Just look at these adorable tiny bottles from various QBO sales, each holding only a whisper of perfume! People have scented themselves for millennia and as soon as glass was invented, it became the container of choice because it’s chemically inert and won’t alter fragrance. Modern options include atomizers (bottles with rubber bulbs squeezed to deliver a mist), pump spray bottles, flacons and decanters, (with glass dauber or ground glass stopper), vials (stoppered tubes) and least common, ampules (sealed glass tubes that must be broken open.) Most bottles now have screw tops, but expensive scents like Chanel N°5 may still be sold with ground glass stoppers like those on antique pharmacy bottles. Vials and ampules also derive from medical packaging because today’s division between perfumer and pharmacist once did not exist. These tiny ampules of “Divine” perfume were found in an eyeglass case hand-marked “1946.” Because perfume is so expensive, only expensive bottles satisfy customers, same as with some liquors.
These miniatures were sometimes sold as pre-packaged sampler collections by Parfum International. Starting with the back left we have Black Pearls, a floral by glam 1960s movie star Elizabeth Taylor, launched in 1996. Still in production. Back right bottle – L’Air du Temps, launched in 1948 by French fashion house Nina Ricci. The famous original ‘smooching doves’ bottle was designed by French glass artist René Lalique; the scent is still made 76 years later, an ironic success for a product whose name means “fashionable at the moment”. Next row left, White Diamonds, 1991, also Elizabeth Taylor. Still made. Middle row right is Chloe, launched in 1975 by designer Karl Lagerfeld, in a calla lily-topped bottle created by famous designer of fancy perfume bottles, Irving W. Rice. Still in production but sold in a different, plainer bottle.
As this next L’Air du Temps ‘menage a trois’ demonstrates, perfumers tinker with signature bottle designs to accommodate different volumes, shifting fashions, and production cost limitations. One cost-cutting measure is to change the stopper from glass to plastic. This bottle of Delicious by Gale Hayman, Beverly Hills, is topped by a tiny plastic jaguar, while on larger sizes the cat is frosted glass, or biggest and fanciest of all, enameled metal. Released in 1992, this scent is discontinued, which brings us to another reason to shop estate sales; while some volatiles may have dissipated, if you pine for a discontinued scent, buying vintage may help.
Opposite on the price spectrum from luxury perfumes like Chanel N°5, is our largest bottle, the Mid Century-looking owl. It is Avon Leather aftershave for men. No longer made, Leather was offered in such a multitude of ‘masculine’ themed bottles there is still plenty around. The 1970s Avon Small Wonder caterpillar held Field Flowers, also discontinued. Avon is not sold in stores, but for 135 years their direct sale ‘ambassadors” have heavily relied on its adorable packaging. In keeping with Avon’s price points, while bottle lids may look metal, they are always plastic.
Perfumes are bottled in many standardized sizes (so many!) Miniature (.03 – .1 oz), Sample (.17 – .2 oz), Deluxe Sample (.25 oz), Purse (.33 oz), Travel (.5 oz), Petite (.7 oz), Standard Small (1 oz), Compact (1.3 oz), Mid-Size (1.5 oz), Medium (1.7 oz), Compact Medium (2 oz), Generous (2.5 oz), Large (3.3 – 3.4 oz), Extra Large (4 – 4.2 oz), Collector’s (5 oz), Deluxe Collector’s (6 oz), and Big Bottle (6.7 – 8.45 oz). And if you ever find a foot-tall, branded perfume bottle, it is a “Fatice” – a jumbo dummy bottle sent by perfumers to high end stores. They’re for DISPLAY PURPOSES ONLY, because that much real perfume would kill an elephant! More next week.
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Tuesday Treasures was started by our staff member, Jeanne Lusignan. Each week she will be featuring items that have been found at our estate sales. If you would like to submit a treasure for Jeanne to feature in a future installment of “Tuesday’s Treasures”, please follow the button below and send us an email! Please attach a few photos of your treasure in a beautiful setting as well as any details you have about your item such as manufacturer, use, age, region of origin. If you don’t know about the piece, that’s okay! We still might be able to research it for you! Don’t forget to tell us what makes this item such a treasure to you!