Perfume Bottles

FIGURALS & DIME STORE NOVELTIES 351.62” English glass perfume bottle in theshape of a strawberry, brass cap and chatelainering, ca. 1890-1900, $375Related Collectibles:Pomanders: These grew out of thebelief that strong fragrances could ward offdisease. Therefore, the wealthy carriedoranges pierced with cloves when they lefthome. From these came the first silverboxes, often shaped like oranges, to holdmedicinal scents like cloves, ambergris andcinnamon. They were in wide use during theperiod of the Great Plague of 1665-1666.Vinagrettes: supplanted pomanders bythe late 18th century. These tiny containers,often extremely intricate and expensive, hada space for a cloth or sponge soaked invinegar or another strong scent and held inplace with a decorative inner grill. TheyChapter 10were useful when encountering strong odorsor to revive a lady from a swoon.Part IICOMMERCIAL PERFUMESCommercial perfume design has someimportant considerations lacking in thedesign of decorative bottles. One of these isthe relationship between the name of thescent and the design of the bottle. Not allperfumes named Rose have a rose on thebottle or the box, of course, but many do.Not all boxes made for holding perfumebottles are decorative or conform to thetheme of the bottle’s design, but many do.Even the color of the liquid scent itself isconsidered by some to be an element of thedesign of the complete perfume package.My personal apology about the headingsunder this category: This was even moredifficult than the decorative section -- does aRene Lalique bottle for D’Orsay with anude on the bottle go under the figuralheading, the D’Orsay section or the Laliquesection? You see what I mean. Most of thedates given are for the introduction of thescent, not the release of the bottle. It isalmost impossible to provide thediscontinuation date for any bottle or scent.The perfume companies are reluctant togive that information, so as to leave openthe possibility of a relaunch or just becausethey don’t like to admit that their productwas not particularly successful.FIGURALS & DIME STORE NOVELTIESFiguralsPerfume bottles which are called figuralcan be any one of three different kinds. Firstis the full figural bottle where the stopperand the bottle combine to make any formother than a perfume bottle (human, flower,seltzer bottle—anything). Second is onewhere only the stopper is a figure (a floweror a girl sitting atop a cushion). Next is thetype of bottle where the figural element isimpressed or cut into the front of the bottle.Last is the kind where the display holdingthe bottle is the only figural element (MaxFactor’s colorful cats under domes holdingsmall bottles).