This is the second half of my guide entitled Vintage Guerlain Perfumes. In this guide I will illustrate the various commonly found perfume bottles used by Guerlain and how you can date them more efficiently. Oftentimes, the same bottles were used to hold several different scents.

In the first guide, we learned when each perfume was launched and that is one clue to dating a perfume, but since many perfumes continued to be sold for many years, this isn't always a sure fire way of finding the age of your perfume bottle. My hope, is that by using this guide, in conjunction with the first, you will be able to pinpoint an accurate date for your perfume bottle. Please note that these are not all of the bottles used by Guerlain, but are some of the most common ones that you will come across on eBay. If you are looking for info on Shalimar bottles, check out my guide on Shalimar here.

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The first perfume bottle I want to introduce you to is the so called "bee bottle", this was Guerlain's first commercial perfume bottle. This clear crystal perfume bottle was entirely covered with a pattern of bees. This was originally used for the Eau de Cologne Imperiale,created for the Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III. The bottle bears the Napoleonic 18kt gilded bees, which were the symbols of the French Empire at the time. You will also find this bottle without the gilding on the bees. This bottle is still being manufactured today for many scents.

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The second bottle is one that appeared in the 1870s and possibly a little earlier. The bottle is simple in design and is an elongated rectangle shape and it would have had a cork top. This shape is known as the "Carré" (square) bottle. On the bottle is a design of a woman holding a flag in each hand over the Guerlain coat of arms.This design is known as "Femme Drapeaux" or "Woman Flags". You will find this bottle in clear glass, often without any labels. This bottle is commonly dug up at bottle dumps.

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 The third type is the short and squatty bottle with the "mushroom" called the "quadrilobe" stopper, manufactured by Baccarat. This bottle was used for the scents Jicky starting in the 1889, it had continued usage into the early 1900s. It was also used for Rue de la Paixin 1908. For a short time in the 1940s, Shalimar and Jicky were launched in this bottle manufactured by Baccarat. The bottle came housed in a green box with Art Nouveau like gilded designs of stylized lotus flowers. This bottle is still being sold today, though a little modernized from its original example.

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The fourth type of bottle has angled fluted sides and a button like stopper, this was used for the original Muguet in 1873.  The perfume bottle got a makeover with the addition of a new, molded floral stopper and  vertically ribbed sides(shown in picture below), and was originally used for the reissue of the perfume Muguet in 1906, but was also used for Apres L'Ondee, which also debuted that year. This is known as the Louis XVI flacon and was originally made in 1902 by Pochet et du Courval. The base should be marked with Guerlain Paris and the HP logo for Pochet. As far as I can tell, this bottle had continued to be made well into the 1960s. It was housed in a cylindrical ivory paper outlined in gold covered box. It was then housed in a second version cylindrical box of blue-mauve paper printed with an abstract motif outlined in silver. A very rare version is a cylindrical box covered in turquoise paper outlined in gold.

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The fifth type of bottle which you will find is the "apothecary" shaped flacon, truncated edges and with sloping shoulders. This is one of the earliest flacons used by Guerlain and was manufactured in 1870 by Pochet et du Courval. This bottle was used for several different perfumes and by other perfume companies, when used by Guerlain it will have the Femme Drapeaux motif on the backside, Guerlain on one side, Paris on the other and on the base the entwined HP logo for Pochet et du Courval. Some bottles may retain their original labels, the label you should find is the so called "blazon" or shield label with the "rue de la Paix 15" address, the Guerlain address starting in 1840. In 1914, Guerlain moved to "68, Champs-Elysees Paris" and labels or boxes should note this change.The bottle below is a direct copy in glass of perfume/scent bottles that were made of Old Paris porcelain from the 1850s-1860s. Those bottles were specially sized to fit into little caskets for traveling and were often made by Sevres and other French porcelain companies. The porcelain bottles are richly decorated with gold and usually have hand painted designs. Look for Old Paris porcelain perfume bottles here.

 This bottle was still being used until 1917 and was used for Pois de Senteur , as well as Jicky. The backside has the Guerlain trademark embossed, but will not have the Femme Drapeaux logo. The bottles may be marked France on the base. This bottle stands 6" tall and is eight-sided, sometimes it has gilding along its edges.Other companies such as Houbigant had similar bottles, but theirs were only four sided examples. The bottle below is showing the blazon style label.

