Perfume Pilgrim

My first antique bottle purchased over 20 years ago was a full bottle of Parfum Violette by Morny. Who could have guessed then that I would be living near the old shop premises of that point zero bottle. On my recent visit to Australia, I retrieved from storage some of my vintage bottles, including the apothecary shaped Jicky by Guerlain with 1/5 of the gold liquid remaining, vintage Chanel 5 almost half full, as well as Mitsouko by Guerlain. I also have several vintage miniatures of other London perfumers including Gardenia by Ryot of London and Potter and Moores Mitcham Lavender, who also still make perfume. As part of the research for the perfume tours I am trying to locate former old perfume houses and the famous perfumer’s streets of olden times.

But in homage to my Morny bottle I will dedicate this brief blog entry to it. 201 Regent Street has an interesting history. From selling pianos in the 19th century to perfume in the early 20th  and currently Church’s shoes owned by Prada are housed there. The site is on the corner of Conduit and Regent Street. Here is a lovely image from the Mary Evans Picture Library. Morny were established at these premises in 1910 in London and they were so successful that they even opened a branch in Paris. My bottle label says that they had a store in New York aswell. Some of their perfumes include Chaminade from 1908, June Roses from 1922 and Essence Mysterieuse, whose advertisement is pictured below, also courtesy of Mary Evans picture library.

Morny perfumes can still be purchased in selected chemists, though I believe the label has been taken over by Malibu Sun. Their fragrance range includes Lavender, Rose, Sandalwood and Fern. According to an article in a packaging journal they have just redesigned their packaging and relaunched some of the traditional English scents, including Lily of the Valley, just this January. So, I hope they will be appearing on chemist shelves  in London shortly. With regards to my Violette perfume, I am extremely curious about how it smells and have been tempted on numerous occasions to prize the glass stopper from its apothecary shaped bottle, but the lid is stuck! Any suggestions on how I may open it without damaging the bottle would be most welcome.

Image Credits: Courtesy of the Staff at Church’s shoes, who currently reside at 201 Regents Street, the two side images are of the frescos, which belong to the Crown Estate and would have been exactly the same interior marble and frescos at the time of the Morny Shop, due to conservation stipulations.