HOW OLD IS IT?

Do you have a vintage perfume and need help in figuring out how old it may be? Simply knowing when your perfume first came out can be a huge help, but it helps to remember that some perfumes were made for many years after their launch dates. On the other hand, some perfumes were only sold for a very short time. Here is a comprehensive guide to help you figure out the age of your perfume bottle.

The Bottle Itself:

Bottles embossed with or having labels marked "Made in Occupied Japan" were made from September 1945 until April 1952.

Enameled lettering, also known as serigraphy (instead of labels), on glass bottles started being used after the 1930s and was pretty regular feature in the 1940s onward. This lettering was made via silkscreen process is quite fragile and can be easily lost with cleaning.

Look for a patent number on the base of the bottle, these patent dates were frequent in the 1930s and 1940s, you can look up the number on search engines on US patent webpages online. If your number is prefaced with the letter D, this means it is a design patent. Also, English Registry Design numbers can also be found on perfume bottles from the United Kingdom, you can search the numbers online also.

Old glass bottles might have etched numbers on the base of the perfume bottle and on the bottom of the stopper plug. The incised markings on the base are also to be found on the base of the stopper plug. These numbers should match. They were done at the factory when the bottle and stopper were ground to fit one another for a precise, airtight fit. At the end of the production line, after being filled with perfume, the bottle was then matched up with its corresponding stopper, then sealed with cording around its neck, paper labels were affixed, then boxed up and ready to be shipped off to the retailer. These were usually found on French crystal bottles such as Baccarat, but are also found on Bohemian ones. Remember, just because there are incised numbers - it doesn't automatically mean it is Baccarat. It is entirely possible to find mismatched bases and stoppers, this usually happens from employee error, but can also happen later in the bottle's life, when someone tries to replace a broken or missing stopper and finds a loose one floating around on the market. 

Older bottles stamped their name and origin somewhere on the bottle. Most of the perfume bottles you will likely come across are marked "Made in France" on the base. In the 1940s, stickers replaced the stamping but were soon lost or destroyed, making it difficult to authenticate. From 1936 onward, Baccarat bottles will systematically be marked with an acid stamp on the base. Prior to this, paper labels were affixed, but could be lost over time. 

Older bottles from the 1930s-40s may have lot numbers, bottle shape numbers or patent numbers embossed right into the glass base. These are generally American made bottles, but British made bottles may have the English Registry numbers, which are prefixed with "Rd......" or "Rgd...."

By 1970, cosmetic companies were stamping colored numbers on the bottom of their products. This stamping usually consisted of four numbers and was visible on the bottom of each item and is a "batch code", which is used by the company to note what year and month the product was created. Batch codes are often found either stamped on the glass or the label. Later, many bottles often have their batch codes engraved into the glass; (Chanel, Dior, Thierry Mugler, etc).

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic coated glass bottles were first made in 1953. In 1952, the Bristol-Myers Company announced the details of a successful method of coating aerosol bottles with plastic. The Wheaton Glass Company of Millville, NJ acquired the rights to this process and made plastic-coated bottles available to the perfume industry starting in 1953 and continued to manufacture them into the 1970s I believe. These bottles are made distinctive by their rubbery feeling surfaces and were fitted with aerosol sprays. The first product packaged in a plastic-coated bottle was a fragrance by Corday, Fame. Other companies such as Avon, Dana, Elizabeth Arden, Studio Girl, Legend of Love, Coty, and Prince Matchabelli used these for various perfume mists and colognes. 

The shapes of the bottles varies as much as the colors used. Most notably, Estee Lauder made use of a turquoise blue shade for its famous Youth Dew fragrance. But beware! Estee Lauder brought back that blue coated bottle recently. In 1958, Coty had color coordinated bottles to represent their most popular fragrances, Emeraude in dark green or pastel green, L'Aimant in pastel pink or darker pink, both Paris and Muguet des Bois in blue, L'Origan in black, etc. Dana used a fuchsia color for their Ambush, but chose black for their Tabu scent for a more elegant, mysterious appearance. Avon ran the gamut when it came to colorizing their fragrances, many of their colognes are in these bottles including A Mist of Roses, Persian Wood, Occur. Many of the other plastic coated Avon cologne bottles can be found in different shapes.

