One of world's oldest Valentine's Day cards discovered in UK
The love note was sent to a Miss L Shafe in 1818
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Your support makes all the difference.One of the world’s oldest Valentine’s Day cards has been discovered after being hidden away in an album for 20 years.
The card, which is hand-painted with hearts, flowers and lovebirds, was sent by post more than 200 years ago, on 14 February 1818.
Addressed to a Miss L Shafe of White Row in Spitalfields, London, the card features a message with the title: “An affectionate Pledge of Unfeigned Attachment“.
The full romantic note reads: “From him who upon the return of another Valentine's Day, looks forward with pleasure to the time when his hopes may be realised; and at the altar of Hymen [Greek god of marriage ceremonies] he shall receive the hand accompanied with the heart of her for whom he feels - not a wild and romantic love, which abates after a short acquaintance - but an affection which time increases rather than diminishes.”
For the last two decades, the note has been carefully stored in an album and protected from sunlight by Gavin Littaur, from London.
”It's beautiful, exceptionally so, in fact. One of the reasons I'm selling it now is to show the collecting world what an outstanding early Valentine really looks like,” Littaur said.
“I bought it at auction more than 20 years ago. I don't recall exactly how much I paid for it, but it was expensive at the time.”
The collector, who once owned another Valentine’s Day card from 1801, said this particular piece is the “finest” he’s ever seen.
However, Littaur added that he has now decided to put the card up for auction so that other people can enjoy it.
Experts say the card is one of the earliest posted Valentines in existence and could fetch a four-figure sum when it goes under the hammer on Friday.
Jim Spencer, of Hansons Auctioneers, which is handling the sale, said: ”It's a Valentine message worthy of a Jane Austen novel. It's formal, honest and honourable – a far cry from some of the messages we see on Valentines for sale today.
“Perhaps his message to Miss Shafe offers us the secret of lasting love – an affection which gradually increases over time.
”It's a superb early Valentine in very good condition and deserves to excel at auction. Someone will surely fall in love with this.“
The Valentine will go under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers, in Etwall, Derbyshire, with a guide price of £600 to £800.
Last year, a biscuit tin that was left to gather dust at the back of a kitchen cupboard for 25 years sold at auction for more than £3,000.
The Huntley and Palmers biscuit box, which dated back to the late 1920s, depicted a double-decker London bus bound for Liverpool Street and was owned by a retired couple from Nottingham who forgot all about it.
They couple were left stunned when experts revealed it was a 1929 prized collectors’ item and was estimated to fetch between £1,000 and £1,500 at auction.
However, when the item eventually went up for sale at Hansons Auctioneers on 19 November, it sold for an impressive £3,100.
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