If it’s true that sailors have one in every port, then an awful lot of young ladies will be looking forward to next Tuesday with high expectation. If you need reminding, it’s Valentine’s Day and woe betide the lover who fails to send a token of affection to the one who is loved.

Tradition has it that February 14 is the day on which the birds choose their mates. Folklore also decrees that if a maiden sees a robin flying overhead on Valentine’s Day, she will marry a sailor, so she might well be the recipient of of one of the love tokens illustrated here.

These intricate boxed collections of gorgeous South Sea shells, each one delicately arranged in symmetrical patterns, were crafted by lovestruck sailors during the long months away from home and apart from their sweethearts.

Sorry, that’s another myth.

Valentine’s Day has always been big business, a walk down any High Street will prove the point. Shops are crammed with cards, trinkets, jewellery and other fripperies, in both good taste and bad, all designed to separate the gullible from their cash.

These so-called “sailor’s shell Valentines” are the 19th century equivalent, except that they are extraordinarily attractive, desirable and highly collected. They’re also expensive these days with some of the finest fetching £8,000-10,000. But they weren’t made by sailors.

Many wrongly assert that shell Valentines were made by lonely tars on board ship during their free time. Instead, their manufacture was a cottage industry in Barbados and the West Indies in the 1800s when islanders hit on the idea of turning the shells that abounded on their coasts into souvenirs for travellers.

In their day, these eye-catching trinkets were simply collections of colourful shells, but over time the entrepreneurial islanders realised that by including romantic messages and pink shell heart motifs, they were turned into love tokens.

Shells were arranged to spell out sentiments such as “Forget Me Not”; “When This You See, Remember Me” and “Forever and Ever”, although others simply declare themselves “A Gift from Barbados”.

Their construction is broadly similar. The intricate decorations of literally thousands of the tiny shells were protected by sheet of glass and set into shallow octagonal mahogany boxes acting as a frame. The box resembles the cases in which a ship’s compass would be kept.

They were sold separately, or hinged together to form a closed box. These so-called double Valentines are among the most desirable. They were made so that when closed, the shells were protected from the light and have thus retained their vibrant colours. Single examples in contrast have over the years been bleached by exposure to ultraviolet rays which can have a serious effect on their value.

The appearance of these shells designs coincided with a period in the early 19th century when European collectors became fascinated by the natural sciences. It was a time when Victorian sitting rooms were decorated with glass cases containing butterflies, stuffed birds and fossils and the shells, in their ready-made display cases, the Valentines were a perfect addition.

At this time Barbados was a regular stopping point for whalers and trading vessels which stopped there to take on supplies or to deliver cargo. With an eye on the main chance, sailors and possibly even their captains would have either collected shells for themselves or bought them from the islanders to sell on once they had returned home.

The exotic seashells would have been well received by the growing middle classes and soon it became an amusing pastime, particularly among the ladies, to arrange them into elegant floral découpage to be shown off under glass domes or hung on the wall.

Good sailor’s Valentines have become increasingly rare. Average examples can be had for £600-800, but exceptional examples can be 10 times that amount. Vibrant colours and attractive arrangements are the most sought after and beware double Valentines that have become separated. Holes in the outer case where hinges would have been fastened are a tell-tale sign.

It is also difficult to be certain that you’re buying something old. Whilst I am not aware that the things are being faked, very many sailor’s Valentines are younger than they appear. Close examination of the wood helps to a degree, and modern adhesives are easy to spot. As always, buy from reputable sources … and give with love.

Pictures show, top: One half of a double Valentine, this Victorian example was clearly intended as a love token because of the heart-shaped motif at its centre

Below, left to right: The wooden cases of sailor’s Valentines make natural frames for the display and also served to protect the shells during the long distances they travelled. They also protect the delicate shells from the effects of light. This example is worth £3,000-5,000

This geometric design is made up of tiny snail shells. It dates from the late 19th century and was probably intended as a natural history specimen

Larger exotic shells are a feature of this design, made more desirable because it is a double Valentine. It’s worth £4,000-6,000

Poor St. Valentine. He probably never had a sweetheart of his own and he had absolutely nothing in common with lovers. He became their saint quite by chance. His story starts in Rome in about 271AD when the poor wretch was flung into prison for proclaiming his Christianity. There, he attempted to convert his captors and his cellmates and even persuaded the Emperor Claudius Gothicus to grant all Christian prisoners their freedom. It did him no good though. First they virtually clubbed him to death and then for good measure they beheaded him.

