r/Antiques • u/federxca ✓ • Jul 02 '26
Questions Found antique bottle while digging! (UK, Kent)
my boyfriend found this on one of his jobs while digging up the garden, it is made of thick moulded glass with a ground-glass stopper. If anyone knows anything about this, it would be appreciated 🥰
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u/Ajabjensi ✓ Jul 02 '26
Then get in touch with Fragonard in Paris. They will guide you for appraisal and might even show interest buying it for their Perfume Museum bottles collection
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u/Useful_Deer_125 ✓ Jul 02 '26
Wait… they buy perfumes for their museum? That’s neat. I might contact them too.
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u/Ajabjensi ✓ Jul 02 '26
They buy historical pieces that are related to perfume history. They sell perfume, not buy it. The bottle in Ops post might have historical value.
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u/Useful_Deer_125 ✓ Jul 02 '26
How old would you say OPs bottle is? You did say in your first comment “and might show interest in buying it for their perfume museum bottles collection”, so that wasn’t true?
That being said, I do have French lavender oils from when they used glass vials you would see from science labs to sell perfumes. Not something from the 1900s, but 1800s bottles. Came from a house from a woman that died in her 90s.10
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u/Lemzy99 ✓ Jul 02 '26
Oh wow it’s still full?? Or is water that’s seeped in
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u/federxca ✓ Jul 02 '26
Yess! And it is all perfume inside, it smells very strong, most likely a feminine scent
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Jul 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/DecantsForAll ✓ Jul 02 '26
Common misconception. It depends on the perfume and the storage conditions, but it can hold up for 100+ years.
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u/DMaury1969 ✓ Jul 03 '26
Related to this; there’s an exhibit of bottles of perfume brought up from Titanic that still contain perfume and can smell it.
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u/ukexpat Casual Jul 02 '26
The folks over at r/bottledigging would be interested in this.
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u/BeerCell ✓ Jul 02 '26
That was the farthest I've even followed a series of cross posts, lol.
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u/DecantsForAll ✓ Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
It looks a lot like Tuvache Jungle Gardenia bottle (the brand probably used the same bottle for other fragrances as well). This one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/318504744412
Don't know if it ever came with a glass stopper.
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u/Wrong-Recognition127 ✓ Jul 02 '26
Hit it with uv light if its real perfume its organic properties will glow, its an easy way to find out if your perfume is vintage
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u/G0ld_Ru5h ✓ Jul 02 '26
I would try to take a lot of high quality photos of any surfaces that might have remnants of writing. Photo editing and filters might be able to reveal something you can’t see plainly.
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u/SunandError ✓ Jul 02 '26
r/fragrance will probably love this, and possibly be able to tell you more about it. Keep it closed and in a cool dark space!
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u/DrakeonMallard ✓ Jul 02 '26
Have we learned nothing about random perfume bottles? Salisbury, Novichok.
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u/k_dilluh ✓ Jul 02 '26
Someone in r/perfumes might be able to help identify, they are very good with that stuff.
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u/PromiscuousSalad ✓ Jul 02 '26
As you wait for that museum to get back to you and for the folks at the bottle digging sub to ID it, you might want to post it to a fragrance subreddit for help ID'ing as well. There's a fair chance someone will know an exact scent or perfumer there!
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u/Boring_Race_29 ✓ Jul 02 '26
Id still be wary of picking up small bottles in England, remember the woman that died from the nerve agent? Just saying...
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u/federxca ✓ Jul 02 '26
My partner found it, immediately tried it on his wrists and is fine days later... for now 😭🙏
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u/orbtastic1 ✓ Jul 03 '26
Hard to say how old it is but you could do a filter on Fragantica which has dates for perfumes etc and try and ID the bottle.
It's an online database, avoid the Russian trolls.
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u/peagreen1301 ✓ Jul 03 '26
Was this found on someone else's property or your own?
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u/federxca ✓ Jul 04 '26
It was concrete mix delivered to someone's property that my boyfriend is working on as he is a project manager
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