Declarations of love. Dead Canary's and Clintons.

Card makers and manufacturers are no doubt happy that the Duke of Orleans set the ball (slowing) rolling in 1415 when he purportedly sent his wife a Valentine’s Day card whilst he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. Momentum slowly gathered on the trend to send declarations of love on Valentine’s Day and by the mid 1820s circa 200k were circulated just within London. These were traditionally, and somewhat elaborately, handmade. You only have to check out the Museum of London’s Valentine’s Day card collection (yes this really exists) to see that it was seemingly ‘normal’ at the time to adorn them with stuffed birds. Nothing apparently said “I love you” more than an actual canary stuck to some card.

Thankfully, by 1910 Hallmark and its equivalents had stepped in and began mass producing cards – helping to spread the love and simultaneously saving the hearts of many a canary.

We don’t sell mass produced Clintons style Valentine's cards, or hand made ones either – but we do have a couple of options that might just work for the Tinkerer or Fixer in your life.  For someone who might appreciate an alternative take on the traditional.

Footnote: We stock these Bewilderbeast cards because Edd once gave me the ‘I’m nuts about you card’. Not for Valentine’s Day, but on a random day shortly after he found it. That’s how we roll in the Tinker and Fix house. 

-Lou-