Antiques Magazine Archive, January 2014

Valentine’s Day has a long history, one in which there’s been an awful lot of torturing and martyrdom, eventually leading to what we recognise today as a rather over commercialised day of celebration. We see an abundance of cards and flowers without giving much thought to how it all started.

The very beginning….
We can go back to the Roman times with the pagan fertility festival known as Lupercalia, then from AD 197 through AD 289 some serious martyring in the shape of Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome, who were prepared to die for what they believed in, and did. While imprisoned Valentine of Rome cured his jailor’s daughter from blindness and then fell in love with her, sending her a note signed “from your Valentine.”

In AD 496 Pope Gelasius declared the 14th of February as St Valentine’s Day, but it’s wasn’t romantic at this point, it was a Christian Feast Day.

It’s not until Chaucer in about AD 1382 that we got the first association with romance.

So an old story that began with violence and martyrdom was reborn as a tale of romance…

Personally, St Valentine’s Day for me should be about originality and wooing that special person without remit to a) a large bouquet of flowers and b) a large box of chocolates. Thinking outside the box is what is required and here are some gifts that would really impress, should they arrive on my doorstep.

Christmas may be over, but for some of you, you’re already thinking ahead. It would seem that many of us were born around spring time, which means that once February has left us, March onwards sees a plethora of birthday celebrations until May is out. Anniversaries seem to be abundant in spring too so there’s another occasion to celebrate.

To mark an occasion

If you’ re thinking about what to buy your loved one, jewellery is never a bad idea, you may be thinking brand new, or even contemplating an older piece. They can spark off an enthusiastic collection, or perhaps over time you may not be bothered about whether they increase in value. They may only serve to mark a special time in your life and their value is sentimental rather than financial.

As the New Year rolls in everyone starts to think about the year ahead. Some of you may be thinking of clearing out the old things in your life as part of some new year’s resolution. You clear out old things that seem of no further use and replace them with new and more useful items. While you’re doing this it may seem likely that you’re looking at old treasured items that you don’t really want to throw away. It could be that they are of sentimental value. If that’s the case, then rather than do something hasty and throw them out, why not keep them and start a collection?