Auctions: Lots of love

Get into the habit of buying romantic little offerings all year round and not only will you avoid the Valentine's Day panic but you'll build up a valuable and popular collection. Antique gewgaws and fabulous fripperies are constantly surfacing at the capital's auctions and antiques fairs. Here is a round-up of the most desirable.

There are numerous precious little table-top antiques among the regular Asian decorative-arts sales. The Valentine's sale at Christie's, has a pretty, 19th century Shibayamastyle ivory paper knife inlaid with coral, stained ivory, mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell, in a pattern of insects, birds and flowers (lot 27, £300-£500).

If your beloved's tastes run to silver, think along the lines of silverbacked hand mirrors and vanity sets, snuff boxes or enamelled patch boxes (for 18th century beauty spots), vinaigrettes (small boxes holding a sponge soaked in vinegar: an 18th century version of smelling salts) or card cases (for visiting cards).

There are fortnightly silver sales at Christie's, with hordes of such objets of vertu in silver and plate. Regular appearances are made by Victorian silver and enamel vesta cases (£400-£500) and those ever-popular coffee-table trinkets: silver-mounted spherical match strikers, which go for between £100 and £150.

Traditionally exchanged by parting lovers, a portrait miniature is a sweet gift. It is hard to imagine a time when your other half was not always accessible at the end of a mobile phone, but in those dark days, tiny images served as substitutes. Coming up for sale at Bonhams next month, an officer and his lady in a pair of 18th century portraits by Samuel Collins are a dashing couple, he in scarlet and gold and she in an erminetrimmed cloak (lot 92, £800-£1,200).

Newly affianced couples might drop in to the jewellery sales. A Victorian confection of seed pearls and rubies is a romantic engagement ring that can cost less than £300. But if you don't believe that small is beautiful, there is always a good selection of hefty sapphires and weapons-grade solitaires at the serious Sotheby's jewellery sales. At the sale on 28 March, diamond rings start at £1,000 and work their way up to a stunning step-cut gem weighing 2.24 carats, set between pear-shaped diamond shoulders, estimated at between £18,000 and £22,000.

To make your feelings quite clear, you can't beat buying something decorated with hearts. Of particular interest - if you can wait until 2 May to declare your love - is a group of five flambé and soufflé glazed Ruskin Pottery heart-shaped plaques (£50 to £150 each) at the Wade Collection of British Art Pottery at Sotheby's Olympia. For novelty value, a shell valentine, made for a homesick sailor in the West Indies in the late 19th century, has a central heart motif and the legend "Home Sweet Home" encircled by crabs and shells (£1,200-£1,800 in the Sotheby's Marine sale).

At the Bada fair, 13-19 March, the romantic lead is played by a South Staffordshire enamel travelling writing nécessaire, decorated with pastoral scenes and gilt rococo scrolling on a white background. Its exhibitor, Halcyon Days, is asking £6,700.

There is also plenty of love interest at the Spring Olympia Fine Art and Antiques Fair, 27 February-4 March. The

Silver Gallery is exhibiting his 'n' hers yoyos, complete with either blue or red strings; you can have the toy engraved with a message of your choice (£55 plus engraving costs).