More standardized packaging was introduced after August 1975 due to an increase in crude oil prices used in glass and plastic containers. Manufacturers cut back on fancy bottle shapes in favor of the plain stock bottles. These plain stock bottles are also referred to as "omnibus" bottles. They were generally used for the entire line of fragrances. Chanel is a company that uses omnibus bottles for most of its line, you'll notice that the classic Chanel bottle is its trademark.

Manufacturers also reported an increase in alternatives to the aerosol packaging that was so ubiquitous in the 1950s and 1970s. Pump sprays , known as "Natural Sprays" with no gas propellants were said to be safer to use and equal or less in price than aerosols. Natural Spray bottles, that dispensed fine "metered mists" were used as early as 1963 by Lanvin for their perfume Arpege (Lanvin claimed gas is a more volatile propellant than air). In 1966, D'Orsay offered its natural sprays which they called "Mist Unique."

Today, those aerosol bottles have a tendency to leak during air transport or to continuously spray, severely draining your bottle and wasting the juice- it happened to me with a vintage 1970s Madame Rochas aerosol canister bottle, which continued to spray, I had to put it inside a bag to contain the liquid. Also aerosol propellants and their rubber gaskets inside the bottle are known to have changed the scent in a negative way over the years.

Roll-on applicators were also on the rise. So called "perfume pens" with rubber sponge tipped applicators were seen mostly in the 1980s, today many of the rubber sponge tips can be found degraded due to contact with the alcohol in the perfume and can render them no longer usable.

Labels:

Old labels turn brown naturally due to oxidation of the paper, however, water and perfume can cause stains on labels over the years. 

The styles of the boxes or labels can also help determine age. Art Nouveau is generally 1890-1920s, Art Deco mid 1920s and some styles carried into the 1940s, psychedelic late 1960s-early 1970s. Please note that this isn't always foolproof due to trends and style revivals as there are some periods during the Psychedelic period where a revival of Art Nouveau was enjoyed.. 

View my article on perfume labels for more information.

At the beginning of the 20th century, revenue stamps appeared on the imported scents coming into America. This stamped container is considered very collectible to stamp collectors, because of the information on that stamp. This makes it a cross-collectible and increases value.

On bottles destined for the Mexican market, you may find labels with a number and the initials "TDSP", this stands for "Tratado sobre el Derecho Sustantivo de Patentes" which means "Substantive Patent Law Treaty." I have found these small paper labels on bottles from the 1930s and 1940s. The companies found were Chanel, Bourjois, Lentheric, Myrurgia, Guerlain, Bienaime, Isabey and Ciro. I am sure there are plenty others. This was a trademark for the perfume name itself  such as Chanel No. 5. or Surrender by Ciro. These names were registered in Mexico in the "Industria y Comercia de México" and the "Cromos" trade journals to protect the brands from counterfeiters and competitors.

Always look at all sides of a bottle. Some labels can be read from both sides, looking thru the back of the bottle. You might encounter labels which have the date stamped on the back of the labels. Sample bottles from the 1950s onward, often had labels that would say "sample, not to be sold". Today's bottles read "tester". Factice, or display bottles, filled with colored water to simulate perfume, were not meant for resale, and will have labels such as: "dummy, not for sale". Sometimes a date is also stamped on the backside of the label, I have seen this with old Chanel and Lanvin bottles. Chanel bottles from the 1960s onward may have the backs of their labels marked with a copyright symbol and the "CC" logo. 

If your bottle has a label which states: "returning this bottle to the perfumer is a national duty"...then your bottle dates from 1940-1945 during World War II. These bottles, when used up by consumers, would be sent back to the French perfume factories to be refilled and resold. This was a very cost effective practice as bottle manufacturing was no doubt put on hold and had restrictions due to the war, but I wonder how much was actually sent back to the perfumers, and how much actually made it there.