A century or so later saw the Christian church using the names of martyred heroes to add an air of sanctity to all former pagan festivals. And so it was with Valentine’s Day. Originally, the Romans had celebrated the feast of Lupercalia – the February festival in honour of Pan and Juno – in a style only they knew how. The frolics were X-rated. Suffice it to say that all Rome’s fair maidens put their names in a hat to be drawn by potential suitors. The results were inevitable. Calling it St. Valentine’s Day at least made things sound wholesome.

The practice of drawing names remained for centuries alongside all manner of other quaint customs. For example, country folk thought February 14th was the day that birds chose their mates. In the Middle Ages, lovers exchanged tokens on that day to show their regard for one another. In the 18th century, unmarried women believed that the first bachelor they met on February 14th would be their future husbands, while Dorsetshire maidens left candles burning in their rooms all night, thinking that their loves’ hearts would melt along with the wax.

One of the earliest commercially produced Valentine cards is in the British Museum. It was published in 1789 by J. Wallis, of Ludgate Street, London, and bears a red heart. The verse reads: ‘Believe my love’s without disguise – so let’s marry and be wise.’. The practice of sending elaborate cards does not appear to have started before the 1800s. The improvement in the postal service in 1815 boosted sales and by 1835, the Post Office was recording an extra 60,000 mailings on February 13th. By 1870, more than a million cards were being delivered each year.

Lacy paper Valentines were popular in the 1820s. Many were made using the 18th century technique of pricking paper with a pin to produce pictures. Some had tiny lift-up flaps, beneath which a personal message could be written. As the custom grew, so cards became more elaborate. Velvet, lace, shells, skeleton leaves, spun glass, feathers, gold and silver wire, scraps, locks of hair were used to decorate cards carrying suitably sentimental verse.

Valentines increased in popularity following the introduction in 1840 of Rowland Hill’s penny post. Ready-made envelopes came into use when specialist printer De La Rue invented a machine to make them which he showed at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Valentines which previously had been folded quarto size were now printed smaller to fit into the new envelopes.

Mechanical Valentines were introduced at about the same time which kept the craze alive. Tiny figures could be made to move by pulling a cardboard tongue, while another favourite was a church with a front door that opened to reveal a wedding ceremony in progress. Sometimes a verse would ask the recipient of the card to lift a dainty paper leaf attached to it to reveal the face of the one best beloved by the sender. On peeping beneath, the man or woman would see his or her own face reflected in a tiny mirror. Others bore small trinkets, a tiny bottle of perfume, beadwork, shell designs or small pieces of jewellery.

Comic cards were also popular. One appeared to be a cheque ‘Issued by the Bank of Love’ and signed by Cupid. It promised to pay the bearer the entire love of the sender but its appearance, in the 1860s, was but a brief one. So well printed and convincing were they, the authorities took fright and prohibited their use for fear of them being used in a widespread fraud.

The appearance of the cruel and vulgar Valentine card towards the end of the 19th century signalled the end. For a few coppers, it was possible to insult your deadliest enemy by sending a card anonymously bearing a mocking caricature, complete with the most unkind of verse. A jilted man could send his ex a card warning her that she would end her days a spinster. In reply, her card would call him a Simple Simon. Another read: ‘What goose upon goose, you ill-looking brute; you never will me for a Valentine suit.’ Others chided gossips; the girl ‘weary waiting for a beau’ and the ‘Champagne Charlie’.

In fact, cards became so spiteful that by the 1870s and 1880s, the popularity of the habit of sending any Valentine started to wane. By then, Christmas cards surpassed Valentines in volume of mailings. The First World brought a further decline and, despite a brief rise in popularity in the 1930s, they almost disappeared entirely. Finding Valentine cards in good taste is not easy today either!

Pictures show, top: This charming Valentine postcard came from a French flea market. It was posted in Paris in 1904 and cost me 10 francs. However, the real joy is it was manufactured by Raphael Tuck and Sons – doyen of postcard printers – and is worth £30-40

Below, left to right: A printed and embossed Valentine card, circa 1900, entitled My Heart’s Best Wished All Are Thine. It’s worth £20-25

This lacy frippery is inscribed by hand inside it “To dear Annie with Ernie Jones’ very best love”. It dates from circa 1870 and is worth £25-30

A lacy late Victorian Valentine card titled I Love Thee My Sweet One. Inside is the romantically coy message “From D.E.J.” It’s worth £30-35