Nysis by Agra c1919

Nysis by Agra Parfumeur: launched in 1919. Nysis was a line that included perfume, toilet water, cold cream, talc, face powder, vanishing cream, and soap.

The packaging is emblazoned with a wonderful Egyptian style woman's head wit long black hair.  Themes featuring any sort of Egyptomania was very popular during the 1920s. You can see from the advertisements below that the Egyptian theme was carried out by showing some Egyptian maidens to the upper right side of the ads. These were from a 1920 issue of Cosmopolitan.

Nysis has been discontinued since the 1920s. The products are very collectible, with the perfume and toilet water the most expensive and rare, while the face powder and the talcum tin are common.

 

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

Les Parfums Amiot

Amiot et Cie of 68 rue de Rivoli, Paris, was established in 1862, company sold fragrances, cosmetics and toiletries. Later known as Les Parfums Amiot.

Le Debut by Richard Hudnut c1927

In 1927, Richard Hudnut introduced four new blends of perfumes called Le Debut.

Blue Waltz by Joubert c1920

Blue Waltz, this endearing perfume from the past was created by either Joubert et Cie or Jolind Inc. around 1920.

Andre Jollivet and Laitance de Hareng Perfume Bottles

Originally Posted on March 11, 2010 at 11:45 PM  on my original Cleopatra's Boudoir site.

Just after World War I, French glass designer Andre Jollivet started working with different finishes for perfume bottles, he was looking for something completely new and innovative and started working with a substance called “essence d‘orient”. This pearlized tincture was first created by a French artist named M. Jacquin in 1680 and is actually made from guanine crystallites found in the ground up scales of the bleak or herring and mixed with the natural oils of the fish to create a solution named “Essence D‘Orient“.

It takes a hundred tons of herring to extract one ton of herring scales in order to produce a single pound of essence d’Orient. This beautiful, iridescent coating was normally applied to glass beads to mimic Oriental pearls during jewelry making. Jollivet must have seen the potential to create interesting perfume bottle presentations and employed the Nesle Normandeuse Glassworks to create the bottles with the lustrous pearly finish. He improved upon the essence d’orient substance and managed to create a new resistant and very realistic pearlized finish “laitance de hareng” (herring roe).

Several perfume companies in France employed this beautiful finish in the making of their perfumes. Companies such as Volnay, Rochambeau, Isabey, Pleville, Parfums de Marcy and others all used variations of these bottles for their presentations. One notable presentation was for the perfume Perlinette by Volnay, which may have been directly inspired by the laitance de hareng finish.

Rochambeau introduced the Perles de France presentation consisting of a set of 3 small round, pearlized bottles in black leatherette case in 1926. A similar presentation was created by an practically unknown company named Ota, in 1929 for their perfumes Lilas and Violette.

Other companies capitalized on the faux pearl theme and no one did it better than Parfums de Marcy with their fabulous Trompe l'Oeil presentation named "Le Collier Miraculeux". Launched in 1927, a box containing pearl shaped bottles in graduated sizes realistically mimicked the look of a real pearl necklace, created by Paul Heymann.

The inspiration for Parfums de Marcy's presentation must have directly come from Delettrez's String of Pearls presentation for Parfum XXIII from 1923, it looks nearly identical in every way to the presentation by de Marcy..

Equally pretty was the "Le Collier de Isabey" presentation by Isabey of 1925, with six pearl shaped perfume bottles arranged to simulate a pearl necklace in a demi-lune presentation case. It won the company a gold medal at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs and Industriels Modernes.  Isabey also made usage of these small round bottles for their individual perfumes such as Ambre de Carthage, Chypre Celtique, Bleu de Chine, Violette, Gardenia and Chypre.

Volnay introduced many of their perfumes in pearlized bottles, starting in 1919 with names such as Lilas, Rosee de Bois, Perlerette, Perlinette, Iris Neige and Firefly. These bottles came in several shapes ranging from simple cylinders, upside down cone shapes and large and small globular pearl bottles, like the ones used by other companies such as Elliot Brother's for their perfume Boronia in the 1920s.

In 1938, Varva introduced a trompe l’oeil perfume bottle in the shape of a pearl ring in a box. The pearlized glass perfume bottle sat inverted in a silver tone Bakelite ring setting flanked by two faux baguette diamonds, affixed to a leatherette box base covered with fuchsia velveteen.

To see many beautiful bottles in full-color illustrations, I suggest further reading of Masterpieces of the Perfume Industry and The Art of Perfume, both books by Christie Mayer Lefkowith.

A word of caution, the utmost care must be used when handling any of these pearlized bottles, although the finish was made to be resistant, after 70-80s years, the finish is very delicate and can be removed by cleaning or rough handling. Such actions can result in the loss of finish which cannot be restored.

Evans Atarmist & Ronsons Perfu-mist Perfume Atomizers c1930s

Starting in the early 1930s, Evans, famous for their compacts and Ronson, famous for their lighters, brought out curious perfume flacons, both were similar and having the shape of a cigarette lighter, but sprayed perfume instead. Quite unique and daring for the time when it was still a little unladylike to smoke.


The Evans Atarmist came in two sizes, the larger one was meant to sit upon your vanity, whilst the smaller size was meant to be carried in your purse or pocket.


Ronson's Perfu-Mist also came in two sizes, one for the pocket or purse and one dubbed the Boudoir model, which was a large size and featured a handle.


Popular decorative motifs were engine turned designs, tooled leather, studded with jewels or marcasites, mother of pearl, goldtone metal or chromium plated finishes and French enamel. Some models were made of sterling silver.


Here are three pages from  May & Malone Co. catalog from1931 illustrating the various Atarmists and sets from their current line.

photos from ebay seller gdawg