If your label states that the perfume was "created/compounded/assembled" in France or USA, it dates to after the 1940s and most likely dates to the 1950s. This is due to the Federal Trade Commission's crack down on domestic perfumes being fraudulently labeled as coming from France. If an American perfume branch of a French company, for example, Guerlain, imported the perfume essences and filled the bottles in America, they had to mention "created/compounded/assembled." American companies realized that by using American alcohol and American manufactured bottles, they could cut costs from customs duties and increase profits. All they had to do was import the perfume oils and mix them domestically in their American factories.

The presence of clear labels indicating contents were first used around the 1950s. These are either on the front, back or base of your bottle.

If your bottle has a label stating SDA (Specially Denatured Alcohol) it dates to the 1940s-1950s.

If your box or label has a number with a degree symbol, this notes the perfume or cologne's alcohol percentage. Two common percentages are 80% and 90% for eau de toilette and cologne. This helps date the bottle to after the 1950s.

A Zip Code on a label denotes age meaning this bottle is from 1962 or later. Before 1937, no zip codes were used. From 1937 to 1962, two code numbers were used on mail and labels. In 1962, all zip codes were required by the US Postal Service.

By Manufacturer:

Look on the base of your bottle for acid stamps for Baccarat, Lalique, Cristal Nancy or Cristal Romesnil, these markings add value to your bottle. Cristal Nancy closed their doors in 1934. Only from 1936, Baccarat bottles were systematically engraved with a mark. Prior to this, they were acid etched, stamped and some had round paper labels, while many have no distinguishing marks.

Lalique perfumes were marked with a signature on the bases. The signature has changed over the years and you can date a bottle by the style of the signature. Older bottles are marked R. Lalique in block lettering. You can look up various websites or books on Lalique to find signatures and the dates they were used. If your bottle is signed Rene Lalique or R. Lalique, this mark was used until 1945 when Rene Lalique died, after this date bottles will be simply marked Lalique France.

If your bottle has an embossed entwined HP mark on the base of the bottle, it was made by the glass factory of Pochet et du Courval in France after 1930.

If your bottle is marked S or SGD on the base, it was manufactured by the Saint Gobain Desjonqueres glass factory of France after the 1950s, when the factory was rebuilt after WWII and equipped with modern fully-automatic machinery.

If your bottle has a VB, or BR mark on the base, it was made by Verreries Brosse of France after the 1920s when the factory installed semi-automatic bottle making machines. In 1963, Brosse switched from making hand ground stoppers to precision machine grinding. In 1976, Brosse patented two new stopper innovations, the first is a ring made of polypropylene with horizontal joints placed on the stopper dowel. The second is a polypropylene coating of the stopper dowel designed with internal friction teeth. So if your glass stopper had a plastic cap on the end of its dowel, you can be sure it dates to the 1970s - onward. This goes for ANY perfume bottle, not just VB, with the plastic cap on the dowel plug.

If your bottle is marked Gaillard, J. Viard or J. Villard, it was made during 1900-1920s. Lucien Gaillard was a contemporary of Lalique and designed many Art Nouveau perfume bottles for notable French perfume houses such as Clamy and Violet. Julien Viard was a French glass designer of the 1920s and designed bottles for Richard Hudnut, Isabey, Favolys and Langlois. Both Gaillard and Viard collaborated and you might find the mark of J. Villard on some bottles. Both Viard and Gaillard signed bottles are considered high calibre and are coveted by collectors today.

Caps or Stoppers:

Older perfumes were factory sealed with baudruches (gold-beater's skin) also known as onion skin, other sealers are gelatin, viscose, acetate or thin cellulose films in either red, clear, blue or other colors. Baudruches were used around the stoppers of high class perfume extracts, the capsules being applied wet, and the skin caused to cross over to keep the stopper from falling out. Then a gold thread was tied around the stopper and brought down under the neck of the bottle where it is knotted. This serves two purposes: it holds the stopper in place, and decorated the neck of the bottle for a finished look.

