(Editor’s note: DeeDee Wood is the owner of Black Cat Curiosities, an online antiques research and sales venue.)
When you think of Valentine’s Day, you might immediately think about an actual Valentine, which is a card that contains a message of love.
They once were very popular in the mail in early February, and as the Industrial Revolution came more into focus, more were produced.
A subset of these printed creations were mechanical Valentine’s Day cards, which served not only as a greeting of love, but added layers of interest and nuance to the message.
For centuries, with Roman historical influences and evolution of a myriad of references to the day and name, a notion was created to have a day to celebrate love. As a permanent day was imbedded into a more modern culture to do just that, greetings of love were sent during this time period, but usually it was done completely by hand and delivered in this manner as well. 
As printing and wider distribution advanced, especially in the 19th century, specifically during the reign of industry during Victorian times, Valentine’s Day cards became more widely available to the masses.
Ingenuity dictated that cards could not only be flat missives of love, but could contain a novelty, or layers, of intricated design and moving parts, referred to as movables or mechanical cards.
The Germans, with their innovative printing techniques and early die-cut methods, were some of the first manufacturers, in the 1900s, to create innovative, interesting cards that moved and entertained the receiver.
A mechanical Valentine could move a head of a person on a card with the pull of a tab, or cards could pop out as a 3-D garden of flowers if you pulled out the honey-combed shape, a layered paper effect that created 3-D depth to paper. It was all about design in a mechanical card. Experimental printing techniques of the time created strings, tabs, cords and layered paper designs to create an ever-evolving design of popular cards that entertained and delighted the public during the holiday of love.
The cards were sometimes so elaborate and layered they would require a box to be mailed. Buttons, lace, tabs, fold outs, layers of different types of paper and many different types of content and ingenuity of design all went into creating mechanical specimens.
Manufacturing of such designed cards changed in not only elaborate display, but also in the intended audience. As the turn of the century approached, changing morays of society and courtship rituals offered a slight release on rigid romanticism of the era, and Valentine’s cards receivers at this time also included children. The mechanical Valentine card was popular for the marketing viability of this group as well, with the moving parts, fold out elements and entertainment of birds, animals and other subject matter, as the necessity of courtship gifts and Valentine’s Day meaning was changing to include all of society.
As costs and tastes changed in the era of missives by mail, the rise of the postcard or a more simplistic, cost effective card for a message of love, began to overtake more intricated Victorian choices.
The prowess of proof of manufacturing was waning, and the novelty Valentine eventually found a home in the history books.
In today’s antique market, mechanical Valentine’s Day cards, especially if they still have their mechanisms, can be worth a bit of money, and are collected and admired from a by-gone era where manufacturing and creativity of new materials went hand-in-hand.