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The sixth type of bottle is one that we will encounter on a daily basis here on eBay. This is the squat bottle with the upside down heart shaped stopper. This bottle was originally manufactured by Baccarat in 1912 and was made to hold the perfumesL'Heure Bleu and Fol Arome, but was also used for Mitsouko starting in 1919. the bottle was then manufactured by Pochet et du Courval, and there is a slight difference in the quality in their bottles as opposed to those manufactured by Baccarat. This bottle continued to be made into the 1960s and was housed in the familiar burgundy and cream Guerlain box decorated with figures.

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The seventh bottle is a very well known example for Guerlain and it held the famous Shalimar. This perfume debuted in 1925, and the fountain shaped bottle was designed and produced  by Baccarat, and the design was also copied and used for Shalimar by the glass houses of Cristal Romesnil and Cristal Nancy.  The bottle is made up of clear crystal with a fluted base, and a blue glass washed stopper with Guerlain Paris in gold.

A very rare example will have the stopper in just plain clear crystal and gold lettering. This vintage bottle would have came housed in a purple flocked box. The Shalimar bottle got a modern makeover in the mid 1980s and now came with a plastic cap and spray nozzle. The original bottle continued to be made, but for the Parfum only.

During 1940-1945, because of wartime restrictions, Shalimar was presented in simple blue and white boxes called presentations de guerre, marked "Conditionnement provisoire du manque d'ecrin-la qualite et la quantite du parfum sont rigoureusement identiques a celles de notre presentation normale." Please see my guide on Shalimar here. The wartime presentations were used for all perfumes during this time.

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The eighth bottle is one you will probably not see much of, it is a tall, oval shape with a frosted and molded glass stopper and only came in one size. This bottle made its appearance in the late 1920s and had continued usage into the late 1960s. The label was located towards the base of the bottle. This bottle only held eau de toilettes for Shalimar, Apres L'Ondee, Mitsouko, L'Heure Bleu, Chant D'Aromes, Chamade, and Liu.

A precursor to this bottle was made in 1921 by Baccarat to house 3 different Guerlain scents, particularly, A Travers Champs. It looks slightly similar to this bottle, in clear crystal, and called "lyre shaped", except that it's stopper is clear crystal shaped like a French policeman's hat. The bottle will have a black and gold label and comes housed in a black marbelized paper covered box with white satin lining.

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The ninth bottle you will come across is the so called "rose stopper" bottle. This bottle was used for the pure perfume, also called extrait for many scents such as Mitsouko, Ode, Vol de Nuit, and  Shalimar. This bottle was made after 1955 with the introduction of Ode, and continued usage til about 1960. The bottle was a frosted and clear crystal curvilinear shape with a molded rosebud stopper. The bottle was designed and produced by Baccarat, so check the base for the acid stamp. The bottle was also manufactured by Pochet et du Courval, look for their HP mark on thebase of the bottle.  It was presented in the purple flocked box and the common Guerlain box shown below.

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The tenth bottle is a very common example, it is the round, disk shaped bottle with the conical stopper. Sometimes you will find this stopper gilded. The bottle came in several different sizes and debuted in 1937 and holds eau de cologne in several scents including Shalimar, Chant D'Aromes, Ode, L'Heure Bleu, Chamade,and Vol de Nuit, many of these came out in the late 1960s. and came with a black and white box. I believe this bottle continued to be used into the 1980s.

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The eleventh bottle is a ribbed elongated conical perfume bottle, called the parapluie or "umbrella" was made by Pochet et du Courval and made its debut in 1952. It had either a glass cap that matched the base, a goldtone cap covering the spray nozzle or a gilded screwcap. The glass stoppered bottles had a square footed base, these bottles were often made by Baccarat, so check for the mark. Some bottles came in a leather pouch. It was also presented in the purple flocked box and continued to be sold into the 1960s-1970s. A rare example is the 1956 bottle created for the marriage of Prince Rainier and Grace kelly. The bottle was housed in a beige flocked paper covered box, with white satin interior, and had gilded lettering printed inside the lid.

