Perfume bottles have a powerful allure about them.  From the sparkling flasks of the 1900's to the doves of peace on the stopper of post- World War II L'Air du Temps, they capture the mood of the moment, with plenty of quirky flourishes to adorn the dressing table.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, fragrances were generally light and refreshing.  They were sold in plain packaging, then transferred to more attractive cut or tinted glass bottles for use at the dressing table.  In the 1920's several leading Parisian perfumers, such as Coty, began to offer new perfumes in Art Deco bottles.  The bottles were made by top glassmakers, such as Lalique, and were designed to complement the new, more sensual fragrances.

By the late 1920's many women aspired to own a bottle of French perfume.  Paris couturiers, such as Poiret, luched the first designer perfumes to reach a mass market.  Orientalism, then a fashionable style inspired many perfumes and their bottles such as Guelain's Shalimar, which was named after the gardens of Shalimar in India.  The classic Chanel No. 5 bottle has hardly changed since 1921 so even early examples are inexpensive.

During the 1930's streamlined Modernist designs captured the public's imagination and perfumes came in minimalists bottles such as Patou's Joy.  Surrealizm also proved influential.  Elsa Schiaparelli's perfume Schocking, instroduced in 1937, was inspired by the movement and sold in a bottle shaped like a dressmaker's mannequin.  After World Ware II there was a taste for ladylike clothes and sweet fragrances, such as Miss Dior, which was launched in 1947.  These perfumes came in bottles reminiscent of Victorian fashions.

Just some prices of bottles I have come across:

A gentleman's Baccarat crystal flask- $120-180 for a pair

A Baccarat design for Miss Dior- $200 - 300 a bottle

A Victorian cased ruby glass scent bottle $280-320