Reader Request: Perfume Detectives Needed!
I received the following email, and while her description sounds eerily familiar to me, I am utterly unable to figure out why. Perhaps one of you could help Tina track down a beloved fragrance from her past?
I have a question and was told you might be just the person to help me find the answer. About 30 years ago my Aunt gave me a bunch of little sample perfumes in pretty little bottles, one of them I really really loved, it was a clear perfume, it had a train engine on it and “#7″ or “Old #7″… It reminded me of 7up when I smelled it, kind of citrus-y. I know it’s a long shot, but does it ring any bells with you? My memory could be a little off with the train too… ???
Thank you.
Tina”
I’m sure she’d appreciate any clues or remembrances you might be able to share. Thanks in advance!
K, she asked us too. We sicced her on you! ;-) I do wonder, do you think she’s thinking about 4711? Only one 7, but it says No. on it … plus fanciful … OTOH I wonder if it’s an old Avon? Not sure how she’d ever find that. I did look around, though.
marchlion
12 Feb 07 at 2:06 pm
I kept thinking “Avon,” too… but my own queries (non-internet) have rendered nothing yet to jog my memory further. I’m hoping someone will read that and say, “Aha! I know exactly what that is.” But I’m useless, too :(
Scentzilla!
12 Feb 07 at 3:30 pm
Could it be something Shulton or Mary Chess made?
Also if we knew how old she was or her aunt where they lived .
It does sound like 4711 especially if you don’t really look at the blue label closely, the little circles could seem train-like.
Last resort - sniff a tester of 4711.
Good luck!
Mary Alice
12 Feb 07 at 11:13 pm
I’m not sure, either. Could be! Since the timing is the 70s, that’s why I kind of considered Avon specifically. My mom collects train stuff, but she’s got nothing of the like, unfortunately. I agree though, the 7-Up aroma sounds like it could be 4711. The description of it as “Old No. 7″ also sounds like it could have been a novelty fragrance from Florida as a tourist item, too. Don’t know. It also conjurs up novelty whiskey as No. 7, weirdly enough, but for the fact that it was a fragrance. It’s a curious mystery!
Scentzilla!
13 Feb 07 at 7:13 pm
Hi,
Great article; you know I think I read a bit more on perfumes at Femail.com.au. Great site with lots of stuff, content and great comps!
Cheers
faded curtains
15 Feb 07 at 8:24 pm
Hi, and welcome faded curtains. Hope to see you around again :)
Scentzilla!
17 Feb 07 at 2:22 pm
My parfum is Dark Rose of Czech & Speake, but I can’t finded anymore.
Please, would you help me?
Paty superthank
patrizia proietti pelecca
25 Feb 07 at 6:47 am
I’ve had word that production was supposed to have begun again, but if you cannot still find it directly through Czech and Speake, my advice would be to look on eBay. There are some US sellers that are making decants available, though I”m not sure if they ship worldwide or not? I don’t spot Dark Rose any more on their offical page, sadly!
Scentzilla!
27 Feb 07 at 12:01 am
I ALSO NEED A PERFUME DETECTIVE. I WENT TO AN AUCTION IN THE US LAST YEAR AND PURCHASED 2 BOTTLES OF BAL a VERSAILLES, (ONE WITH
PERFUME HALF FULL IN IT)BY JEAN DESPREZ NET CONT. 1FL OZ MADE IN FRANCE AND THE OTHER 9 FL OZ MADE IN FRANCE HAS A DIFFERENT BOTTLE SHAPE AND CORK WITH A ROUND STICKER EMBLEM COLORED GOLD AND SAGE GREEN STATING PARFUM DE TOILETT, INSIDE THE ROUND CIRCLE IS HANDWRITING NAME JEAN DESPREZ PARIS IT HAS A ROUND BALL LIKE STOPPER SHAPED LIKE THE STRING INSTRUMENT CELLO. CAN ANYONE ADVISE ME WHERE I CAN GET INFORMATION AS FAR AS VALVE? THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR HELP :}
PATTY-JO SANDERS
PATTY-JO
1 Mar 07 at 4:38 pm
Hi Patty-Jo. As far as value goes, you’d be best off consulting a bottle collector’s guide or a bottle collector’s association. (Bottle collectors are better prepared to assess pricing than those of us who are more “juice” collectors.) If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to find a new-ish guide book at a library, which is nice. I’m afraid I tend to be more interested in the history and the juice inside the bottle than value! The older Desprez bottles can be quite desirable (relatively speaking) for many collectors, and Bal a Versailles is such a beloved and famed fragrance that I am sure you’ll be able to find info on that in a guide or via consulting with someone who is a serious bottle collector.
Scentzilla!
2 Mar 07 at 10:02 am
hi scentzilla– i have used your site to research my perfume buys and your logo is kind of a bitzilla/slow loader, so i thought i’d repay my datamining (and speed up my future visits) by optimizing it to 50kb. its the same size text, transparent bkg. if you want it, email me and i’ll send it on. thanks for the good site!
scentzilla user
27 May 07 at 12:21 pm
Hi, I know it\’s so big, isn\’t it? I sort of dithered over whether or not I wanted to shrink the image quality or not. However, I wasn\’t aware the loading was an issue at all for anyone, so thank you for bringing it to my attention. The current logo is a png with transparent background, which unfortunately not all browser versions will recognize it seems. (I notice some versions of IE especially don\’t like pngs very much! Not sure about Mac browsers.) I\’ll fiddle with it in the coming week and see if I can resolve some of the slowdown. Not sure what to do with the background - I hate using gifs for the most part, so not too sure what I\’ll do about that. Thanks for the feedback, it\’s quite appreciated.
Scentzilla!
27 May 07 at 1:36 pm