Old Perfume and Scent Bottles - Part II
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Decorate with them in your Jacuzzi and Kholer faucet equipped new bathroom. Or perhaps in a dressing area in soon to be remodeled master bedroom. Seek out one of these new breeds of imaginative carpenter/electricians to design a compartmentalized collecting cabinet into a wall where you'd normally hang fancy wallpaper or pictures. With glass facing; adjustable glass
shelving, a pallid background-wall, and high-tech lighting; a growing scent bottle collection will do more than prove one of your best investments. It will be a focal point of conversation and beauty within your home. Today's artisans are talented. Use them.
Perfume containers fall under two broad categories: Olden Day Hand-Crafted Refillable and 20th Century Commercial. Prior to the twilight years of the late 19th century, when people wanted a product like pickles, flour, beer or perfume they carried their favorite containers to the local markets. Filling them up similar to the way we fill our gas tanks today. 20th century advancements changed all that. Soon after 1900, most products, including perfumes, were available in only one new form: pre-packaged. Perfumers began producing their own bottles to house their wares, supplanting the carry-along works of art made successive centuries before by silversmiths, potters, stone-carvers and glass gaffers.
Early perfumes can be readily found at auctions, shops and
eBay ranging from $50 and up depending upon quality and condition. I've personally bought and sold over 200 in the last three years, primarily from one large collection. Some of my favorites were: a Wedgwood type Jasperware perfume with an ivory screw top and vividly colored crystal scent bottles made in Sandwich, Massachusetts, Bristol and Nailsea England, and Italian glass houses. Others were carved from ivory, stone, amber and forged from fine metals. One was
shaped like a tiny porcelain egg and hand-painted with sophisticated landscape scenes from early 19th century Germany. All were tiny works of art made to contain costly droplets.
Because we can relate to them, 20th century perfume containers are more and collectible than their predecessors. Keep in mind they were "disposable" and most were thrown away. As stated in Miller's Perfume Bottle Collector's Guide: "Perfumers such as Coty, Piver and Roger & Gallet commissioned designs from well-known artists, and glass flasks from leading makers including Baccarat and Lalique." Containers such as these represent the pinnacle of Commercial Era perfume collecting. Atomizer perfumes became popular around 1910. In the 1920's American Art Deco design began to supplant Art Nouveau perfume packaging popularized in France. Plastic "bakelite" and "Catalan" containers were introduced around 1930. Chanel No. 5 introduced "designer" scents in 1921. Just as Chanel's packaging remains relatively constant today, so too is the company's brilliant marketing concept. Designer names like Ralph Lauren and Chloe still sell scent. The artistic influence of Picasso, Peter Max and Jackson Pollock can be found in perfume/cologne container design. Often larger in packaging, a Commercial Era perfume collection can be stored on shelves. Perhaps complimenting a facing wall of cased scent bottles from an earlier age of hand-craftsmanship and pickles by the barrel. You can learn scents by getting a good reference, scanning eBay and by starting your own collection. I think I am going to go out and find a bottle of Hai Karate (with original box and self-defense directions) or English Leather. I remember that alluring woman in the commercials: "My Man" she said, "wears English Leather, or he wears nothing at all !" Maybe I'll even slap a little on my cheek and see what happens. Hope I need my self-defense manual.
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