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The twelfth bottle, a taller, skinnier bottle was also used in the 1970s-1980s and had a goldtone cap over the spray nozzle, it had a black plastic disk imprinted with a G for Guerlain on the top, this bottle was packaged in the same black and white boxes as the disk bottles.

 Since the 1980s they were being packaged in both the familiar navy blue or gold boxes you see today and their caps lacked the black disk on top. In the 1980s, gold purse sprays were available for all scents and were in the navy and gold boxes. This is the same bottle taht I use that holds Shalimar eau de cologne.

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 In 1982, a limited edition goldtone cylindrical bottle was offered with a glass spray bottle,which could be replaced with a new refill when finished. These gold bottles hosted all Guerlain eau de toilette fragrances at one point between 1981 and 1989.

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As the millenium approached, Guerlain wanted a fresh, modern look for some of its bottles, and introduced the Habit de Fetelimited edition bottles. These bottles are an updated version of it's classic refillable styles, but come in three different sizes. The bottles are a thick goldtone studded with silver and copper dots. Refills for these bottles can be found at the Guerlain counters or purchased online.

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Some tips on dating Guerlain bottles:

• The presence of clear labels indicating contents were first used around the 1950s.

• Guerlain labels and presentation boxes featured the red Marly horse logo from about the 1930s and into the 1950s.

• On Shalimar bottles the old labels simply had Shalimar on the label, in newer bottles, they were also marked Guerlain just under the Shalimar name. The newer labels have Shalimar Guerlain Paris.

• By 1970, cosmetic companies were stamping colored numbers on the bottom of their products.This stamping usually consisted of four numbers and was visible on the bottom of each item. Older bottles from the 1930s-40s would have lot numbers or patent numbers embossed into the base of the bottle.

• Zip Code on a label denotes age meaning this bottle is from 1962 or later. Before 1937, no zip codes were used. From 1937 to 1962, two code numbers were used on mail and labels. In 1962, all zip codes were required by the US Postal Service.

• Another feature was the use of plastic caps placed over a ground glass stopper. The finest plastic caps began to be used after 1962.

• Old glass bottles might have etched matching numbers on the base of the perfume bottle and on the bottom of the stopper. This was done at the factory when the stopper would have been ground to fit the bottle, the numbers are to show which bottle goes with the right stopper.

• Older bottles stamped their name and origin somewhere on the bottle. In the 1940s, stickers replaced the stamping but were soon lost or destroyed, making it difficult to authenticate.

• At the beginning of the 20th century, revenue stamps appeared on the imported scents coming into America.This stamped container is very collectible, because of the information on that stamp.

• Always look at all sides of a bottle. Some labels can be read from both sides, looking thru the back of the bottle. You might encounter labels which have the date stamped on the back of the labels. Sample bottles from the 1950s onward, often had labels that would say "sample, not to be sold". Today's bottles read "tester". Factice, or display bottles, were not meant for resale, and will have labels such as: "dummy, not for sale".  

• Old labels turn brown naturally, however, water and perfume can cause stains on labels over the years.

• Look on the base of your bottle for acid stamps for Baccarat, Cristal Nancy or Cristal Romesnil, these markings add value to your bottle. Cristal Nancy closed their doors in 1934. Only from 1936, Baccarat bottles were systematically engraved with  a mark. Prior to this, they were acid etched, stamped and some had round paper labels, while many have no distinguishing marks.

• Older perfume will start to darken and the oldest perfumes have a syrupy texture.

• Sealed perfumes which look to have some perfume missing, have had their contents evaporated, this is caused by heat, and poor storage as well as aging.

• Older perfumes have onion skin paper or a blue or red colored thin celluloid-like seal.

Feel free to email me for details or any questions. I also have a perfume identification and appraisal service here on ebay, click on my Me page for info. Please see my site at www .freewebs. com/cleopatrasboudoir

Check out the 200+ guides & reviews  I have written on perfumes on ebay.

Copyright © 2007 cleopatra*s_boudoir.  This material may not be reproduced in any form, or linked to electronically, without the express written permission of the author.