Showing posts with label Victorian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victorian. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Scent Cases from the Grand Tour

What we term perfume caskets today were known as "scent cases" during the 19th century. These were often purchased in Europe, most notably in Paris. Originally purchased from the shopping arcades at the famous Palais-Royal in Paris, these retail outlets sold luxury goods such as fine jewelry, furs, paintings and furniture to the wealthy elite. The peak of casket manufacture is the Napoleon III period from 1852 to 1870.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Antique Ebony and Sterling Vanity Sets

In the late Victorian era up until around 1920, ebony wood vanity sets were very popular amongst men and women alike. Usually these utilitarian items were fitted with sterling silver mountings that could be monogrammed. 




You could find trays (dresser trays, pin trays, comb trays), hand mirrors, powder shakers, perfume bottles, perfume atomizers, hatpin holders, combs, ring holder/tree, all sorts of brushes (hair brushes, clothes brushes, military brushes, toothbrushes, bonnet brushes, curved hat brushes), jars or boxes (hair receivers, powder jars, salve jars, rouge jar, hair pin boxes), glove stretcher, curling irons, buttonhooks, shoe horns, manicure implements (nail buffers, nail files, cuticle knives, tweezers, nail brushes, corn knives) sewing implements (thimbles, bobbins, needle cases, awls, thread winders, sock darners, pin cushion, etc), clock, candlesticks, travel sets in cases and more, all fitted with ebony backings, bases, lids or handles.


Fabrics, Fancy Goods and Notions - Volume 46. 1912:
"WOODS USED IN THE MAKING OF MIRRORS - The variety of woods which are used in the manufacture of toilet mirrors is practically limitless. The most expensive, ebony is to all other woods what gold is to the metals - first in wide spread popularity. Comparatively few people. however. are conversant upon the subject of ebony. They do not know. for instance. that there are several grades of it used commercially/ The best is known as Gaboon Ebony. This is very black, marked by fine gray streaks, and is extremely brittle. It grows in equatorial Africa;, is cut into logs four feet long; carried on the heads of black slaves for upwords of a hundred miles to the coast, where it is dumped into the sea, sinking, and afterwards fished out and loaded on vessels for exportation/ It has the appearance of dilapidated rail road ties when bought, and is, therefore subject to considerable waste. Macassar, found in South and Central America, is the next highest grade of ebony. The best specimens come from the Brazilian jungles. It is characterized by beautiful streaks of yellow and brown, and is used chiefly for our Natural Ebony products. It is also known as Turtle Ebony. Other good grades of ebony grow in Jamaica, Madagascar, the Isle of Pines, and the Philippine Islands."

Most of the ebony was imported from Africa and into France and the sterling pieces were applied in the USA. The little sterling silver appliques are clearly marked "Sterling." Items can be found marked with "Ebony", "Made in England, "Made in France", "Real Ebony", and "Genuine Ebony." Oftentimes, only the larger pieces in a set are marked, other times, smaller pieces were made up of black tinted celluloid, Bakelite, or as with earlier pieces, "Bois Durci". In 1907, "wooden and "bois durci" articles: Brushes - mounted in silver, in boxes...." were noted in The Canada Gazette.


















Bois Durci was an early plastic molding material based on cellulose. It was patented in Paris and  England in 1855, by Francois Charles Lepage. Lepage claimed in his patent that he had invented "A new composition of materials which may be employed as a substitute for wood, leather, bone, metal and other hard or plastic substances."

Bois Durci was made from finely ground wood 'flour' and mixed with a natural animal derived binder, either egg or blood albumen or gelatine, animal waste products leftover from the Parisian slaughterhouses. Wood from ebony or rosewood was ground to a very fine powder, with a flour-like consistency. Once mixed with a binder and some black dye, the mixture is dried, powdered again and placed in a steel mold where it was compressed in a powerful hydraulic press whilst being heated by steam. The final product has a highly polished finish imparted by the surface of the steel mold, and the natural wood powder, provided a black or brown result. 

Lepage's patent referred to small household items, such as combs, pipe stems, etc. The Societe du Bois Durci was established to produce desk items, especially decorative inkwell stands and plaques. The factory was at Grenelle in Paris and products were sold through A. Latry & Cie. of 7 Rue du Grand-Chantier, (Au Marais) in Paris. By the end of the 20th century, the firm had been taken over by MIOM (La Manufacture d’Isolants et Objets Moulés) which was founded in 1898. They continued to make Bois Durci until about 1920, by which time it had been superseded by newer plastics materials, such as bakelite.

