Perfume in some form or other has been around since ancient times. The Mesopotamians and Egyptians, Greeks and Romans anointed their bodies with perfumed oils and ointments. And in order to keep their products fresh they needed containers to store them. Archaeological excavations have unearthed pottery and alabaster containers in Egyptian tombs and beautiful ceramic and glass containers from around the Mediterranean.
Perfume bottles have always been as captivating as the perfume they contained and various styles have been created over the years. Murano and Venetian glass makers started making exquisite perfume bottles in the 16th and 17th centuries and the British mastered enamel and porcelain in the 18th. During the 19th Century, with the advent of mass production, individually made perfume bottles were replaced with a highly designed but uniformly produced containers.
Initially, the big perfume makers did not have atomizers on their bottles but instead had some sort of cork or glass plug or stopper. The glass stopper could be used as a "dabber". To place the perfume on the body.
Later, when atomizers became popular it was considered as a high form of elegance for women to decant their best perfumes into atomized bottles. Most perfume bottle atomizers have a small, bulbous pump that is squeezed on one end, which will direct the perfume out of the bottle. This was seen as a much daintier means of applying the perfume and could control the amount of perfume sprayed.
Today, there are numerous antique perfume bottle atomizers that memorabilia lovers are eager to collect. Many women have kept their atomizers from when they were young and have passed them down to their daughters and grandchildren. Some atomizer manufacturers are particularly collectible such as Devilbiss, Marcel Franck, Volupte, Marcel Franck, Aristo, and Irice.
Recently there has been a resurgence in hand-made and hand-blown perfume bottles. Created as works of art, these unique pieces are highly sought after by collectors, some of whom concentrate on a particular artist and some on a particular type such as atomizers. However, although the modern perfume bottle atomizers are very beautiful, many would agree that nothing beats the atomizers of yesteryear. They were unique, came in various designs and now are collector's items.
Jade Honeywell writes regularly on womens
beauty and health matters. For more information about collecting
perfume bottles and
discontinued perfumes or about buying fragrances from a
perfume outlet, click on the links to visit her website.
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