Sweet success for vintage perfume bottles

A collection of over 160 perfume bottles, all from a local private collection in Surrey and carrying estimates ranging from £50 to £400, is to be offered by Catherine Southon Auctioneer & Valuers in their first sale of 2019.

The bottles range from glass and silver to double-sided, through to novelty, ceramic and coloured examples.

Catherine Southon explains, “I am delighted to be offering this vast collection which has been amassed over 30 to 40 years by one man, who became an avid perfume bottle collector! He went out with his wife one day and bought a single perfume bottle at an antique fair. After that it became a collecting habit and an obsession for her husband who would frequently go out to fairs and shops and return with a bottle! Sadly, the collector has passed away and the wife needs to downsize.”

Among the collection is a vintage cased set of Penhaligon’s enamelled glass perfume bottles; each of the six shaped glass bottles has applied labels and coloured enamel and sterling silver stoppers. It is estimated at £100 to £200.

The sale takes place on February 27.