Buying & Selling

Buying Atomizers

Auctions, estate sales, flea markets, bottle shows. Another great place to acquire or just see these elegant perfume bottles would be at the annual Perfume Bottle Auctions. You can find information about them at www.perfumebottles.org, the website for the International Perfume Bottle Association. They also have a wide variety of DeVilbiss, Mignon Corp, Volupte, Irice, Marcel Franck, Czech and other names. Be sure to check out 'Perfume Bottles Auction', the IPBA'a annual perfume bottles auction, where you may have the chance to own some rarities.

The annual Rago Arts Lalique Auction is another wonderful place to purchase DeVilbiss, Volupte, and Czech bottles, these usually tend to be more on the rarer side and can sell over a few thousand dollars in some instances.

You may encounter many different DeVilbiss and competitors perfume bottles on eBay and Ruby Lane with reasonable prices, some way below book value. My advice for buying bottles from eBay is to buy from a seller with a good feedback record, check out the responses from other buyers. If the picture on the auction is blurry or too dark, send the seller an email and ask for more pictures before bidding on the item. Read the entire description fully before bidding, if there is anything you'd like to know about the bottle that the seller hasn't mentioned, especially condition, again, send them an email, as sellers would rather you ask before the auction ends. Also ask about any chips or cracks to the bottle, or any wear or other information that isn't obvious in the picture or mentioned in the listing. Sometimes, a seller has had no experience in selling perfume bottles, so it is important to keep this in mind and ask questions if they have left out info in the description.

Selling Atomizers

If you plan on selling DeVilbiss or other competitors perfumers be sure to include the following:

• Measurements of the bottle.
• What is the condition of the bottle? (any chips cracks, flea bites, perfume residue, staining, any scratches to the bottle, wear to the finish on the hardware, verdigris, etc.)
• Is your piece signed, are there any signatures or markings on base or collar, is there a label or hang tag present?
• Do you believe the hardware is original to the bottle, has the hardware been replaced?
• Is there a siphon inside? If so, what is it made of: glass, metal or plastic?
• Is there any wear to the finish, paint rubs or fading on the bottle?
• Does the bottle come with it's original box or paperwork?

If you need an appraisal of your bottle, contact me.