A number of years ago, my mother found a box at an estate sale: "Material for Making Lace Valentines: Whitneys Valentine Material". The copyright date was 1920 from the Geo. C. Whitney Co. in Worcester, Massachusetts. It also bore the label of Marshall Field and Company, Chicago, Illinois.
Inside the box were three intricate embossed, 3 dimensional valentines in wonderful condition.
I just recently decided to do a little internet research and I'm even more confused than when I started. The box seems to have once held the supplies to make paper valentines, but the illustrations on the box do not seem to represent the ornate cards that were found inside. In fact, the valentine above bears the distinctive stamped, red H suggesting to me that it is a valentine from Esther Howland. Miss Howland, it seems was a competitor of Mr. Whitney. But in 1881, she sold her business to George.
I'm suspecting that the box was used to simple house much older valentines. But I'll keep looking!
Regardless, they are such a treat this time of year.
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