Exquisite Mid 19th C. Watercolor Valentine with Flip Up Handwritten Fortunes folk art buildings And on the underside of

And on the underside of the box

or any others with the "Stanup" brand trademark for that matter

and the pins fit smoothy through the tabs in the panels

and seeing it painted over and over and in lush red paint against white on this great old box is to my eye about as satisfying as it gets

Exquisite Mid 19th C. Watercolor Valentine with Flip Up Handwritten Fortunes folk art buildings And on the underside ofA rare and special thing this one, a fortune telling valentine of sorts, which I purchased from a great paper dealer in Pennsylvania, who had kept it in his personal collection for some years. A gorgeous watercolor taken at face value, but under most every leaf and bloom is a hidden message, revealed when one flips that bit up (and so a pretty intricate work of cut paper, too.) I especially love the fact that many of those messages are the opposite of