Antique and Vintage Compacts

In the 20th century, U.S. servicemen stationed overseas sent their sweethearts compact cases from other countries. Vacation spots such as Miami, Florida, even cruise ships, sold their own souvenir compacts. These containers held lipstick, powder, or perfume, and were made to be refilled. They were also expensive for their time. Richard Hudnut’s “le De’but” compact sold for $5 in 1928, which bought a week’s worth of groceries at the time.

For the middle-class women, compacts were made in base metals or sterling silver decorated with enamel. High-society ladies carried compacts commissioned by fine jewelry makers, who fashioned their creations from gold or platinum and studded them with semi-precious stones. Often these personalized compacts were engraved with the owner’s initials.

Some of these cases, called miniaudieres, were fitted with a gold chain or silk cord. These special vanity bags, like the ones made by Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany, Cartier, and, more recently, Judith Leiber, held makeup, lipstick, and money, and had a place to tuck in a handkerchief.

Refillable compact cases were used until recent decades when makeup cases were produced in cheap, disposable plastic. Until then, though, designers poured their creativity into these little containers, with images of flowers, beautiful women, and animals, that were engraved, enameled, and set with pastes on their exteriors. Some were designed with abstract Art Deco motifs or while others were shaped like hearts or birds.

Costume jewelry makers like Ciner and pocket watch case makers like the J. M. Fisher Co. introduced their own types of compacts. An endearing example is the “Rendezvous” style compact, sold under the Le Rage line by Evans in the ‘50s, which had a clock face and movable hands that pointed to activities a woman of leisure might enjoy: “Tennis,” “Hairdresser,” “Cocktail,” “Lunch,” “Cinema,” “Dressmaker,” Milliner,” “Bridge,” “Dinner,” and “Theatre.”

About our sources | Got something to add?