Ahoy: Sailors found their treasures in Barbados curio shop

Back in the day when sailors, whalers and other mariners ventured off to distant ports on sailing ships, it was customary for them to shower their loved ones with special gifts upon their return home.

 

A unique token of endearment that appears to have originated in Barbados became known as a “Sailor’s Valentine.” 

The Caribbean island of Barbados in the West Indies archipelago is strategically located as the most windward. Hence, Barbados became a bustling port of call for sailing ships engaged in trade among the islands, especially during the 1700s and 1800s.

 

“Barbados was visited by merchant seamen, whalemen and yachtsmen alike who arrived for a variety of reasons, including trading, reprovisioning and touring the island,” commented a spokesperson at The Jane Austen Centre in Bath, England.

 

Souvenirs were plentiful, but the Sailor’s Valentine stood out as an impressive memento, reflecting nature’s palette as found in seashells.  

Each love-themed Sailor’s Valentine was made meticulously by hand by local Barbadian female artisans. Within an eight-sided wooden case, a symmetrical display of assorted colorful seashells expressed a flowery, heart-felt sentiment. Some also contained touching messages as part of the design.

 

Pretty shells were carefully arranged and individually glued to a cotton backing. A laborious endeavor, each Sailor’s Valentine required 100 or more hours of handwork. A glass top served as a protective covering. A pair of octagonal-shaped cases could be hinged together to form a top and a bottom. When opened and laid flat, this style offered twice the love and adoration. 

Sizes varied from 8 to 18 inches across. The eight-sided boxes were similar to those that encased the old sailing ships’ compasses. 

The clever entrepreneurs who profited from the Sailor’s Valentine form of folk art were brothers Benjamin Hinds Belgrave and George Gordon Belgrave. They emigrated to Barbados from England. Between 1878-1925, the Belgraves owned and operated the New Curiosity Shop in Bridgetown, the capital city of Barbados.

 

Curators at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, Calif., said whaling expeditions leaving from the Massachusetts ports of New Bedford and Nantucket “could last as long as four years.” It was originally assumed that the sailors themselves gathered the shells from around the world and put them together during idle hours at sea. 

This theory fell apart, however, when researchers determined that all the shells used in Sailor’s Valentines (about 35 different species) are endemic to Barbados. The mahogany and pine wood used in the frames also come from trees that grow on the island. 

“More insurmountable evidence for centralized production on Barbados was revealed when conservation work on Sailor’s Valentines found Barbados newspapers used as backing for the arrangements. The uniformity of most Sailor’s Valentines is also an important consideration,” the curators remarked. 

Many share common design features such as identical clusters of shells shaped into hearts, diamonds and flowers as well as geometrical similarity, according to the museum staff.

 

Kirsti Scott of Beachcombing magazine, based in Capitola, Calif., on the northern shores of Monterey Bay, reported that the Sailor’s Valentines, “became highly sought-after shell mosaic collectibles across England, the United States and the Netherlands, due to both their stunning beauty and fascinating history.” 

This was all connected to the “Victorian shell collection craze – conchylomania – that swept through in the mid-late 1800s,” Scott said. 

The value of seashells soared during this period, and some collections became more treasured than fine paintings and gems, she added. 

Fortunately, there are contemporary artists who have taken interest in advancing the Sailor’s Valentines art form to new levels in the 21st century.