Consider buying a loved one an antique Valentine's Day gift...

It’s nearly Valentine’s Day, which brings a bit of romance to the dark, lingering days of winter. While we may consider chocolates, flowers or jewellery as traditional Valentine’s gifts, quite a surprising range of items have been given as romantic tokens throughout history.

The tradition of giving love tokens is centuries old and was particularly prevalent amongst rural and maritime communities, where lovingly handmade items would be given, like Welsh love spoons.

Love tokens could be given at any time, not just Valentine’s Day, but by the 17th century, the tradition was firmly established and Samuel Pepys makes reference to it in his diary of 1662.

According to him, 17th-century Valentines could be quite expensive, included rings, embroidered gloves, stockings, lockets, gloves and sewing boxes. Thankfully, the Victorian’s enthusiasm for the Valentine’s card gave people a cheaper option!

But are you aware that items we now consider everyday footwear once had special significance to lovers? For many centuries shoes were symbolically connected to luck, love and marriage. One reason might be that amongst poor communities, a wedding was the rare occasion when a lucky bride would get new shoes.

Superstitions included that wearing a piece of paper in new shoes would lead to the promise of an engagement within a month. The bride should also throw a left shoe for luck from the altar (a bit less ‘health and safety’ than the bouquet!), take her shoes off for the first dance, and sleep with them under her pillow on her wedding night for good luck.

Shoe shaped love tokens became popular, including snuff boxes, pin cushions and ornaments. Keep your eyes open for snuff box shoes; antique pairs can be worth as much as £300.

Manufacturers including Fenton, Boyd and Welz made miniature glass shoes. Examples from each company can be found starting at about £30.

Welz produced distinctive Bohemian multi coloured ‘spatterware’ up until the 1930s, some of Fenton’s shoes were decorated with cat faces, and Boyd’s were famously handmade, so no two are exactly the same.

So if you’re looking for an original gift this Valentine’s that has a bit more ‘sole’, there’s plenty of choice; just step to it!