May Fair Compacts c1927 Advertisement

May Fair Compacts shown in a striking full color advertisement from a 1927 Huntley & Co. catalog. Vanity compacts, dance compacts, tango compacts, engine turned, enameled and jeweled examples are shown.

Compacts & Vanities c1934 Advertisement

Two beautiful advertisements from a 1934 Mayers catalog showing various compacts and vanities. Some have mesh bottoms, cloisonne or guilloche tops.

Vintage Boudoirs of the Stars - Part 2

Claudette Colbert c1930s, various perfume bottles are shown on her vanity including Reflexions by Ciro, plus many others that look to be in travel flacons.

Dixie Dunbar c1940s, a Czech crystal perfume bottle and a Czech cut crystal atomizer are seen on her fringed vanity table.

Dorothy Dell, 1930s, various Czech perfume bottles on her vanity too.

Anne Shirley c1930s, gorgeous long handled hand mirror.

 Agnes Ayres, c1920s, beautiful French hand mirror covered in silk and metallic passementerie trim.

Anita Page, c1920s-1930s,large Guerlain bottle for L'Heure Bleue or Mitsouko in the center of her vanity, and flanked by perfume atomizers, probably DeVilbiss.

Ann Dvorak, 1930s, two Lentheric perfumes on her vanity, Miracle and Asphodele.

Ann Dvorak, again, a different view, with the same Lentheric perfumes, here she is dabbing her skin with a bottle of Prince Matchabelli perfume.

photos from various sources found on the internet

Half Doll Lamps with Mirrors c1920s

While browsing half dolls on the internet, I came across some very interesting examples. I enjoy half dolls that have a little more going for them than just being the handle to a brush or topping a pincushion or perfume bottle. These are gorgeous and may be dubbed the Spanish Dancer type.


Half Doll #1:
Amazing Half doll most likely of German origin. She is of the highest quality. She has her original silk dress that has some minor damage. Her wire frame served once a light bulb and was electrified to be a lamp. She no longer has her electrical components. The doll stands almost 11" tall. The original beveled mirror measures 6.5 x 4.5". Handmade French ribbonwork and metallic passementerie decorate the mirror. This doll has had one of her arms broken, and is not in her original pose.

all photos shown above are from ebay seller gypsy 5961.

Half Doll #2:

Lovely vintage 1920s half doll with original wire frame, clothing and mirror. Figure looks exactly the one shown in the previous photos.

all photos from icollector

Here is the same doll without a costume, wire lamp frame or mirror. She has finely detailed facial features and piano fingers. She is depicted in a very graceful pose with both arms modeled away from her body, 

wearing a light puce bodice, beaded necklace, dangling earrings and bangle bracelets on each arm . She has glossy black hair pulled to the back in a low chignon, her  large brown eyes are delicately outlined in black. 

She is a of a large size measuring 5 1/4" high (13 cm) and 6 1/" (16.5 cm) across. 

Marked on the back with impressed model number 6359. 

photos from ebay seller olwright1

Antique Victorian Porcelain Backed Vanity Sets

These pretty vanity items were produced during the 1890s and continued for a few more years up until around 1920 or so. The hand mirror and brush were sold along with a comb in most cases. Sets were available to adults as well as children, the children's set being a bit smaller than the adults of course. Masculine sets were offered to men as well.

Kay Francis and Perfumes c1933

In this vintage movie still photo from the 1933 film The Keyhole, you can see many beautiful perfume bottles on actress Kay Francis' vanity table.

A large Ruba Rhombic perfume bottle made by Consolidated Lamp and Glass Company can be seen to the right. To the immediate right, I can also see one of the Hoffmann Czech perfume bottles with the nude dauber. Other Czech bottles and possibly some commercial flacons are also present on the vanity.
































Another perfume bottle filled vanity appears in another Kay Francis film, 1932's Cynara. You can spot some atomizers (probably DeVilbiss) and some other bottles.

Barbara Pepper and Perfumes c1930s

Vintage movie still photographs by John Miehle of the 1937 film Coast Patrol (later retitled as Sea Devils) starring Barbara Pepper.

Barbara Pepper (1915 - 1969) - Photo via Rantings of a Modern Day Glamour Girl.

In this vintage 1930s photo I can identify several perfume bottles of Guerlain's Vol de Nuit/Sous Le Vent, Chanel, Caron's Bellodgia, Caron's Pois de Senteur de Chez Moi, a Lalique perfume bottle, Ciro's Reflexions, Patou's Joy, Houbigant's Essence Rare, Elizabeth Arden''s Blue Grass, as well as a few Czech bottles and unknown bottles. She is holding the largest size of the Ybry perfumes.

Here is another angle of the same vanity table. I can also see a bottle of : Caron's Narcisse Noir. She has placed that large Ybry bottle at the back of her vanity.

Elizabeth Arden Treasures of the Pharaohs Vanity Collectibles

For Christmas 1982, Elizabeth Arden offered her Blue Grass bath line in beautiful porcelain vanity

accessories. These accessories had an exotic theme, Ancient Egypt. The line was dubbed "Treasures of the Pharaohs" and was based on some actual ancient artifacts found in tombs of the pharaohs and nobles.

I have compiled a list of items included in the line:

• Double headed ibex boat held three shell shaped soaps.
• Horus the falcon powder jar
• Frog pomander
• Cat shaped bath salts trinket box
• Camel shaped bath salts trinket box
• Hippo shaped candle holder with lid
• Dresser tray decorated with lotus motifs
• Cat shaped pomander
• Bird pomander
• Duck shaped soap dish
• Egyptian sarcophagus shaped dresser jar with bath salts
• Lotus shaped candle holder with lid.
• Ibis bird box
• Lotus decorated jar/lid (four petal top, jagged edges, half circle knob)
• Lotus decorated small jar/lid candle holder, (four petal top, smooth edges, flower knob)
• Lotus decorated tall jar for bath crystals, with round stopper, rounded bottom, on 3 leg brass stand
• Tall vase shaped jar with blue triangle design, with double lotus stopper
• Small round dish with lotus
• Queen Nefertari decorative bust on stand

If you have something that is not listed, let me know and I will update the list. Thanks to Pam for helping me update the list.

photo by ruby lane seller GreatVintageStff

Photo from Perfume Bottles Auction

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