Even MORE Vintage Valentines! (1950s, 1960s, & 1970s)

Just when I thought I had come to the end of my vintage Valentine collection, I found some more!  In the past, I have posted my mom's childhood Valentines, as well as some of my own.  The cards in this particular batch, belonged to both my mom and my dad.  We'll start with the newest ones, and work backwards in time.

My brother and I gave this one to my dad, in the early 1970s.  It was manufactured by "Laurel Cards."

My mom was an elementary school teacher, and one of her students gave her this Buzza Cardozo (of Anaheim, California) card, in the 1970s.

The card was from "Mark."  I wonder where Mark is, today?

Also from the 1970s (even though it has MCMLXIV printed on it), is this Winnie the Pooh Valentine that I gave to my mom.  I picked this one out of a box of Disney Valentines, which were also given out to my classmates on Valentine's Day.

Here's a card by Laurel®, from the 1960s.  This one was given to my dad, by my brother.

The card has three connected panels that unfold.

This 1960s Norcross card was given to my mom and dad, by my dad's sister.

And this Gibson card was given to my mom, by my dad.  I don't have an exact date for it, but they were married from 1960 to 1969, so it would have to be from the 1960s.

My mom gave this Norcross card to my dad.  Since they had met and dated for a year in Germany (during the time that my dad was in the Army, and my mom was working for the Army), this card was very appropriate.

Speaking of "cuckoos," while my mom was working in Berlin, she purchased four cuckoo clocks as gifts for various family members.  Sadly, as those family members have passed away, I have ended up with all of those cuckoo clocks.  :-(

Here's a Hallmark Valentine that my dad received while he was in the Army, and stationed in Berlin.  It was from his friend, "Lila Jean," and the envelope was postmarked, 1960.

This is another Hallmark Valentine, and was also sent to my Dad while he was stationed in Berlin.  This was from another friend, "Lois," and also had a postmark of 1960.

This American Greetings Corporation card was sent to my dad in 1959.  He was in the Army at that time, but he was at Fort Dix in New Jersey, and was going to be "shipping out" for Berlin in about four days.  The dark reddish areas are "flocked."

"Marty" (short for Martha), was a close friend of my dad's.  She, along with Lila Jean and Lois, were all in the same church youth group with my dad.

Marty also sent him this second Valentine (by Norcross), which was postmarked just one day after the previous one.  The faint diagonal lines are from where the glue on the envelope bled through to the card.

Here's another one from Lois, but from a different year.  There was no postmark on it.  The envelope only had my dad's name written on it, so I assume this was hand-delivered, and given to him prior to his going into the Army (pre-1959).  I'm not even sure that it was intended to be a Valentine, since it doesn't actually use the term, "Valentine."  However, with all of those hearts and the red and pink colors, I'm guessing it could have been.  The maker of this card was, Forget-Me-Not^®.

When opened, this card is very long, and very skinny.

I hope everyone enjoyed another batch of vintage Valentine's cards.  I believe that I've now come to the end of the truly vintage ones.  I have some from the 1990s and later, but I hope those can't be considered "vintage" yet!  I'll have to go through them and see if there are any worth posting in the future.  Maybe in another 10 or 20 years, they will be interesting enough (and vintage enough) to post?  ;-)

****UPDATE****

I decided to share two more of my dad's photos, which he took during his time at McNair Barracks, in Berlin.  To see more of his vintage U.S. Army photos, check out my Veteran's Day post from November of 2024.  These pics were taken on the base, inside the All American Club (where my mom worked as a recreation director).  The club used to have many "theme nights," and this was "Blind Date" night.

These photos are from 1960, but I'm not 100 percent sure this event was for Valentine's Day.  Since the decorations include Cupid and a heart with an arrow through it, I will just assume that it was Valentine's Day.  I only know the name of one person in this photo.  The guy second from the right, was Private "Scruggs."  The young women were local German residents, which the club directors used to invite onto the base for some of the club's dances, shows, and theme nights.

This appears to be the only other photo that my dad took that night.  This soldier was a very good friend of his.

               

More Vintage Valentines - 1960s, 1970s & 1980s

Several years ago, I shared some classroom Valentines from my childhood.  A good number of those were unused Disney-themed Valentines, which I had saved for years.

Last year, I shared some vintage Valentine cards from a scrapbook my mom had made, back in the 1950s.

Today, I'm sharing some Valentine cards from the 60s, 70s and 80s, which were sent by members of my family.

This first one is from the 1960s and was sent to my brother, from our grandmother.

The back of the card is fully printed with graphics, and includes the name of the company that manufactured it, which was "Buzza."

Inside message:

These next two are both "Hallmark" cards from the 1970s, and were sent to me by my grandparents.

These next two were sent to me by my aunt and uncle.  This first one is from the 1970s.

I'm not sure of the decade for this card.  It could have been the late 1970s, but I'm thinking it could have also been the early 1980s.  It included three folded panels, but is shown here, unfolded:

I found two more Disney-themed Valentines, which I had not previously posted here on the blog.  As a child, I selected these from my box of "classroom" Valentines, to give to my mom.