It is not known when the production of "Bois Durci" objects, in Paris, was discontinued. However, it is known that another factory was established in 1883 in Sezanne by members of the Hunebelle family. This factory used the same material to produce very similar items. Although stylistically similar, it is almost certain that none of the molds from Paris were used in Sezanne. The Sezanne factory continued in production, manufacturing items in both the Belle Epoque and Art Nouveau style until the factory was destroyed by fire in 1926.

Also in Sezanne,  at the Department of Marne, in 1899, Mr. A. Arnoult said that he controlled the manufacture in France of "bois durci," or wood pulp hardened by chemical manipulation and that he knew of no other house engaged in the fabrication. Arnoult claimed that the manufacture of bois durci was "not important" on the "account of the great expense of the outfit," "the difficulty of having the wood, entirely uniform in hardness, grain and age at time of use, which is necessary to produce proper results," and the "difficulty of procuring suitable workmen." He mentioned that the "nearest approach to the bois durci is the caoutchouc durci," and names are given of two house in France engaged in this manufacture. The product is probably the same as the vulcanized rubber of the United States."



















You can see images below, shown in advertisements from the 1907 Fort Dearborn Watch & Clock Co. Catalog, Chicago, Il.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Celluloid Toilet Sets Advertising Catalog Page c1894

Celluloid, Zylonite and White Florence Toilet Sets/Dresser Sets/Vanity Sets taken from an 1893/1894 Marshall Fields catalog. Notice the fancy molded pattern on several of the sets including some Japanese influenced Aesthetic styles.



















images: ebay seller mima48

Friday, December 12, 2014

Victorian Era Perfume Bottles catalog page c1893

Advertisement showing two perfumes for sale, shown in an 1893-1894 Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co., Chicago, catalog. Of particular note is the cherub and cornucopia perfume bottle made up of heavy, pressed glass, unfortunately, I have been unable to identify the manufacturer of this bottle, but it is not a rare flacon. I have seen several on ebay over the years.




Saturday, December 6, 2014

Aluminum Perfume Bottles c1896

Aluminum perfume bottles and powder puff boxes shown in an antique Victorian 1896 Busiest House In America publication.


You may think that aluminum was an unusual metal to make perfume bottles from, but, at one time, the metal was highly prized. In the mid 1880s, aluminum metal was exceedingly difficult to produce, which made pure aluminum more valuable than gold. So celebrated was the metal that bars of aluminum were exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1855. Napoleon III of France is reputed to held a banquet where the most honored guests were given aluminum utensils, while the others made do with gold. But by 1895, a new process was developed to produce aluminum more inexpensively and soon it became a more common metal used for the making of a variety of household goods, including vanity items.

Aluminum was touted as untarnishable.







Saturday, October 4, 2014

Bohemian Glass Shaker Top Perfume Bottles 1901 Advertisement

Bohemian colored glass perfume bottles with shaker tops from an antique Victorian/Edwardian 1901-02 A. C. McClurg & Co. publication. Many of the bottles are gilded and the designs are reminiscent of Moser. It appears that the shaker tops are the open rose and the "loving cup" styles.










Welcome!

This is not your average perfume blog. In each post, I present perfumes or companies as encyclopedic entries with as much facts and photos as I can add for easy reading and researching without all the extraneous fluff or puffery.

Please understand that this website is not affiliated with any of the perfume companies written about here, it is only a source of reference. I consider it a repository of vital information for collectors and those who have enjoyed the classic fragrances of days gone by. Updates to posts are conducted whenever I find new information to add or to correct any errors.

One of the goals of this website is to show the present owners of the various perfumes and cologne brands that are featured here how much we miss the discontinued classics and hopefully, if they see that there is enough interest and demand, they will bring back these fragrances!

Please leave a comment below (for example: of why you liked the fragrance, describe the scent, time period or age you wore it, who gave it to you or what occasion, any specific memories, what it reminded you of, maybe a relative wore it, or you remembered seeing the bottle on their vanity table, did you like the bottle design), who knows, perhaps someone from the company brand might see it.

Also, if you have any information not seen here, please comment and share with all of us.

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