Hardware & Mountings at a Glance

In the dizzying world of antique perfume atomizers and daubers, collectors often have trouble identifying who made the glass and who made the hardware. It is important to remember that the atomizer companies sourced their glass from various parts of the world. Marcel Franck, Volupte Gironde, Pyramid and others all used glass from Czechoslovakia, Germany, USA, and France, so we can't just go by the glass itself. I have seen the same Czech bottles used by two different brands at the same time.  

Now we have to make distinctions, because DeVilbiss and TJ Holmes manufactured all of their own mountings, hardware, cords and bulbs and did not parcel out to other companies nor did they order it from other companies. These mountings were of brass, which were then plated with nickel or gold, and in the case of DeVilbiss, the rarest being of solid sterling silver, in the late 1920s and into the 1930s, bright, shiny chrome and rhodium plating replaced the nickel plated ones. The mountings are sometimes impressed with DeVilbiss or TJ Holmes on the metal collar, but not always, so check the base of the perfume. Soon, with enough experience and familiarity, you will be able to distinguish the Devilbiss ones from other brands. TJ Holmes had very distinct hardware which will be easy to spot.

Some desirable DeVilbiss bottles have the "acorn" finials on top of the double- arm mountings, some of these have tall domed glass jewel cabochons and came in different colors that usually matched the color of the bottle. Some acorn finials are plain metal in a gold finish. Czech companies also created a metal acorn style top. Other DeVilbiss hardware included domed buttons either of molded glass or Bakelite set into the top of the atomizer head. The Czechs also had what I call a “jewel top”, it is similar to the acorn bottle hardware for DeVilbiss, but it is quite distinct in the fact that it is a faceted glass jewel, instead of an acorn like cabochon.

The most common perfume atomizer heads are the rounded ball shaped variety, and the streamlined “aerodynamic” or "upturned beak" styles, both with an arched tube connecting to the cord. Each company had its own version of the ball shape, some had little knobs or finials protruding from the top, companies like TJ Holmes had a little release valve called the "Sealknob" which would make the atomizer leak proof, and some, like Marcel Franck had a faceted band around the middle. The aerodynamic styles were just as varied, from the angle of the spout, to the thickness or shape of the atomizer head, smooth or faceted sides, each varied from company to company.

The collars of the atomizers and dropper bottles often times had floral engraved or embossed designs, very modern abstract motifs, Art Nouveau swirls, Art Deco geometric motifs, or a beaded edge, and these are mainly found on DeVilbiss bottles, but other companies like Volupte and Pyramid and bottles out of Czechoslovakia and Germany also had similar collar designs. Some collars are simply plain with no decoration. The collars are affixed on the bottles using a plaster type adhesive. You can re-attach a collar using dental plaster.

The inside of the collars are known as ferrules and were either threaded or unthreaded. The threaded ferrule is used for a perfume atomizer, the unthreaded ferrule for a perfume dropper/dauber bottle.


American Machinist, 1932:

"A WELL-KNOWN manufacturer of finely finished perfume atomizers and droppers uses metal ferrules in large quantities. In an effort to reduce his cost on these items, he turned to Scoville."

The early cut glass atomizers were fitted with thin metal siphons, it wasn’t until the 1920s when the atomizers were fitted with long glass siphon tubes. The dropper bottles had stoppers with glass daubers with a rounded end, and some special bottles had gilded or chrome finished daubers. The daubers for the perfumes are fitted with a colored celluloid wafer or enamel, sometimes you will find cracks in the enamel or celluloid.

Czech stoppers looked very similar to DeVilbiss, however, I found that their celluloid wafer on top was thicker and slightly raised a bit higher than their DeVilbiss counterparts. Volupte’s stopper tops had a distinct floral embossed pattern. French and Bohemian atomizers generally have long thin metal siphons instead of glass, although Marcel Franck often employed glass siphons in his mountings..

The atomizer bulbs were covered with crocheted silk netting or left plain, some had tassels. Most of the time the bulbs and cords have hardened with age and will need to be replaced if you plan on using them. Sometimes you will find the bulbs on DeVilbiss bottles marked BF Goodrich Co along the sides. The crochet work was oftentimes a cottage industry and were mainly manufactured by local women.

