Ms Dow Antiques Tique Talk by Marianne Dow: Collecting Vintage Valentines Day Cards and Postcards ~ Happy St. Valentine's Day

Vintage Valentines - sweet, colorful, addicting. But fewer calories than a heart shaped box of chocolates.

They came in every theme imaginable, for all tastes. Some a little naughty, some for little kids, romantic or ''just friends''. Hearts and Flowers, or... you just name it.

And even some mean-spirited insulting cards called Penny Dreadfuls, or Vinegar Valentines. Here's a great article on those comical cards - Happy Valentines Day: I Hate You.

I highly recommend using this website to help find more vintage Valentines for your collection:

Besides articles and reference links, their search engine will show you all the Valentines listed on ebay by bid amount or by number of watchers, and they show the COMPLETED.

That's a great help if you're trying to get values on your cards. But remember since there were millions and millions of cards and postcards made, and still being made, this is a hard category to try to decide on definitive values. The good news though is that you can build a collection to suit your tastes and your budget.

Best to do your homework first. Here's a list of links that will teach you everything you need to know about collecting Valentines cards of the Antique, Vintage, Victorian varieties. http://bit.ly/XtsygE

Here are some more pix of cute Valentines -- Happy St. Valentine's Day, y'all!