Victorian Valentine Cherub Die-Cut Greeting Card, 1880s

A pair of chubby cherubs — one draped in blue, one in pink, both sporting tiny white wings and matching quivers of arrows — perch atop a lace-trimmed red heart while one whispers conspiratorially into the other's ear, hand cupped for maximum gossip discretion. The recipient of the secret looks absolutely delighted, clasping their hands together with the energy of someone who just heard the best drama of the century. Whatever these winged toddler operatives are plotting in the name of love, it cannot be good — and the poem below, which references hearts drawn close across a distance, suggests the whole scheme is romantic in nature. Victorian greeting card designers truly said 'nothing says romance like unsupervised cherub intelligence operations,' and honestly, who are we to argue.