This is another card that I gave to my mom when I was very young.  The rabbit on this one is flocked, meaning that it's "fuzzy" to the touch.

And here is yet another bunny-themed Valentine for "Mother."

This card was given to my mom, by my brother.  It was sold as a blank card, with no printed sentiment inside....you had to write your own!  For some reason, I really like the graphics on this card.

There is a 1980 copyright date on the back of the card.

Here's another one that I am not sure about the decade.  It could be from the seventies, but it could also be from the early eighties.  This one was sent to my brother, by my aunt and uncle.

Inside message:

And in case you don't think clowns on a Valentine card are scary (which I happen to think clowns on anything, are ALWAYS scary), take a look at this Valentine.  Something about these graphics....specifically the little girl, are a little creepy.  This card was given to my mom, by my great-grandmother.  My mom was already an adult at this point, but I remember my grandparents complaining at times, that it was difficult to find greeting cards that were more appropriate for "adult" grandchildren.

(A side note from 2025:  Two years have now passed since I wrote this post, and I just realized that this next card was actually a birthday card, and not a Valentine!  Oh, well!)

I hope everyone has a very happy Valentine's Day!

Vintage Valentine's Day Cards - 1950s

Two years ago, I shared some "classroom" Valentines, from my childhood.  A good number of those were unused Disney-themed Valentines, which I had saved for years.

Today, I'm sharing some larger Valentine cards.  These were all glued inside of a scrapbook that my mom had made, back when she was in junior high school.  The pages were labeled, "Valentine's Day 1950."

This first one was given to my mom, by her grandmother.

This one was given to her by her friend, "Kathy."

For some reason, this next one was unsigned.  Maybe it was from a "secret admirer."

This Valentine was from "Spencer."  That "playing post office" line is pretty old.  I'm not sure that kids today would know what that means.  In fact, I'm not sure that I know what it means.  Isn't it a little too risque to be included on a "school" Valentine?

Hey, this one's also a little risque.  I'm not a prude, but this was given to an eighth grader......and my mother!  This was from a friend with the nickname, "Poncy."  We'll get to see what a "Poncy" looks like, in just a minute.

The scrapbook also included some photos that my mom had taken, of her friends at school.  Several years back, my mom had gotten this scrapbook out and was showing it to me.  At that time, she shared stories about the items in the book, and also about the people in these photos.

This is my mom (left) with her friend, Kathy, who had given her one of the Valentines seen above.  My mom told me about how Kathy lived in a house behind the Los Angeles County Arboretum.  She said one day, Kathy and her family woke up to the sounds of "wild animals."  When they looked out their windows, they could see elephants and other animals, walking around.  The animals had been brought to the Arboretum, for the filming of one of the Tarzan movies.

The guy on the far right, is Poncy!  It almost seems like the guy in the leather jacket (on the left) would be a "Poncy."  The guy in the white shirt is "Spencer," who also gave my mom one of the Valentines, seen above.

And here is another shot of Poncy.  His real name was Ronald.  I did the math and figured out that he would now be 85 years old.  I wonder if people still call him "Poncy"?  If Arthur Fonzarelli had been a real person, would people have continued to call him, "Fonzie," on into his senior years?

I was curious as to whether or not this school was still standing.  Well, it is, and I found out from Google "street view," that those support columns with the crisscross framework also still exist.  I also got to wondering about those houses across the street from the school.  It looks like they have all been torn down, and replaced with "town houses."  But that little Spanish-style bungalow seen above, was the last one to go, and was still standing as recently as 2007.  Unfortunately, it disappeared shortly after that.  In this screenshot from July of 2007, it looks like it was going to be bulldozed at any moment.

Okay, back to the vintage Valentines!  These next three were just "loose" and were not glued into the scrapbook.  This first one was given to my mom, by her grandmother.  The red trim around the edges and some of the hearts, were "flocked."

This one was given to her, by her father.  It has the year, 1951, printed on the back of it.

And this one was given to her, by her mother.  The large red heart is made of a satin-like material, and is "padded."  I must have forgotten to scan the inside of the card, because I did not find it in my files.

We will end this post with a vintage Valentine postcard, which is over 100 years old.  I bought this for my mom, in an antique store in Victoria, B.C., Canada.  The store had a large collection of postcards from the early 1900s.  I bought my mom several, including ones for Easter, Mother's Day, Christmas, and Thanksgiving.  I also gave her a frame, so that she could display them, according to the current holiday season.  Most of the details on the postcard are embossed, including Cupid, the hearts, and all of the flowers.

I hope everyone enjoyed these vintage Valentine cards.  Here's wishing an early "Happy Valentine's Day," to all!

Update:  I have since done another "Vintage Valentine" post, featuring Valentines from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.  For anyone who's interested, that post can be seen by clicking here:  More Vintage Valentines - 60s, 70s, & 80s.