SAILOR’S VALENTINES

             Sailor’s valentines were gifts from sailors to their sweethearts that often included affectionate sayings with their designs. For many years, collectors and scholars thought that sailors made these decorative objects during their long voyages at sea. While sailors made items such as scrimshaw and woolworks aboard

Their vessels, they definitely did not make valentines on bard ship. They would have had to have access to the variety of shells, paper, glass and wood necessary and they would have had to have a designated space where things would remain in an unfinished state while being worked on intermittently. Obviously, the movement of the ship on the sea would not have afforded a reliable workshop and it was doubtful that the ships’ captains would have allowed a “valentine room” on bard their ships. Research has shown that valentines were specifically made for the souvenir trade, mainly in the West Indies. 

            Though there are some valentines that incorporate the sayings “Gift From Trinidad” of “Present From St. Lucia”, most of the known valentines are associated with the island of Barbados. From the 1630s to the turn of the 20th century, Barbados, located at the easternmost point of the British West Indies, was an important English and later American port of call for goods such as sugar, rum, lumber, and fish. In the 19th century, a souvenir culture thrived in response to sailors hoping to bring back mementos of their travels. Since shells created a free seemingly unending commodity on the island, they were incorporated into a variety of decorative items- from picture frames to covered boxes. Production of valentines reached its height in the mid to late nineteenth century, with a few earlier examples known. The Victorian love for collecting and displaying exotic objects from afar possibly fueled the industry and no doubt played to the enthusiasm for the valentines, which comprised hundreds of shells in intricate designs.           

            While some Barbadians may have had their own cottage industry, local merchants apparently hired islanders to make valentines, which the retailers then sold in their shops. This business arrangement is based on the label, which read “B. H. Belgrave” (a shop owner from London) often found glued on the reverse wooden side of the valentines. It included “Dealer in Marine Specialties and Native Manufacture in Fancy Work”. Occasionally, Barbadian newspapers back the cotton batting onto which the shells and deep red local seeds are glued. The shells used to decorate most valentines are indigenous to the island, further substantiating Barbados as the place of manufacture for the majority of these curiosities. 

            Traditional valentines are octagonal in shape and consist of two corresponding boxes hinged to one another, hence the term double valentines. They hinged closed so the two sides, with their glass, would be protected when being brought home by a sailor. Occasionally a large single valentine will come on the market- sometimes it has been separated from its mate or it is a not a typical classic design and often is a finer, more intricate designed work of art. Valentines are made with mahogany sides and tops with a secondary wood bottom often of Spanish cedar, The insides of the boxes are lined and glued with colored paper, usually a medium to dark pink color, on which cotton batting is placed. The shells and seeds are then glued in various repeating patterns with this paper placed on thin wooden small pieces, which separate and delineate the different patterns and designs. Glass is inset on each side to protect the valentine and keep the shells enclosed. 

            Sentiments typically appear on the smaller 9 ½” double valentines, which usually incorporate a heart design on the other half. Some of the more popular mottos include “To My Sweetheart”, To My Love”, “Home Again”, and “From A Friend”. The larger 13 ½” to 14 ½” examples rarely have mottos, but display more intricate shellwork designs on both sides with most commonly a compass rose on one side and a heart on the other. 

            There is a distinctive group of boxes, which offers a variation on the classic type of valentines. These are of exceptional quality, both in workmanship of the boxes and the intricacies of the shell designs, which incorporate smaller and brighter shells in more complex arrangements. Although still octagonal in shape, they were never made as hinged doubles, only as single examples. They are covered with a wooden bordered glass top hinged on one side. Whereas the standard valentines are closed with a brass hook and eye, and often have interior lock and a keyhole on one side, on these singles ivory escutcheons embellish the keyholes. These singles seem a bit more modern in design and were probably made between 1870-1880 rather than in the 1840s to 1860s. 

            Each example in this group of distinctive valentines displays complex decorative schemes, the same selection of shells and deep red seeds but now the use of colored and gold foil papers not just the usual deep pink colors. You may find a design of a circular wreath of flowers or a flower- laden basket all of shells. These designs are set on a field of small white shells and framed with multi colored papers. Around this striking composition could be a circle of S-shaped snail shells, or purple snail shells with swag designs of the red seeds. These are special shells, which do not often show up in the traditional heart and compass rose designs. 

            The origin of these fine valentines is a mystery. The boxes are made of veneered mahogany and their construction is much more sophisticated than the standard valentine boxes, and required the skill of a trained cabinetmaker. There was a tradition of furniture makers in Barbados, many trained by those who had worked with immigrant English craftsmen active on the island in the 1770s and 1789s. It is possible that these rare examples were made in London. With the English craze for Victorian shell work, it is quite probable that a British retailer, aware of the Barbadian examples brought back by the sailors, recognized a market niche for finer valentines and arranged for their London manufacture.  

            The most exciting valentine examples of these large singles are those similar to the exceptional one that Queen Victoria gave to the Victoria and Albert Museum. This type is very rare and shows a wreath of shell flowers encircling the center of smaller designed circles with a compass rose with spray of tiny shells as small flowers in the very center, everything set on silk not paper. The dividers forming the design are in gold foil not paper and the size is larger than any other examples by several inches. The workmanship is outstanding. The previously mentioned theory of this type coming from London may be dispelled in that one that I found came in its original cedar wood packing box and that would imply it had come from the islands, not from England. So maybe there were some extremely talented valentine makers in Barbados.