Americana
Americana
Property from the Collection of Leslie and Peter Warwick, Middletown, New Jersey
An American Valentine, Pennsylvania, Early 19th Century
No reserve
Lot closes
05:24:59
•
January 25, 09:03 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
Current Bid
1,500 USD
15 Bids
No reserve
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Read more.Lot Details
Description
ink and watercolor on paper
height 12 ¼ in. by width 12 ¼ in.
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Barry Cohen Collection;
David A. Schorsch, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Leslie and Peter Warwick, Love At First Sight: Discovering Stories About Folk Art & Antiques Collected by Two Generations & Three Families, (New Jersey: 2022), pp. 220-1, fig. 387.
This foldable valentine with numbered squares, delicately illustrated with hearts and flowers, is a rare survivor from the 19th century, given that valentines from this time period were burned or destroyed under the circumstance of unrequited love. The outside of the valentine bears a heart within a heart and eight two-sided rectangles, with the following text:
1. The rose is red.
2. The violet blue.
3. Sugar is sweet.
4. And so are you.
1. My dearest dear and blessed divine, See pictured here your heart and mine
2. But I am in hope when its so gone, That both hearts may join in one.
3. And hath betwixt us set a cross, Which makes me to lament my loss.
4. But cubit with his fatol dart, Has wounded sore my tender heart.
5. This heart my dear which you behold.
6. Will break when you these lines unfold.
7. Just so my heart with fear and pain.
8. Sore wounded is and broke in twain.
The interior reveals similar heart within a circle surrounded by flowers and hearts and the following text:
1. If you do these lines refuse Pray burn the same and me excuse.
2. You are the same I drew last year, It was because I lov’d you dear.
3. Nor do I expect on earth to find, Not one like you to please in mind.
4. When I did draw my Valintine [sic], It was my fortune you to find.
5. On the 14th day of February, We were dispos'd for to be merry.
6. Our lots we cast and this I drew, Kind fortune says it must be you.
7. Sure as the grapes hang on the vine, So sure you are my Valintine [sic].
8. And in you I do hope to find, One agreeable to my mind.
1. When love is met.
2. It is hard to part.
3. If betwixt the two.
4. There is but one heart.
The interior circle and heart inscribed:
Round is this ring and hath no end, So is my love to my friend. /Dear love of mine, My heart is thine.