The shape of my heart

The modern studio button imitates the frills of the Victorian era classified as heart-shaped button rather than a heart pattern button because of the rose—a pictorial.

The cinnabar mounted in silver is a twisted heart-shaped button.

This is a heart-shaped button in celluloid with the Jack of Clubs shown.

There are many heart-shaped buttons with pictorials—a niello with a Siamese dancer, a work clothes Carhart, a floral mosaic, and a black enamel with a rose.

This radiant has a green glass dab at the shank and a clear molded cap with a heart pattern/design.

Four buttons have the heart pattern—an embroidered fabric, a molded composition, a modern pewter, and a black glass.

A green Bakelite and a copper heart-shaped show the pierced with Cupid’s arrow.

On St. Valentine’s Day people present their loved ones with heart-shaped cards, candy, and trinkets.  The heart has become the symbol of love and affection with its own language. A red heart pierced by the Cupid's arrow is a traditional symbol of Valentine's Day. The giving of a heart means to hand over one's existence to another. A heart pierced by a Cupid's arrow means that when someone presents a heart, he/she takes the risk of being rejected and feeling hurt. The piercing arrow, therefore, symbolizes death and vulnerability of love. Some people also believe that the heart and arrow symbolizes the uniting of male and a female.  But, h ow did the shape become associated with love?

Nobody's quite sure, but it might have to do with a North African plant. During the 7^th Century B.C., the city-state Cyrene had a lucrative trade in a rare, now-extinct, plant: silphium. Although it was mostly used for seasoning, silphium was reputed to be a form of birth control . Silphium was so important to Cyrene's economy that coins were minted that depicted the plant's seedpod , which looked like the heart shape we know today. The theory goes that the heart shape first became associated with sex and, eventually, with love.

Less romantic ideas about the heart-shape's origin exist as well. Some claim that the modern heart shape simply came from botched attempts to draw an actual human heart, the organ which the ancients, including Aristotle, believed contained all human passions. One leading scholar of heart iconography claims that the philosopher's physiologically inaccurate description of the human heart—as a three-chambered organ with a rounded top and pointy bottom—may have inspired medieval artists to create what we now know as the heart shape. The medieval tradition of courtly love may have reinforced the shape's association with romance. Hearts can be found on playing cards, tapestries, and paintings.

Around the 12^th century, people were not aware the function of heart was to circulate blood inside the human body. What they knew was that heart begins to beat faster when a person is upset or excited. They, therefore, derived that heart was the seat of emotions and feelings. Poets too eulogized the role of heart in feelings of love and romance and over the years this make believe connection between heart and love became deep seated in the minds of people. Today, even though it has been scientifically proved that emotions come from the brain heart remains a powerful symbol of love and Valentine's Day.

Why do we single out February 14 to celebrate romance?  It's said to be the day St. Valentine, a Roman priest during the third century, was executed. Legends about Valentine vary. Some say he was killed for illegally marrying Roman soldiers to Christian women; others claim it was for helping Christians escape punishment at the hands of the pagan emperor. Just before his death, it's believed that he sent an affectionate note to the beautiful daughter of his jailer—the very first Valentine.                                              

Paper valentines became so popular in England in the early 19^th century that they were assembled in factories. Fancy Valentines were made with real lace and ribbons, with paper lace introduced in the mid-19^th century—the era of the love of Victoria and Albert. In the United States, the reinvention of Saint Valentine's Day in the 1840s has been traced by Leigh Eric Schmidt, who as a writer in Graham's American Monthly observed in 1849, "Saint Valentine's Day... is becoming, nay it has become, a national holyday." Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.  The mid-19th century Valentine's Day trade was a harbinger of further commercialized holidays in the United States to follow.

About the author

Maridell’s interest in buttons goes back to her early years when she remembers seeing her grandmother’s, Mary C. Leonard, framed cards of buttons on her walls. Both her grandmother and her great-grandmother mother, Mary Payne Cook, were avid collectors of both buttons and post cards. Maridell has continued to add to the collections, especially with uniform buttons.

Her husband, Karle Mason, is retired from the US Army, and they had moved many times over the years, so she now looks for uniform buttons from the various countries where they have lived or visited. With her multi-faceted interest in history and related topics, she enjoys collecting many subject areas of buttons from railroads, schools, government, and foreign uniform buttons. Maridell has learned a lot from collecting buttons and enjoys sharing the fun of buttoning, by giving programs to her clubs--Martha Washington Button Club (VA) and the Black-eyed Susan Button Club (MD) and to other groups. In addition, Maridell has written for the National Button Society Bulletin.