December 5, 2020
Perfume Passage Foundation is dedicated to preserving the history, beauty, and artistry of perfume bottles, compacts, ephemera and related vanity items. The Foundation seeks to educate and inspire visitors by illuminating the connection between perfume and the human experience


Around The World With Perfumes - Part 3
Mural representing the new world and women through recent history. Artist Sarah Anderson
Traveling The World
Borsari Lavanda Alpina (Italy 1936) Glass bottle, metal sailboat, plastic screw cap and base. Marked Casalmaggiore. Casal was center of Italian plastic production. 7 in.
Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, set sail to find a shorter and faster way to China by sailing west.  In the process, he reached the "New World" on October 12, 1492.

After sailing far across the Atlantic Ocean, Columbus sights a Bahamian island, believing he has reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.

At the time, Europeans knew no direct sea route to southern Asia, and the route via Egypt and the Red Sea was closed to Europeans by the Ottoman Empire, as were many land routes.
Kigu, 1950s gold tone Kigu world globe shaped musical compact, c 1950s 21/8 in.
Contrary to popular legend, educated Europeans of Columbus’ day did believe that the world was round, as argued by St. Isidore in the seventh century. However, Columbus, and most others, underestimated the world’s size, calculating that East Asia must lie approximately where North America sits on the globe (they did not yet know that the Pacific Ocean existed).
Florida Water, fountain of youth image Lanman & Kemp Inc. New York perfume booklet. Est. 1802. 
Intermezzo, Fibah, Cuba (1950)

Columbus's voyage of discovery also had another important result; it contributed to the development of the modern concept of progress. To many Europeans, the New World seemed to be a place of innocence, freedom, and eternal youth. However, the discovery of the New World threw many supposedly universal ideals into doubt.

  • Spanish exploration of the New World was led by Christopher Columbus and Juan Ponce de Leon, who invaded and colonized great parts of what would become South, Central, and North America.

  • The French Empire, led by Jacques Cartier and Giovanni da Verrazano, focused predominantly on North America.

  • The Dutch in New Netherland confined their operations to Manhattan Island, Long Island, the Hudson River Valley, and what later became New Jersey.

  • British explorations of the New World were led by John Cabot and Sir Walter Raleigh. Trading companies, such as the Plymouth and London companies, were granted charters to develop and expand British settlements.
Early 20th century store counter display. Harmony of Boston Co. New England Perfumes
Schafer & Vater Crown Top Indian with musket and pipe. 4.5"
British Empire: The United Kingdom, together with its dominions, colonies, dependencies, trust territories, and protectorates became the Commonwealth of Nations following the independence of many of its constituent countries.

New World: The continents of North America and South America combined.

The course of New World explorations was deeply affected by the settlers’ interactions with indigenous groups—interactions that, through a combination of violence and disease, resulted in massive declines in indigenous populations.
Canadian Apple Blossom Perfume, Palmers Distributors of Montreal. (1940) Pottery jug container. 4", Palmer's Limited Montreal established 1847
Calexico Cologne captures the spice of romantic Old Mexico. Windsor House Ltd.,
Los Angeles, CA (1946)
Paradise Eau de Cologne, Island Cosmetics Ltd., Nassau, Bahamas (1961)
Although niche perfume makers still cater to the very rich, fragrances today enjoy widespread use—and not just among women. The selling of perfume, however, is no longer just the purview of major perfume houses. In the 20th century, clothing designers began marketing their own lines of scents, and almost any celebrity with a lifestyle brand can be found hawking a perfume with their name (if not smell) on it. 
Examples depicting Colonization of the New World
Spanish Galleon Sailing Ship
Porcelain Perfume Lamp, Germany (1950's)
Edourd Fornells molded pressed bakelite white powder box. Lid with a sailing ship surrounded by parakeets and tropical foliage
Diameter 7" (1930's)
Selection of Early American Old Spice cosmetics with a colonial theme. Shulton, Inc. Clifton, NJ (1937)
Crown Top Turbinen Schnelldampfer (fast steam) "Europa" Steamship Souvenir bottle. Germany (1928)
A series of glass, silver gilt and jewels scent bottles, 19th century that made their journey to the new world finding their way to Perfume Passage.
Austro-Hungarian Blackmoor bust scent bottle, black glass head stopper gilt silver and heavily jeweled body with rare carved horse head seal base, 2 3/8 in., c1870
Douka by Marquay, c 1940s
Ad is from 1949
Globalization went hand-in-hand with the development of the fragrance industry and created uniform customs and standardization in all of the big cities. France played a predominant role in this "Grand Siècle" due to the combined and complementary activities of Grasse, the world's largest center of natural raw materials for perfumery and their derivatives, and Paris, the world's fashion capital. In the City of Perfume at the beginning of the twentieth century, the fragrance industry was characterized by the treatment of natural products, and had a virtual world monopoly.

