Valentine, Texas

If you would like to send your Valentine's cards with the special Valentine, TX postmark, follow these simple steps:

♥ Address your cards as you regularly would if you were mailing them yourself (stamp and all).

♥ Put all of your cards into one envelope, and mail them to:

Postmaster
Valentine Re-Mailing Program
Valentine, Texas 79854

♥ For delivery by February 14th, your cards must be received by by February 7th. All letters received after this date will still receive the cachet, but might not be delivered until after Valentine's Day.

In philately, a cachet is a design or inscription, other than a cancellation or pre-printed postage, on an envelope, postcard, or postal card to commemorate a postal or philatelic event. There are official and private cachets; they commemorate everything from the first flight on a particular route, to the Super Bowl. Cachets are also frequently made, either by private companies or a government, for First day of issue stamp events or 'Second-Day' stamp events. They are often present on event covers.

The first cacheted FDC (first day cover) was produced by prominent philatelist and cachetmaker George W. Linn in 1923, for the Harding Memorial stamp issue.

Cachet-making is considered an art form, and cachets may be produced by using any number of methods, including drawing or painting directly onto the envelope, serigraphy, block printing, lithography, engraving, laser printing, attachment of photographs or other paper memorabilia, etc. Frequently flight cachets (which have also been used in space and on the moon) are rubber-stamped.

The largest and best-known cachet-making companies, which typically produce thousands or tens of thousands of printed cachets for U.S. stamp issues, are Artcraft, Fleetwood, House of Farnam, and Colorano.

(...from Wikipedia)

Valentine is a town in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The population was 187 at the 2000 census. The community was named by the construction crew for the Southern Pacific Railroad, who reached the town site on February 14, 1882. It is in the Central Standard time zone. The latitude of Valentine is 30.587N. The longitude is -104.496W. Elevation is 4,432 feet.

(...from Wikipedia and epodunk)

Postmaster Maria Carrasco says that the busiest day of the year doesn't faze her one bit. She says she's handled it by herself in the past, but if she should somehow get behind, backup is available. She has a record of having never been late.

Romantics that request a Valentine postmark for their Valentine's Day card are the type of people who plan ahead. Requests start coming in just after the New Year and before the end of January there are usually trays of Valentines awaiting their stamp and post mark.

The whole town gets involved in the project. The school holds a design contest for 7th to 12th graders and the winner is chosen by the city council. Some kids get their artwork put on the refrigerator - but in Valentine it goes on a world tour. After the winner is announced and the artwork sent to San Antonio for approval, the official (red) impression is made and when the time comes it's placed in the lower left hand corner of the envelope. The regular black postmark of Valentine cancels the stamp.

Valentine's cards for foreign delivery are posted on February 1st to insure enough time to reach the loved one (some postal agencies aren't as efficient as ours). As many as 26 different countries have requested the Valentine, Texas cancellation.

Mailing for cards within the United States begins on the 7th of February, but for for people who ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE an actual February 14th postmark, just notify the postmaster with your request. It will arrive late, but with the all-important date in the postmark.

(...from TexasEscapes.com ; by Phil Lately, Texas Escapes' Gruntled Postal Correspondent)

The 1956 movie "Giant" was filmed in nearby Marfa, TX (36 miles away, straight down US 90, in next door Presidio County, Texas). Read the Wikipedia article at Marfa, Texas.

The perfect card says what is in your heart - and to get that you need to check out the awesome selection of Personalized Valentine's Day Cards, handmade by Crafty-Fox.

The "Shiny Love" card shown here is just one of their beautiful designs. Visit the website to see the full selection of cards available.