Q I often buy fashion-brand fragrances just because of the beautiful bottles and packaging. I noticed arts and antiques shops carry empty vintage perfume bottles. Are they worth collecting?
WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS
'There are two categories of perfume containers,' says vintage perfume presentations expert, author and curator Christie Mayer Lefkowith.
Decorative perfume bottles are made to be sold empty. 'They've existed in many areas of the world since antiquity, and have been made of a variety of materials,' she says. 'They were initially used during religious ceremonies. Many types of decorative perfume bottles are collected today, and are classified by when or where they were made.'
What you have at home, however, are so-called perfume presentations, which are made to market specific scents. 'Although it's impossible to establish an exact date, the first perfume presentation was created early in the 19th century,' says Lefkowith. 'As the marketing of perfume evolved, along with the development of modern transportation and distribution, the idea of presenting each perfume in a specific package emerged.'
For Lefkowith, perfume bottles have two lives. 'In the first life, a presentation has a commercial purpose: to make the perfume more saleable, by providing it with a unique identity and appeal. When the commercial purpose is no longer relevant, a perfume presentation enters a second life: that of an art object, which reflects the people, the events and the spirit of its time.'