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Questions about a giant Shalimar parfum bottle

post #1 of 15
11/22/10 at 9:57am
Thread Starter 
I bought an enormous bottle of Shalimar parfum at the weekend from an extremely nice eBay seller. It's 125 ml so it's pretty enormous for the extrait. Well it seems big to me, anyway!

(Here's my lovely assistant modelling the bottle)



I am thrilled with it. Shalimar is my favourite scent in the world and it smells divine. I am curious about it though - like, when did Guerlain start and stop making these huge bottles of extrait? (And indeed why - it's AWESOME). The very nice lady I bought it from bought it new from Harrods (it was still sealed in the Harrods cellophane) during a Guerlain event at Harrods hosted by Roja Dove and thinks this was about eight years ago. In case it helps, the parfum comes in a purple case, and has a glass stopper rather than plastic.

I don't intend parting with it because I love it and will wear it often but I'd be very grateful to know more about my new purchase.
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post #2 of 15
11/22/10 at 2:34pm
Looks beautiful Congratulations!

According to the Atlas / Monniot Guerlain bible, this beauty should be standing a whopping 20.8cm tall! Whilst this book is a treasure-trove of information and its lists quite extensive, strangely there is no specific information as to when the 125ml flacon was created, though it does list it as 'currently available' at the time this book went to print (1997). The likelihood is therefore that your bottle is late 80s - late 90s in vintage.
Enjoy it and treasure it!
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post #3 of 15
11/22/10 at 2:45pm
Lovely piece and congratulations ! It's a beautiful bottle !
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post #4 of 15
11/22/10 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sorcery of Scent View Post

Looks beautiful Congratulations!

I bet you'll like to get your fingers on this jawdropping beauty, huh, my dear Dimi?!

Congratz, Promethea ... may I ask, 'cause I know everybody wanna know; how
much did you pay for it?!

Can we see the box, too? Pretty please!
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post #5 of 15
11/22/10 at 3:01pm
((jealous))

Probably stopped making them this big because with that much juice in a bottle, the higher the probability of it not being stored properly and perhaps turning bad?
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post #6 of 15
11/22/10 at 9:51pm
There is something fabulously decadent about these big bottles of parfum...

I have an old 60 ml bottle of Shalimar, and even this smaller size feels like an incredible luxury.

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post #7 of 15
11/22/10 at 9:57pm
Luxury incarnate. Beautiful. Congratulations on the purchase.
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post #8 of 15
11/22/10 at 11:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Le Grand Duc View Post

I bet you'll like to get your fingers on this jawdropping beauty, huh, my dear Dimi?!

Congratz, Promethea ... may I ask, 'cause I know everybody wanna know; how
much did you pay for it?!

Can we see the box, too? Pretty please!





The box, as requested! It was funny - because the box was sold as sealed, the seller couldn't tell me any details about the inner box or the bottle. I was expecting a utilitarian, refill type bottle. I started laughing in sheer joy when I opened the box to find this huge fan bottle. it just struck me as funny - those bottles are in my head as 'supposed' to be very small. But it was a bit like seeing tiger kittens, you know? They're obviously still kittens but are giant in comparison to regular kittens.

Also, I paid £250 for this. And felt slightly sick about doing so at the time, let me add. What with not knowing what was going to be under the wrappers and also heck just 'cos that's a lot of change. More than I've ever spent on perfume. Heck, there aren't a lot of things I've ponied up so much for all in one go for a luxury item. However, as buying a bottle of Shalimar 30ml parfum new these days can set you back £180-ish, put like that it seemed more bearable.

Thanks to all who said nice things about the bottle - it's nice to be somewhere where Shalimar is loved so much And also for the extra info about the big bottle. A pity they stopped making them - I'm sure I'm not the only person who would save up my pennies to buy these enormous bottle of the classic Guerlains but I take the point about storage.
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post #9 of 15
11/22/10 at 11:50pm
Congratulations. I hope you are going to wear it and not just have it as a centre piece? It deserves to be loved and worn.
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post #10 of 15
11/23/10 at 12:18am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by donna255 View Post

Congratulations. I hope you are going to wear it and not just have it as a centre piece? It deserves to be loved and worn.