DeVilbiss in 1928 patented a head that is unmistakably theirs, a new type of atomizer they called the 'Air Cushion'. This ingenious device consisted of a large metal disc standing perpendicular and attached to the back of the head at a slight angle. To emit perfume one simply pushed the center of the cushion rather than squeezing a bulb, and unfortunately, like the bulbs, these rubber cushions hardened with age. I don’t think these were very popular and hence were not produced for very long. There was a perfume series which employed this hardware, it was named 'Le Moderne' and was offered in DeVilbiss catalogs starting in 1928.

If you find a bottle without it's atomizer, ball, cord, glass dauber or glass siphon, don't pass it up!! You can order some replacements or have your pieces repaired from restorationists on the internet.

Mismatched Hardware

Throughout the years I have seen various bottles with “married” hardware. At times it is obvious, other times, its not. For instance, recently I saw a signed DeVilbiss bottle with a stamped Czechoslovakia collar and atomizer head or a Czech bottle with DeVilbiss hardware. I have even seen DeVilbiss bottles married with Marcel Franck or other French hardware. Make sure your bottle and hardware belong together, and if you suspect they don’t, please make mention of this fact when selling. Another recent occurrence is the marriage of old collars with new tops, although I do not frown upon this because they allow the bottles to be used, some sellers have not disclosed this in their listings.

Look at the hardware carefully, does the spray head fit tightly, is it wobbly? There are often small rubber washers in between spray heads and collars, over the years the rubber deteriorates, and may be lost, which may result in a space between the head and collar that might not look right.

Is the spray head the same color as the collar? For instance do you have a nickel collar and a gold plated top? This can be confusing. Over the years, gold plating can wear off from cleaning and reveal the nickel base metal underneath, so your collar might have remnants of the gold plating but the spray head might have been better preserved. Is the spray head a lot smaller in size than the collar? This might be a marriage. Does a small spray head it look out of place on a larger bottle?

Now to add to the growing confusion, I have found that companies such as Pyramid, Gironde and Volupte apparently used the same suppliers for their atomizer/dauber hardware. This is why you might find a collar that Volupte used with a spray head that Pyramid used, vice-a-versa. It might be tempting to immediately think your bottle has a hardware marriage, but, if the same top and bottom combination has been found more than once, it leads me to believe that the sharing of supplies was practiced.

I don't have a good reason why there is a massive amount of bottle bases (fitted with collars) that missing their spray heads. I suspect these may have been old store stock that were never assembled or when the companies went out of business, they sold off their remaining inventories. 

Hardware Comparisons

DeVilbiss

DeVilbiss "Ball Top with Bent Arm". This collar design is similar to one made by Volupte, however, Volupte's version is simpler, it doesn't have as much curlicues as the ornately scrolled DeVilbiss example.

This design almost looks like it was a ball that has been pinched between the thumb and forefinger.

This is an elliptical example with a shepherd's crook armature.

This one looks like someone cut the bud of a flower off in the center.

This example has an armature that resembles the letter G.

This example has a bezel set bakelite "acorn."

This looks like a Roman column that has been cut diagonally.

This example has a tall, elegant neck.

Aristo

This has a slanted or italic Greek key design.

 

The example on the left features an urn shape with downward falling armature, while the example on the right has a vertical elliptical shape bound in the center by a band connected to the armature.

 

Volupte

Volupte's collar and hardware designs closely resemble those from DeVilbiss, and it takes a skilled eye to make the distinction.

This Volupte example has a horizontal elliptical shape, with an armature that curves inward. Notice the distinctive rings on the collar which marks this as a Volupte example.

Volupte also used a flat disk shape head which has six sides. Sometimes it is stamped Volupte at the tope, most times it is blank.

This example has a repeating band with an "arrowhead" and diamond pattern.

This repeating band shows a circle set in between a "cloud-like" pattern.

Pyramid

This repeating band has an elliptical shaped "O" with a stylized floral pattern. It may or not be marked "Pyramid".

This armature reminds us of the one used by Devilbiss, with its acorn finial.

Various French Hardware:

AR Paris stands for Andre-Robert of 14, rue Paradis, Paris. Active during 1928.

This is an unusual decorative example in the shape of a fox's head, the spray emitting from its open mouth.

Kneppert Freres utilized a combination of a piston pump action with an angled spray head.

This Le Frisson example has a spray head with a flared circular end.

Various Czechslovakian Hardware:

This Czech example has its armature fixed at an asymmetrical angle. 

Austria

Germany

Marcel Franck

TJ Holmes

Gironde

Mignon:

Vant Woud

Erelbe (RLB:

Debans: