Saturday, January 25, 2014

Scouting For Love - Girl and Boy Scouts


To My Valentine - Move On No Parking.

5 3/4" x 3 3/4"
dated 1932
Mechanical Flat
marked: Printed in Germany
No other publisher's marks

To One I Love

2 7/8" x 2 7/8"
1920s, 1930s
marked: Made in Germany
Flat

This is my Signal Be My Valentine.

2 7/8" x 4"
circa 1930s, 1940s
Nostalgic uniform is more like those of the 1910s and 1920s
Mechanical Flat


Scout with Message on Heart.

Child in Scout-type Uniform
Folding Stand-Up Card

Sports - Weight Lifting


 Let's not be DUMBELLS Let's be Valentines!

5 3/4" x 4 1/4"
circa 1930s, 1940s 
 Mechanical Flat
 made in USA

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Make-Up, Perfume and Beauty Themes




Dear Valentine MAKE UP to me a little!

4" x 5 7/8"
circa 1940s, 1950s
  Mechanical Flat
   no publisher's marks
 made in U.S.A.

Reflections of Love - To My Valentine - I'm Puffed Up about you.

6 3/8" x 8 3/4"
circa 1930s
 Mechanical Flat
marked: printed in Germany
stand on back
 jointed in two spots

Why don't you MAKE UP your mind to be my Valentine.

3 1/4" x 4"
dated 1939
Flat
made in USA




 Fixin' to be your Valentine!

3 3/4" x 3 5/8"
circa 1950s
Flat
 by Hallmark


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Sunday, January 19, 2014

Writing - Typewriters, Pens and Pencils




You're Just my TYPE ~ so ~ I want you for my Valentine!

6" x 4"
dated 1938
Mechanical Flat
marked: Made in U.S.A.
no other publisher's marks

 I'll put down in INK exactly what I think - I Love You - Please be My Valentine

4 1/4" x 4 1/4" (6 1/2" x 4 1/4" opened)
circa 1940s
Modified French Fold
made in USA


Be Mine You're just the TYPE for me!
3 1/2" x 4"
circa 1930s, 1940s
Flat
made in USA



You're just my TYPE Valentine.
circa 1950s
A-Meri-Card
Flat
made in USA

Smoking - Cigarettes on Valentines




I'm DOG-GONE crazy about you And send this loving TALE - Unless you'll be My Valentine I'll simply HOWL and WAIL.

8 1/2" x 5"
circa 1920s, 1930s 
Mechanical Flat
 Articulated Limbs, Head and Tail
Unusual Smoking Figure

From a box set of mechanical cards to assemble (pieces were to be punched out from a sheet) made by Carrington. Cards from this set do not have Carrington's mark on the back. Box was titled Carrington's Mechanical Material for Making Valentines. The box lid featured a boy in a sailor suit holding a dog by a leash with a girl in a dress holding a cat on a leash. The boy and girl are drawn with articulated limbs just like the finished cards in the set, but are not the same as the boy and girl cards in the set. The set included a clown, a cat in a clown-type outfit, a boy holding a toy boat, a girl in frilly reddish dress and bonnet holding a heart, and this smoking dog. All have articulated limbs. There may have been other figures included in the set, but these are the ones I am certain were part of it.



 To my Valentine

2" x 3 7/8"
circa 1910s
smoking cupid
by Jason Freixas
(a few sources spell the last name differently, moving the 'i' to the other side of the 'x': Jason Frexias)
flat
made in Germany

Please don't BAIT me Valentine!
To LAND me you won't need a hook, line or sinker - All I want is affection - Start usin' your thinker!

3" x 4 1/8"
circa 1940s
made in USA

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Maker - Louis Katz - 1920s mechanical cards



This gift is all for you my rose, Oh! be my Valentine and cure my woes.

5 1/2" x 4 1/4"
dated 1924
Mechanical Flat
by Louis Katz (Publisher)

marked: Made in Saxony
 with flaps along bottom to form stand


 I turn to the Right When I turn to you for my Valentine.

8 3/8" x 6 3/4"
dated 1924
Large Mechanical Flat
made by Louis Katz
in the USA


Louis Katz was  a New York based publisher of cards during the 1920s. I can find nothing to indicate he was an artist himself, but then again, I can't find much for certain at all about this Mr. Katz. Louis Katz was a somewhat common name in the New York area during the 1920s making this task rather complicated.

There is a Louis Katz who had an active art gallery at 308 Columbus Ave in the 1910s and 1920s. This may or may not be the same person. Another likely Mr. Katz became the president of the Quality Art Novelty Co, Inc (located on Long Island, NY) sometime in the 1940s. Quality produced greeting cards and presumably other novelties. Another Long Island Mr. Katz is listed in a 1906 edition of The American Stationer as the floor manager of the Booster Club, an organization of American news companies

Katz and Carrington had some sort of relationship as the card below illustrates. The face of the card bears a Katz logo while the back has a Carrington 'E' in a tree logo.



 I'd blush if you knew how much I want a certain Valentine!

6 7/8" x 4 1/8"
dated 1924
Mechanical Flat
Louis Katz logo on right side bottom of the skirt

dated 1924
made in the USA

Charles Twelvetrees is the only artist who I know for sure did some work for Katz. The windmill card above is likely a Twelvetrees. Not all the cards are his work however, as the card below illustrates. The cards bear Katz' circular logo that includes a date. So far all I have found have dates in the 1920s. Paper and inks are very nice quality. All the cards may be mechanical flats - certainly the most readily found are. The cards easily stand out for their quality of production and design. Its a shame more isn't known about this publisher.

Over the hurdles, Who's afraid with a Valentine like you, Sweet Maid!

5 34" x 4 1/2"
dated 1926 
Mechanical Flat
 published by Louis Katz

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Artist - JGH



I'm waiting for the Time When you'll be My Valentine ~ Valentine Greetings

5 3/8" x 3 1/2"
circa 1920s, 1930s
Standing Fold-Out
with peek-a-boo window
marked: Series No 29
J.G.H.
made in USA 



There are several different numbered series of cards marked by the initials J.G.H. All feature figures with similarly drawn features: short, bobbed hair, noses hardly here, and small mouths with blushing cheeks. There are many standing cards that fold in a variety of ways often having peek-a-boo cut-outs or an opening flap. Also to be found are postcards with Diamond - H Line marked on the reverse. Each postcard design is numbered. There are at least eight of them. The cards and postcards appear to date to the 1920s, perhaps into the 1930s.

Who or what those initials may stand for I have not come across. It most is likely an American artist and/or publisher as the cards are usually marked made in the USA.


To My Valentine ~ I bring these flowers to you sweet Valentine To tell you of my love and claim you as mine.   

6 1/2" x 3 1/4"
circa 1920s, 1930s
Standing Fold-Out
with peek-a-boo window
marked: Series No 2
J.G.H.
made in USA