Valentine with Lace Paper, Silk, Embossed Scraps, Watercolor and Manuscript Poetry

England, 1860. Very good. Toned with light dust soiling.. A particularly lovely valentine, notable for the following elements, which were less common and more expensive at the time: a particularly finely meshed lace paper; inset silk; hand water color leaves; and silver embossed Victorian scraps. There is also a poem in ink manuscript that reads, "Thy heart beats light gay hopes are thine, Joy reels in thy smiling eye. Ah, may no gathering ills combine To hang with clouds so far [in] a sky". The Victorian scrap in the center of the silk inset depicts a scroll surrounded by wildflowers with the message, "Forget thee never Eternal love, Rather die Than change." Lace paper bifolium (9" by 7.5"), with blind stamp of previous owner to second leaf.