CLEOPATRA'S BOUDOIR

This guide is about those mini perfumes that are marked Made in France on the base. These bottles are frequently found on the internet, but finding any sort of information about them is close to nil.

The bottles are almost always marked La Castillere and I believe these to come from one of the major perfume factories in Grasse France, the perfume capital of the world. Though I have seen labels on the boxes that mention Oberon, 9, Rue Scribe,Paris. Oberon was a French perfume company active in the 1920-1940s. From a 1939 ad: "Parfum Oberon. Three enchanting 2 Dram perfumes: Gaiety, Gardenia, On Top.  ... $1 PERFUME. Handcut crystal jewel applicator tops in Rose, Blue, Champagne color."

Since this is a purse size bottle, it may have been a souvenir type of perfume bottle to those who visited the perfumery in France and it could also have been sold to a American stores during the 1920s and an exported item for the general public.

These date to the 1920s-1940s.

The maker of these bottles is Pouchet et du Courval, a French glassworks who provided many perfume bottles to other companies. Their mark is an HP molded into the base. All decoration would be done at the glass factory. Many bottles are decorated with that silver overlay, hand painted enameling, or delicate etching. I have seen the majority of bottles in clear glass, and very rarely in milky opaline glass (opaline veritable) or blue.

Bottles usually had ornate silverplated caps with a glass dauber attached, sometimes the dauber is missing. I have had some luck polishing up the caps with a little bit of silver polish.

You might find the original boxes for the perfume sometimes. They are plain white cardboard covered with white paper or gilded paper and the label of the perfume's name, and a small felt or suede pouch that the perfume would have rested in.

Labels should be on the base of the bottle. It might say La Castillere Made in France and the perfume's name. Sometimes La Castillere France is embossed into the base of the perfume bottle.

The perfumes of La Castillere:

Chant d'Isles

Pomme d'Amour

Une Caresse