Nuit De Noel perfume bottle & its lasting sweet smell

The cardboard box with the cut-off top was in the center of the table and reachable only if I stretched my arms. From where I stood at the edge of the table, I could tell that its contents were a little different from the other boxes and would be worth the effort.

So I stretched to retrieve it, eager to see what goodies were lurking in it. I was actually hoping that it contained some interesting items, because my walk-through of the auction house had revealed not-a-thing worthy of my attention.

With the box in front of me, I opened a faux leather case that contained an old stethoscope with a pointed rubber tip where I would expect to see a flat attachment for listening to the heartbeat. Interesting but not very exciting. Then I saw a plastic bag of sewing buttons that were; I’m a sucker for anything sewing-related, especially old buttons, some of which can rival antique jewelry in their beauty.

Digging farther down into the box, I found a handful of compacts, several with dual compartments containing light-colored face powder and a deep rose rouge. I’ve come across compacts before with and without powder but rarely did they also have rouge.

They carried the names of some companies that I recognized – Yardley, Richard Hudnut – and one had an inscription not recognized – Innsbruck. Another had an Art Deco design but no maker’s name.

The box also contained other sundry items: a clear glass etched dragon, three Mother of Pearl carved fish, a finger-sized Bible with the Four Gospels of the New Testament in small but readable print, jewelry-making beads, skeleton keys.

Then I came upon a lime green oval-shaped box with a tassel. Opening it at one end, I pulled out a lovely black opaque perfume bottle with a faceted geometric stopper and a gold band just below the shoulder. I’m also a sucker for perfume bottles, have picked up a few from time to time and saw a magnificent display of  bottles several years ago.

This bottle was no more than 3 inches tall and fit in the palm of my hand. It was empty but after removing the stopper and sniffing at the opening, I could still smell the sweet scent of the perfume that it once held.

The name of the perfume was on the gold band but the script was so stylized that I could barely decipher it. “La Nuit De Scoel Caton,” it seemed to say. Googling, though, I found that it was actually “La Nuit De Noel Caron” and that the fragrance was developed in 1922 by the design house Caron in Paris. The name translates into Christmas Eve, and the smell was described as “floral woodsy and spicy.”

Ernest Daltroff, a chemist who had a strong nose for fragrances and a passion for roses, founded Caron around 1904 with his brother, both Russian Jews who apparently settled in Paris. Daltroff was not trained as a perfumer, but was raised in a household with a mother who loved her fragrances and would dab a little perfume behind his ear.

In 1906, the house was joined by a former dressmaker named Felicie Wanpouille (also mentioned as Felicie Vanpouille and Felicie Bergaud on some sites), who became its creative advisor and Daltroff’s collaborator. According to the company website, she inspired his creations. Several sites mentioned her as his mate.

Wanpouille designed most of the unique and fashionable bottles for the Caron perfumes – including Nuit De Noel – and Baccarat manufactured them. Early in the 20th century, Baccarat made bottles for a number of perfume companies – some marked (sometimes with an etched mark) and some not. It started applying a logo on the bottles after 1936.

Caron’s first successful creation was the fragrance Narcisse Noir in 1911, which was later immortalized by Gloria Swanson in the 1950 movie “Sunset Boulevard.”

Daltroff left France for the United States in 1939 to escape the Nazis. Wanpouille ran the company until 1967 when she died at age 93, according to the company website. Another site noted that she retired in 1962 at age 92 and died in 1967.

The Nuit De Noel was made for the Roaring Twenties, down to the gold band that resembled a flapper’s headband. The original box was made in the shape of a small purse covered in paper that resembled shagreen (a rough untanned rawhide), with a tassel at one end. The name and location of the company in Paris was printed in gold inside the cap. The bottle was 4 ½” tall, and the box 4 5/8”.

The bottle and box maintained that appearance through the 1950s, according to a site that offered pointers on how to determine the age of a Nuit bottle.

Nuit De Noel is one of Caron’s early fragrances that is still made today by a company bearing the original name but with different owners.

Surprisingly, the bottle at auction was in good condition with no scratches or chips, but the box showed some wear. I have no idea, though, of when it was actually made, except perhaps before the mid-20th century.

The prices I found on the web for the perfume bottle and box were all over the place. On eBay, they were sold with and without perfume, and in various sizes – from $257 for a sealed bottle with the shagreen box and outer box, to an empty bottle and shagreen box for $9.99.