Father of Valentine's Day Box: Bronze Coin of Roman Emperor Claudius II Gothicus Boxed Collection

Many are the tales of St. Valentine, the third-century priest martyred on February 14—what we now know as Valentine’s Day. Records from that period of Roman history, the so-called Age of Chaos, are spotty, but this is what has been handed down to us:  In the year 268 CE, Caesar Marcus Aurelius Claudius Augustus, known as Claudius Gothicus, assumed the Roman throne. Desperate for fresh army recruits, he decreed that young men remain unmarried; hoping that without the frivolous distraction of courtship, more of them would become soldiers. Enter that incarnation of romantic love, St. Valentine. Defying the new Emperor’s orders, Valentine performed secret marriages in the underground Christian community. He was soon discovered, arrested, and sentenced to death. Legend has it that just before his execution, he sent a letter to the jailer's daughter, whom he had befriended, which he signed "from your Valentine"—the origin of the modern custom. On February 14, he was beheaded outside the Flam