Posted 12 years ago
reanee2
(3 items)
these are two bottles I would love to know more about. Both are hand painted. You can rub the paint off the surface so it is not baked on. Both are different sizes. Both have Mede Paris in raised letters on the bottom. The red bottle is full of some liquid that smells very much like perfume. Could anyone help tell me what these really are?
Hmm, smells like perfume? Could they be perfume bottles?.... Lol
Probably from the 10's-20's
Oh funny, lol. I am only guessing perfume. The bottle shape and stopper remind me of ale. That worries me.
They're deffinitely for perfume, handpainted bottles like this wouldn't be used for alcohol. Also, France is famous for perfume bottles. Does the stopper have a glass rod on the bottom? They break off a lot on antique perfume bottles, so if its not there, look close to see if it looks like it broke off
"La Mede" is the name of a town in Provence, the region which is widely considered as the perfume capital of the world. I will have a dig through my reference material and see if i can find any perfumeries that produced perfumes or flacons in that town.
They're STUNNING, by the way! A set any perfume enthusiast would love in their collection. :)
No that can't be right either, I rather foolishly overlooked the "Paris"! I agree with Stillwater: these are 99% likely to be perfume flacons. Now you have me very intrigued!
If the paint comes off easily when handled, do try and keep handling the bottles to a minimum... Such a shame to have them lose their exquisite finishes.
Uff! Me again :) Sorry!
Have just unearthed this old print advertisement from a paper in belgium. Unfortunately it gives no indication of the date, AND its also in French.
It would appear Mede made beauty preparations and cosmetics:
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/5487/615001.jpg
Perhaps there are a few more keywords you might be able to extract from this article to help you with your search :)
Im still green with envy, reanee2! :)
Note there are acute accents (aigus) above both 'e's': médé.
That sounds like "M'aidez!" and is a little pun in French.
The distress signal "Mayday" also comes from this expression
It also suggests Medea or Médée.
The Mayday callsign originated in 1923 by Frederick Stanley Mockford (1897–1962). A senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, Mockford was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency. Since much of the traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the word "Mayday" from the French m’aider. "Venez m'aider" means "come help me."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayday
Thank you all for your help. These bottles have been a mystery. The red bottle, my first, came from an antique store here in Tennessee. It seems to be quite full of liquid. The other I ordered from an ebay seller in England after I saw the bottom stamp Mede again. I had to have it to go with the first. The red seems to actually be red glass, which would have been more expensive to produce. If I am correct, red glass is made with gold bits to give it that color. Also, I thought that having a bottle produced with a name raised on the bottom must have cost a little extra too. Not the standard plain bottle for a small shop to use for their product. Then if they are actually hand painted? I am truly amazed.
VolDeNuit, the Mede article is very interesting. I can pick out few words; creme, soap, lotion... but no where could I find parfum. Yet, the advertisement might have been to boost the sale of items that sell slowly. What a pity we do not have a date, that would be so exciting! What fun it is to investigate!
I always wanted to find a French antique expert to look at the pictures, but not speaking French myself, it is hard to ask questions. You all have helped!
I have also the same parfumbottle. A other color. Can i send you a picture?
its 8 jaer ago now. Do you now more of this bottlel?