Want to know what perfume from 1800 smells like?

[TheOwlChronicles]

Bloody strong, that's what!

I collect antiques with a particular interest in miniatures such as jewellery, ring boxes and perfume bottles from the Georgian / Victorian era

I recently picked up this little bottle on my travels and it's still got perfume in it.

It's approximately 220 years old. These bottles were generally known as lachrymatory bottles or 'tear catchers' and have quite an interesting history.

This bottle has been wax sealed somewhere on its past travels,
Probably due to a cracked lid, but my god - the smell coming off it!

Think the strongest, most powdery, floral, catch in your throat smell - and you'd be in the right ballpark!

Wow that's interesting, thank you for sharing. Where did you find it, and how did you know how old it is?

@WelcomingGnome I've got about 25 and have been collecting for years so I know what to look for now. I used to take them to my local antiques guy who'd date them for me but don't need to now.

I buy all over! EBay, charity shops, online auctions. They generally come from estate sales too.

Oh and the age of this one is apparent when you look closely at it.. it's typical cut glass Georgian.

Alas, it has to live in the garage

If you visit the Florence Nightingale Museum, they have an exhibit with her perfume in it so you can smell what she smelt like!

Thank you so much for posting this. I have a huge fascination for 'what the past smelled like. When I see an old photo or painting I always wonder. Imagine what the East End of London smelled like on a dark, misty night in Victorian times?!? Or Bath in the 1750s?

I bet 1800s scent had to be strong to cover up the smell of unwashed clothes and bodies.

@APurpleSquirrel What did she smell like? I'd imagined she would smell of disinfectant and starch.

I always wonder what the past smelt like too. Thanks for sharing.

@BunnyBetChetwynnd if you're that interested, I'll pop a little square cloth round it for 24 hours and send that to you 😀

There's no vinegary smell and it hasn't gone off. Well, it probably has of course but although the smell is unpleasant that's due to how overwhelming it is

@TheOwlChronicles Imagine what the post man would make of that in the back of his van😁

Handling it with tweezers at a distance!

@BunnyBetChetwynnd you can still buy it apparently - it's by Floris - White Rose or Night-scented Jasmine:

www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/white-rose-fragrance-from-floris-london/

How interesting! Thank you for sharing @TheOwlChronicles

This is fascinating! I’m gobsmacked to think it’s possible to smell perfumes from so long ago. Also intrigued about the tear catcher name for the bottles if you have any more insight please?

Given how nuns’ piss-ish so many of today’s extortionately priced scents are, I wonder what the sillage and longevity secret is!

@Gridhopper see below for a simplified version of what they were!

Tear bottles reappeared during the Victorian period of the 19th century, when those mourning the loss of loved ones would collect their tears in bottles ornately decorated with silver and pewter. Special stoppers allowed the tears to evaporate. When the tears were gone, the mourning period would end.

They were however more for perfume I believe. They're all very small indeed and not designed to stand upright - they tend to lay down on their side.

And I can confirm that the smell is completely overpowering

Someone more ageist than me might describe the smell as something an older lady from the past might wear - powdery, heavy and musky!

@TheOwlChronicles

wow - thank you for the info!

Wow love this!

Feel like it's a topic they would cover on Betwixt the Sheets podcast

I’m on another thread where people are complaining about having been ‘influenced’ into buying a cheapo little bottle of ‘grandma’ perfume (baby powder by Arabian Opulence). I was one of those who bought it and it was highly flipping toxic - maybe yours is the early 19th C equivalent

Wouldn't it have degraded by now though? So it might not smell exactly the same

That's wonderful, thank you for sharing.
I collect vintage perfume but my earliest is from the 1940s.

I have a bottle of Heliotrope Blanc by LT Piver which I believe was first manufactured in the 1800s. It was following a recommendation on MN and it's lovely, almond scented and delicate. Did I see somewhere that leather gloves used to be perfumed with an almond scent?

I went to the Titanic exhibition about 15 years ago and the artefacts there included some little vials of perfume they'd recovered from the sea bed. They'd put the vials in a clear box with little holes in and the smell of them was still so strong, despite the fact they'd sat at the bottom of the Atlantic for about 90 years. Fascinating!

@Gridhopper I bought that too! Everyone at work complained - I had to throw it away in an outside bin and my handbag still smells of it even though I got rid of it months ago

Ooooh this is great! How interesting. I wonder if the smell 'concentrates', or if they did want to smell so strongly

Here's a clearer view.

And yes, I'm sure it has to have degraded over the years but the smell is 'recognisable' as a perfume and there's no vinegar or totally rank scent. Just ... overpowering

I'd like to melt off the wax seal which has clearly been out there by someone from years past. I can only assume the bottle stopper is cracked or missing so I'm hesitant to try and remove it