Treasures for your Treasure This Valentine's Day

Chocolates, flowers and cards are considered traditional Valentine’s Day’s offerings these days, but if you really want to impress your true love this year, it might be worth looking to the past for inspiration and a gift that says you really care.

According to tradition, this annual declaration of love dates back to 270AD when a priest named Valentine was executed by Emperor Claudius ll for performing marriage ceremonies on Roman battlefields. While in prison awaiting his death Valentine, it is said, restored the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter. Then, on the night before his execution, he wrote a card saying, “From your Valentine’.

The story caught the popular imagination and became a fixture in the calendar ever after – leaving generations of young lovers with the yearly challenge of finding suitable symbols to demonstrate their esteem.

Some of these romantic tokens have taken surprising forms, from intricately carved wooden love spoons – popular in Wales – to embroidered gloves and sewing boxes. Shoes are one of the more surprising love tokens, connected symbolically with luck, love and marriage for centuries and across many cultures. A nod to the tradition is still seen in the UK today in the tiny silver paper shoes that appear in confetti and in the popular sport of tying shoes with tins to the back of the newly-weds’ car as they leave for their honeymoon. Antique shoe snuff boxes have become highly collectable and would make an original and vintage Valentine for a modern-day admirer.

WHY ANTIQUE GIFTS MAKE TIMELESS TOKENS

Presenting an antique gift is a highly-individual and meaningful way to express your love. It is also a lot easier than you might think to choose something a bit special and different as there is a huge range of items available. This means you are sure to find a timeless token to win over even the most reluctant heart.

And while you may be buying a piece from the past, these days you don’t need to leave the comfort of your home to choose your gift so you can present it knowing you are not only preserving history but also saving the planet. You can also save yourself the hassle of driving and parking!

At Kernow Furniture we provide a flat-rate delivery service to most of the UK – and offer a 30-day no quibble, money-back returns policy. Items are sent out from our huge online store in Cornwall, which offers a vast range of quirky gifts and unusual home accessories as well as vintage, retro and antique furniture. We can also deliver abroad.

IDEAS TO INSPIRE THIS VALENTINES DAY

Here are a few ideas from our current stock to inspire you. For the gentleman in your life, this pair of vintage hallmarked silver brushes would keep him keep his looks and his locks. In Victorian times, hair brushes were a status symbol, especially those made from expensive materials such as silver, and remain valued as an elegant personal care accessory to this day.

If he’s more of a party animal, he might prefer this elegant cut glass decanter and stopper with its hallmarked Victorian silver sherry label, or this  original retro aluminium and chrome ice bucket with lid and wine bucket, which would provide a talking point at any gathering.

For the man who spends his day in the office, what better way to remind him of you than this brass art nouveau double inkwell with hinged lids.  Alternatively, this pair of glass bird paperweights might get his heart fluttering.

Vintage scent bottles are a perennial favourite with the ladies and this pair of large cut glass scent bottles with a lidded pot would grace any bedroom.

You would certainly win her heart with this adorable pair of terracotta garden cherubs or this cutesy ornament of a couple in highly-collectable Delft porcelain.

With a real nod to the 19th Century tradition of Valentine gifts, you might consider this anthology of short fiction, travel accounts and poems by various authors 'Affections Offering A Token Of Love and Friendship', or this gorgeous vintage Sorrento marquetry musical jewellery box.

Browse our site at www.kernowfurniture.co.uk for more wonderful and unusual gift ideas that will remain meaningful for years to come. As well as the romance of its history, above all a carefully-selected present says you care. It is a unique and timeless expression of your devotion to someone as individual and characterful as the gift you are giving. A match made in heaven.