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Dimensional valentines have parts that pull
out or pop up. These cards are distinct from mechanical valentines,
which are controlled by tabs or other things the viewer must pull
or manipulate for parts to move.
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By collectors' standards, dimensional valentines
were made from the end of the nineteenth century to the 1930s.
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Dimensional cards include the honey comb paper
puffs, accordion-folded tissue paper which looks like a honeycomb
when it is unfolded (some modern paper garlands use this technology.)
This ornamental detail was most popular in the US in the 1920s.
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Here's a trick for diagnosing the original
color of a honey-comb paper puff in a valentine-check the center of
the honeycomb, which is the area least affected by light, it will
reveal the original color of the tissue paper. Collectors often hope
for red, but the most popular color of honeycomb paper was dusty peach.
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When you see a lithographed valentine, take
the time to consider that the illustrator had to write and draw the
message and illustrations in reverse handwriting so the card would
print properly.
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Lithography, which used only one color on
an engraved stone, was eventually replaced by chromolithography, which
allowed manufacturers to use multiple colors by using several stones,
each covered in one color.
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Even though they are not the oldest valentines,
dimensional valentines are currently popular and now cost a pretty
penny, from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on their condition.
Sources:
Written and researched by Sylvie Beauvais, Philadelphia,
PA
Adapted from Katherin Kreider. Valentines with Values. "Chapter
III, Dimensional Valentines." Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing,
1996. (pp. 39-43)
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