After a flurry of creation with high cost products and an elitist distribution system, the second half of the twentieth century was marked by the provision of fragrances in greater quantities resulting in lower factory costs leading to lower prices. There were more frequent perfume launches and the average life of a product was restricted. With few exceptions, fragrance changed from being exceptional to everyday and from super selective to having mass market appeal.

Modern Times – The Business of Perfume in the 21st Century

Here are the 15 countries that sold the highest dollar value worth of exported perfumes during 2019.

The listed 15 countries shipped 91% of global perfumes exported in 2019 by value.

Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing perfumes exporters since 2015 were: Czech Republic (up 183.7%), Spain (up 58.8%), Poland (up 45.9%) and Singapore (up 39.2%)
These are the 20 largest companies currently participating in the cosmetics industry. These firms sell perfumes as part of the international markets.
Stefan Nowacki, Artist
Stefan Nowacki apprenticed and trained with John Mclaughlin and Michael Crawley at Royal Crown Derby's painting school in the late 1960s. In 1980 he started the Lynton Porcelain Company after leaving Royal Crown Derby. Lynton specialized in producing hand painted, high quality, bone china decorative porcelain, often in the style of early Royal Crown Derby porcelain.  Much of Lynton’s fine porcelain production was exported to wealthy collectors in the Middle East. 

Lynton kept alive the traditions and skills of Royal Crown Derby, whilst maintaining their own unique identity. 
 
Their china pieces were numerous and the patterns varied.   Stefan Nowacki was most known for the in depth detail of his sailing galleon in choppy seas which is shown here in an example found at Perfume Passage.  

This Lynton porcelain scent bottle in tubular shape with a cylindrical silver gilt neck and lion mounted stopper.  The bottle is decorated with a shipping panel and signed by Stefan Damian Nowacki – S.D.N.
The Lynton Porcelain Company closed in 2007.
Persimmon – The Lost Scent
One of the most famous perfume plants was the ancient Persimmon (not to be confused with the modern persimmon fruit). The ancient plant was grown in Ein Gedi by the shore of the Dead Sea.  

The process of growing the plant and manufacturing the perfume was kept a secret throughout generations. In 1988 a jar, believed to be full of the fragrant oil of the persimmon, was discovered in the Qumran caves beside the Dead Sea in Israel. 
Today, nobody knows what happened to this plant.  It is believed that during the war against the Romans, in the 1st century, the Jews of Ein-Gedi, who did not want to reveal the secret of growing this plant and  producing its unique perfume, decided to exterminate it and take its secrets with them to their graves.  

Israeli archeologists, searching caves near the Dead Sea, have discovered what they believe is a 2,000-year-old jug of once-fragrant oil of the kind used to anoint the ancient Israelite kings.

Even though the oil is thought to have been placed in its earthen container at the time of Jesus, it was still fluid and had maintained its original chemical composition, though it had lost its fragrance.

For a more in-depth article on this rediscovery, we invite you to visit the link provided and read: Balsam Oil of Israelite Kings Found in Cave Near Dead Sea by Joel Brinkley, Special To the New York Times  Feb 16, 1989
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We Look Forward to Seeing You Once We Safely Open Again

Located in the Chicagoland area, the Perfume Passage Foundation is 38 miles northwest of downtown Chicago and 25 miles from O'Hare International Airport.

Types of tours include:

  • Private docent-guided tours
  • Group tours
  • Symphony of Scents and Sounds