It is believed that the author of the first valentine is the French Duke Charles of Orleans, who in 1415 was imprisoned in solitary confinement. It was there that he decided to fight boredom by writing love letters to his wife. And to this day, everyone can see this - the note is kept in the British Museum.
The most expensive Valentine was made by order of Aristotle Onassis from gold, emeralds and diamonds. The packaging of the gift was no less luxurious - Onassis ordered to wrap the valentine in a mink coat. So the Greek billionaire expressed his feelings for his beloved, the opera diva Maria Callas. The cost of a valentine was approximately $300,000 at 1960s prices.


The number of roses you give your loved one on Valentine's Day is of particular importance. In Taiwan, men express their feelings exclusively with flowers and only roses. One rose means "only love", 11 roses - "beloved", 99 roses - "eternity", 108 roses - a marriage proposal. By the way, in Taiwan they celebrate Valentine's Day twice - on February 14 and July 7. This second holiday is associated with an old Chinese fairy tale. Both days are celebrated the same way.

In 1861, British chocolate maker Richard Cadbury of Birmingham came up with the ingenious idea of packing chocolates in heart-shaped tin boxes. A little later, he also came up with the idea of decorating the box with pictures - portraits of children and flowers. The pictures were drawn by Richard himself, his own offspring and the garden served as nature. Tin containers were popular, as in it, like in a box, after use, you could store trinkets or buttons. And after another 5 years, the Cadberry brothers bought the invention of the Dutchman Wat Huton - a special press that allows you to squeeze up to two-thirds of the butter from ground cocoa. Thanks to this press, more chocolate could be made from expensive raw materials. Heart-shaped tin boxes from Cadbury became a hit and remain so to this day. And the marketing idea to dedicate such sets to Valentine's Day was already promoted by the Americans in the 1930s, relying on women as recipients of sweet gifts.