How to clean inside antique glass scent bottles?

Use warm water and a few drops of mild soap. A gentle swirl often loosens the old residue without needing harsh chemicals that might strip away any internal gilding. Avoid inserting stiff wire brushes. The glass is often much thinner than it appears, and scraping the inside can leave permanent scratches or break the neck entirely.

My silver top is stuck fast on the glass thread and I cannot unscrew it to smell the inside, is there a safe way to loosen it?

Patience is your main tool here. Old perfumes congeal into a hard, sticky resin over the decades, acting like a strong glue between the glass and the metal cap. Try applying a single drop of penetrating oil to the thread and leaving it for a few days. You can also wrap a warm, damp cloth around the metal cap to soften the dried oils, taking care not to subject cold glass to sudden heat.

What did the red glass ones hold?

The colour of the glass rarely dictates the contents. Red bohemian glass was simply fashionable during the mid-nineteenth century, chosen for its visual appeal rather than to code a specific fragrance. Owners filled them with whatever scent they preferred from their local apothecary.

I found a long bottle with caps on both ends but one side has a little pierced metal grill inside, what was this bit used for?

You have a double-ended bottle. The side with the plain glass stopper held liquid perfume, while the end with the pierced grille contained smelling salts or a sponge soaked in aromatic vinegar. Victorian women carried these when tight corsetry made fainting a frequent hazard. The sharp ammonia scent from the salts provided a quick shock to the system to revive them.

Home > Glass > Scent Bottles > Page 2

Antique Scent Bottles from the 19th Century

← Page 2 of 3 →

Small, decorative vessels designed to hold liquid perfumes or smelling salts, often carried in a pocket or suspended from a chatelaine to provide immediate relief from the pungent odours of everyday Georgian and Victorian street life.