony we know so well today, giving rise to the production of widely-posted, mass-produced valentines cards, in-lieu of the handwritten letters and poems that so defined previous centuries.

They may also have come with a customary box of chocolates, since the 19th century also saw the introduction of Fancy Boxes – a box of chocolates, produced by Cadbury’s, decorated in the shape of a love heart, explicitly for Valentines Day, kickstarting the product’s long and enduring association with both Valentines Day and romantic love at large.

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