Bakelite screw caps were in regular usage from 1930s-1950s. Some perfume bottles as the ones for Lanvin often continued using black Bakelite screw caps into the 1960s.Bakelite came in two basic colors: opaque black and dark brown. It was mostly used from 1907-1927. Catalin, a version of Bakelite, was in use from 1928-1940s and was available in a variety of colors including translucent shades. These colors will have darkened or changed over the years, clear is now a shade called "apple juice" by collectors.  If you rub the cap with your finger briskly or hold it under hot running water (remove cap from bottle first!) for about 20-30 seconds, then smell it, if it has a formaldehyde or carbolic acid odor, it is Bakelite/Catalin. 

Other early plastic caps were made up of molded celluloid, galalith, urea formaldehyde or casein. Urea formaldehyde was preferred over Bakelite as unlike Bakelite, it could be molded and produced in many more color variations. 

Galalith, known as French Bakelite, furnishes remarkable effects as color and imitation of other materials ( tortoise-shell, jade, lapis lazuli, and ivory). Galalith when held under hot water or rubbed, smells like burnt or sour milk.

Celluloid, the earliest plastic, imitated ivory and tortoiseshell. It is highly flammable and its use was discontinued sometime in the mid 1920s when other plastics arrived on the scene. When held under hot water or rubbed, much of the celluloid found today has a smell like vinegar as is the case with cellulose acetate, or early celluloid which smells like camphor (think Vicks Vapo-Rub).

Lucite caps were used from the late 1937- onward. The most common Lucite caps are either clear to imitate crystal, opaque colors or translucent with embedded glitter or confetti. Today, you may find that the older lucite caps have become yellowed or discolored from perfume and can have small fractures, shattering or chips. Lucite has no smell when held under hot water or rubbed. 

Another feature was the use of plastic caps placed over the base of a ground glass stopper. The finest plastic caps began to be used by 1970 when the glass factory of Saint Gobain Desjonqueres introduced the first plastic covered dowel stoppers.

Glass stoppers that had dowels that went into corks were in use from 1870s-1920s.

Silver-plated or Gold-plated metal screw caps were in use from 1920s onward.

Silver-plated or Gold-plated plastic screw caps were in use after the 1940s. I found them used as early as 1945.

By 1962, the use of gelatin or cellulose capsules to seal colognes, toilet waters and perfume extracts had just about ceased. Screw on caps had a foil liner over a resin coated chipboard backing.  A plastic facing on the cap liner may disintegrate and ruin the appearance of the bottle contents. Two other things are also done. Pure rubber or polyethylene plugs are used in the mouths of cologne or toilet water bottles. The cap is put on over to reduce alcoholic evaporation and prevent leakage during transportation.

Boxes & Packaging:

If there is an e-sign, also known as the estimated sign, next to the volume, it was made after 1976. This is a mark that can be found on some pre-packed goods in Europe and indicates that the packaging is filled according to the European Union Directive.

If there is a EAN barcode on the box, this perfume dates to after 1989.

Starting in 1992, the Green Dot recycling symbol will appear on the box.

Period-after-opening symbol or PAO, is a graphic symbol that identifies the useful lifetime of a cosmetic product after its package has been opened for the first time. It depicts an open cosmetics pot and is used together with a written number of months or years. This symbol has been in use since 2005.

Refer to Insert: A hand pointing at a book means there is information or instructions contained on a leaflet, booklet, or other insert which can’t be listed on the primary label. The information can be things like an ingredients list, usage instructions, or warnings. This symbol is particularly useful for smaller cosmetic products since they don’t have enough space on their container to list all the product’s information.This has been in use at least since 2005.

The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act is a U.S. law that applies to labels on many consumer products. It requires the label to state:

• The identity of the product;
• The name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor; and
• The net quantity of contents.
• The contents statement must include both metric and U.S. customary units.

Passed under Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, the law first took effect on July 1, 1967. The metric labeling requirement was added in 1992 and took effect on February 14, 1994.

