Posted 12 years ago
brmac
(1 item)
I am trying to determine the origins of this antique perfume bottle. It looks very much like Lalique's dancing nudes but there is no signature on the bottle anywhere. This is a hexagon shaped bottle and the glass appears to be frosted or leaded. The seam goes to the top and over. There are no threads or rings on the mouth, indicating it was a cork type of top or similar.
Hi, just a short note of encouragement. Hang in there! You've got something none of us has ever seen before, and it might take a while before someone comes along who has a lead or a firm ID - like you did for me. Thanks again for everything. I keep looking. Kind regards, miKKo
Thank you! I am glad our tip was helpful to you. We wonder if ours is a product of the Melba co. but have not found a match.
If anyone has any links to sites that might be helpful, please feel free to post them.
Hi, I don't know if this will help, but it's worth a try. There's a great website on vintage vanity cases. I unexpectedly found there some Lalique info for which I have been searching a long time. They discuss what I think might well be your firm, and the discussion might well provide you with some leads. The website link: http://collectingvintagecompacts.blogspot.com/2011/06/melba-part-2-death-of-founder-death-of.html?z#!/2011/05/melba-part-1-rise-of-chicago-cosmetics.html
By the way, this website reminds me a lot of Cleopatra's Boudoir - filled with information. Best wishes for success! Kind regards, miKKo
Hello, there! Any progress?
I have written an article for the Perfume Bottle Quarterly about this bottle. It is for the Carlova company of the united states. If I can figure out how to post the article, I will, but the person asking the question can just email me at
cwf8551@aol.com
to see the data, Helen
SPRING 14 PERFUME BOTTLE QUARTERLY | SPRING 2015 2015 | PERFUME BOTTLE QUARTERLY 15
A Muddle Clarified
F inally I can now set the record straight on a
pesky perfume bottle that has puzzled and given
me many questions from collectors over the
years. The bottle is for a similar, but less deluxe
version of the Lalique 1911 “Ambre Antique” by Coty.
This bottle obviously isn’t Lalique as I will explain, but
then what is it?
In 2007, I had identified this bottle as the result of a
question from the IPBA web page as being by Societe
Francaise, but this is not correct. Since nothing ever dies
on the internet, this incorrect email answer was copied
and added to an eBay auction and subsequently appeared
on Worthpoint.
Recently I bought a catalog for “Fireside Industries”
from 1929. This company was a mail order house that
had many craft kits and other dresser-type items for sale
in this country and on page 91 was my Lalique-inspired
perfume called “Society” by Carlova in two sizes. One
is for a 7- inch tall toilet water named “Narcisse” on its
neckband and the other is perfume in a 4-½ -inch bottle
labeled “Sweet Pea” on its neckband. Carlova, by name,
is only mentioned in the key at the bottom of the page.
As mentioned in the beginning of this article, I had believed
that this bottle was for a company called “Societe”,
but the name “Society” is for the fragrance line consisting
of “Sweet Pea” and “Narcisse” scents as issued under the
Carlova, Company. Both bottles illustrated in the Fireside
Industries Catalog have a “Society” label at the base.
I will include with this article that same “Society” bottle.
Also here is another “Lalique -Like” Carlova bottle
called by collectors “The Dancing
Nudes”. My “Dancing Nudes” example
has a Stanley metal label enhanced
with colored oil wash that repeats the
dancing nude theme. The label reads
“Eau de Toilette, Carlova, New York”
with a brass shaker stopper. The bottle
is 6 ¾” tall. The paneled bottle has six
nudes doing a scarf dance around the
bottle. In 1975, Ralph Kovel in his series
of bottle books called this bottle
“too rare to value”. The Kovel listing
lacked the company name. I began a
long search to find out which company
had made the dancing nudes, in
order to add one to my collection. The
Dancing Nudes valuation in Kovels’
book illustrates a well-known feature
of collecting. The “Dancing Nudes” is
desirable and lovely just not as rare as
we had thought. Blame eBay for some
of this effect!
Nor is the “Society” bottle for Carlova
in the category of rare either;
however, we need to be clear that although
the Lalique “Ambre Antique”
inspired Carlova, it is not a direct
copy in several respects. The style of
stopper is quite different on the Car-
By Helen Farnsworth with Photography by Craig Farnsworth
lova to the Lalique. Also the Carlova has a long glass plug
on the stopper with a cork insert on the plug. As collectors,
we certainly recognize this cork and plug feature
as being an American glass design element. The glass
by Carlova is in a different category as well. This glass
is bottle glass and not the demi-crystal made famous by
Lalique. The classical Greek ladies on the bottle are quite
similar on both bottles, although the color and quality
of the patina are quite different. The original Coty “Ambre
Antique” was in a lustrous sienna patina highlighting
the details of the bottle while the Carlova exhibits more
of an opaque surface wash that lays on the surface of the
glass. Finally the Lalique bottle also has a prominent “R.
Lalique” signature at the base.
There exists another example imitating “Ambre Antique”
with Lundborg “Jasmin” on the label and that
has also puzzled me, but with research the Lundborg
association has become clear. Lundborg is a very old
American perfume company founded in 1850 and having
some 125 known perfume names. In1920, an article
appeared in the “American Perfumer” discussing Lundborg
being acquired by Carlova, Inc. William Loveland
and P.C. Carter in Binghamton, N. Y, founded Carlova,
Inc. The name Carlova was an amalgamation of the two
names of the founders. In April 1930 an article appeared
in the “American Perfumer” stating that Carlova was
founded in 1920 and had moved to Memphis, Tennessee
while acquiring the Landers Company. One wrinkle
with Carlova is the use of names for lines or subsidiaries
that become more prominent than the original company
name, for example the Carlova line called Jane Wilson
Adams. Carlova, although a large company, did little in
the way of trademark or design patents under its own
name with most of its paper trail found under its lines
or subsidiary companies.
I am curious why Coty didn’t pursue Carlova for using
such a close copy of its 1911 perfume, since Coty in this
time period zealously defended its designs and fragrances
by lawsuits. It is possible that the Carlova’s market share
was too small to justify legal action.
Finally to sum up my mystery bottle, it was made at
the large Bingham New York Factory by Carlova Company
and issued under its “Society” Line and also for its
subsidiary company Lundborg. It was sold via mail order
by Fireside Industries in their 1929 catalog that boasts
that “each article is exclusive in design and not obtainable
anywhere else”. While not exactly the unvarnished truth
here, it makes a good marketing story.
I feel that this Carlova bottle is worth collecting by
anyone who has an interest in the muddles of perfume
history, or just as a lovely American period perfume bottle
with a Greek classical theme created in homage to a
great French glass artist.
SOURCES:
• “Fireside Industries Catalog”, 1929.
• “American Perfumer” 1920 & 1930.
• KOVELS’ BOTTLES PRICE LIST, Ralph & Terry Kovel,
New York, Crown Publishers, Inc., 1975.
• IPBA Perfume Bottles Auction, Ken Leach, 2012 #184,
“Ambre Antique” by Coty, R. Lalique.
• IPBA Virtual Museum, “Ambre Antique”, Coty, bottle
and atomizer.
(Left to right): “Society” bottle for Carlova. Dancing Nudes with Stanley metal label.