Oh, it's going to be worn, and often! I was wearing it just to mooch about the house on Staurday less than 15 minutes after first unwrapping the box. I did hesitate for a tiny moment but just because I hate cutting the little string on the bottleneck so much. It's not fun in the way that pressing a spoon through a new jar of coffee is, it feels more like I'm breaking something pristine. Even more so in this case because it had a little seal to peel off too. That's one of the reasons I took the first photo - at least I can look back on it when it was all sealed and brand new. Well, all sealed anyway.

For the first time I'm going to actually do what the senior Guerlain SA at Fortnum and Mason's always pleads with me to do with the parfum, though. Namely wipe down the stopper with a piece of silk before putting the glass stopper that's touched my skin back in the bottle. In the past I've just smiled politely and reflected that the bottle is likely to be gone before my skin cells and oils reach such critical mass as to start corrupting the beautiful parfum.
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post #11 of 15
11/23/10 at 2:30am
Beautiful! And 250 is quite reasonable - just look at how much a sealed 1 oz bottle goes for on EvilBay...

Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeperez23 View Post

((jealous))

Probably stopped making them this big because with that much juice in a bottle, the higher the probability of it not being stored properly and perhaps turning bad?

Sour grapes?
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post #12 of 15
11/23/10 at 7:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Promethea View Post

Oh, it's going to be worn, and often! I was wearing it just to mooch about the house on Staurday less than 15 minutes after first unwrapping the box. I did hesitate for a tiny moment but just because I hate cutting the little string on the bottleneck so much. It's not fun in the way that pressing a spoon through a new jar of coffee is, it feels more like I'm breaking something pristine. Even more so in this case because it had a little seal to peel off too. That's one of the reasons I took the first photo - at least I can look back on it when it was all sealed and brand new. Well, all sealed anyway.


Promethea, I just had to drop into this thread to congratulate you! I've promised 2 stay away from this forum(currently not reading any other thread but this one), but when I saw the title of this thread, it reminded me of the exuberance I felt when I received these in the mail:




The almost full bottle in the background was unsealed,but came with the mauve(?) box on the left from a delightful English seller named Dee who mainly sold toys and let this 2.5 oz(75 ml) treasure go for £67.75.

Was so afraid that the juice would be diluted or tampered with, but it smells smokily sensual, almost petrol-like at the top, and then warms up to a wonderful sweet vanilla-incense that lasts for a long time!

Cross-checked with another 1 oz bottle of '70s extract that I bought, and they agree with each other in all phases and in longevity.

I still consider that bottle to be the best buy of 2010 for me, and the fact that it was actually a Baccarat-marked bottle was an unexpected bonus for me...

Enjoy your wonderful buy!
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post #13 of 15
5/30/11 at 3:03am
hey.. i have exactly the same-sized bottle as your picture, except my juice looked darker and the front sticker just says shalimar. anyway, adore adore the parfum. when i first opened up the box it reminded me of something. I finally recalled that it smelled very similar in structure to the vintage jicky (8oz) in the square glass stopper i bought earlier on. these vintage stuff smells quite different from the newer stuff... but i cannot really point a finger to it. nonetheless, these giants are probably my two most beloved bottles...
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post #14 of 15
12/19/11 at 4:10pm
Drool - what a BEAUTY. How does it smell?
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post #15 of 15
12/19/11 at 4:21pm
Yowsa! Those are to die for! Could I please have a measurement in inches? How tall are these bottles? I think I may have one. If not, it is an intermediate size. I received mine as a gift and immediately tried to ascertain its value. They are sky high on the internet. What a score. Sadly mine was empty. The juice must be delightful. It was my first perfume love as a 12 year old.

(Later edit)



Here is my bottle: It is hard to see but it is just over 6", maybe 6 &1/4" tall.
I think this is the large one. It has 125c on the bottom.



Note the etched numbers in the glass on the bottom.



The back shows the price and the name of the customer.
It's from Miller & Paine dept Store here in Lincoln, NE.
I'm pretty sure this was from the 1940's.
It belonged to my friend's Mother-in-law.
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