From 1998-2003, a short list of ingredients are listed on the back of the box. Prior to this a box may only have listed the following ingredients: water, alcohol, fragrance. Older bottles, will have no ingredients listed at all.

By 2004, there will be a long, complicated list of ingredients listed on the back of the box.

Cellophane packaging was developed in 1908 by a Swiss textile engineer, Jacques Brandenberger, and in 1917 assigned his patents to La Cellophane Societe Anonyme and joined that organization. On December 26, 1923, an agreement was executed between Du Pont Cellophane Company and La Cellophane by which La Cellophane licensed Du Pont Cellophane Company exclusively under its United States cellophane patents. It was originally used to wrap luxury items, but was expensive and not moisture proof. Finding early perfumes with cellophane packaging is very rare. It wasn't until the late 1930s that cellophane started to become a regular feature on perfume box packaging.

If your label or box has the perfume company's address, you might be able to date the bottle by comparing the addresses for the company if a company has had more than one address and what dates they were in use.

The styles of the boxes or labels can also help determine age. Art Nouveau is generally 1900-1920s, Art Deco mid 1920s and some styles carried into the 1940s, psychedelic late 1960s-early 1970s. Please note that this isn't always foolproof as I have previously covered under the "label" heading.

Some perfume boxes or labels might have a warning label such as: "Warning--Use only as directed. Intentional misuse by deliberately concentrating and inhaling the contents can be harmful or fatal". This warning was approved by the FDA starting in 1975.

Any cosmetic, perfume or lotion labeled "hypoallergenic" dates to after 1975, when the FDA allowed companies to mark their products in this manner.

Miscellaneous:

The word "dram" to denote contents was used mostly during the 1930s and 1940s. It is equal to about 5ml or 1/8 oz. Dram bottles were small, usually purse sized, but were an economic and affordable way for women to purchase their favorite perfumes during the Great Depression and the Second World War period.

Sealed perfumes which look to have some perfume missing, most likely have had their alcohol and water content evaporated, this is caused by heat, light, and poor storage as well as aging.  

Vintage perfume will start to darken and the oldest perfumes have a very dark, thick, syrupy texture due to the alcohol and water evaporating, which leaves only a high concentration of essential oils and aroma chemicals behind. If you still wish to wear the perfume, it can be revived with some perfumer's alcohol or worn as parfum or added to a running bath, though it will never smell fresh like it once was.

Check out vintage advertisements for perfumes in old magazines. They will usually have a date on them and you can use these to compare your bottle to what is shown in the ad.



DATING REALLY OLD FRAGRANCE BOTTLES by Bill Ellis:

(usually without labels)
These are some characteristics of very old bottles, that may help you in dating them, based on my experience with old bottles and drawing on information in Glass - Volume 2, by Jane Shadel Spillman (1983) - one of the Knopf Collectors' Guides to American Antiques.

Rough pontil - before 1850 ("bottles made later only occasionally have rough pontils") [Spillman, p. 16] A "rough pontil" mark is a circular broken glass edge centered on the bottom of the bottle, where the pontil rod was broken from the bottom after blowing the bottle.

Flanged lip - first half of 1800s in the US [Spillman, bottle #65] A wide thin lip on a bottle formed by spreading the mouth of the bottle

Free blown or part-size molds - 1800-1830 in the US; no uniformity in size or pattern; not attributable to the glass house unless the bottle has an identifying mark [Spillman, pp. 12, 34] Free-blown bottles have no mold seams; bottles made in part-size molds may have a mold seam around the bottle at the shoulder; the upper part of the bottle was finished by hand.

Full-size molds - starting 1820, all bottles by 1830 - uniform size and pattern [Spillman, p. 34] Bottles made in full-size molds have vertical seam lines from the base to the neck; the upper neck and lip were finished by hand.

Automatic bottle-blowing machines - starting in the late 1800s [Spillman, p. 35] Machine-made bottles have a mold seam from the base through the lip; the whole bottle is molded at one time.