I heart HEARTS!

I was poking around my stuff yesterday...thinking about dusting, just thinking...

 and I realized that I have never shared

my collection of antique hearts with you.

Don't you think Valentine's Day is the perfect time to do that?

All of these were found by me at local Estate Sales over the past 20 years.

This first heart was handmade by a very talented carver.  

The interlocking wooden crown of thorns and everything else you see was carved from one piece of wood.  That split you see in the crown on thorns is from the wood drying out over the years.

This is the backside of the heart.  The carver used what he had around the house.  

This is a litho paper label probably from an old fruit crate.  

As you can see he didn't even bother to carve the heart right side up on the label.

The Sacred Heart was then hand

painted and stained.  It is 5 by 5 inches.  I found it with the jelly jars

in a basement.

This German Cookie Mold is a much bigger piece at 18 inches high by 9 inches wide.

But again it is a homemade piece.  Very rough, imperfect and charming.

The backside shows a first attempt.  Turned it over and started again.

This heart love token is dated 1/18/55.

Again the carver, probably Ward, was showing his skill by carving the heart and the two rings

from one piece of wood.

I hope Marge appreciated his efforts.  I do.

This especially artistic heart is also hand carved.  It was attached to something

in the past... You can see the 4 nail holes.

This heart carving is 6.5 inches high by 6 inches wide.

It is amazing to me that someone could make wood look and feel so 

beautiful.

This Sacred Heart is my latest find.  It was hanging next to the front door

of a darling beach cottage in Illinois' chain of lakes region

 a couple of weeks ago.

That is all fabric under the curved glass dome.  Probably commercially made,

but I have never seen one like it before. 

It has a metal back and is 5.5 inches high and 4.5 inches wide. 

If anyone knows anything about it please leave a comment or email me.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my little heart collection.

AND

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

I do have some other hearts from my collection for sale

 at anythinggoeshere.etsy if you are interested.