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Collections
Donna Tolson discovered a passion for the artistry
of antique perfume bottles 25 years ago. Today,
the Melbourne resident delights in the allure of her
collection, which includes more than 150
vintage Czechoslovakian pieces
Story by Anne Straub
Photos by David Potter
onna Tolson was in a Florida
antique shop when she saw
her.
The woman wore a floor-length
gown and stood admiring a bouquet
of flowers. Hands outstretched, she
appeared poised to lift the blooms to
her face.
Frozen in a timeless elegance,
the woman was etched in glass on a
stopper of a perfume bottle.
“I’d never seen anything like it,”
Tolson says of that first piece, which
she bought 25 years ago. “I was really
hooked.”
The purchase ignited a passion
for collecting that includes historical
research, takes her to shops around
the world and brings an Old-World
artistry to her North Melbourne
home.
That first bottle, Tolson learned,
is an example of Czechoslovakian
cra f tsmanship. Though she has
picked up irresistible pieces outside
the realm of her focus, Tolson concentrates on Czech bottles made
from 1918 to 1938.
The perfume bottle industry
flourished in the Eastern European
country between the world wars.
Germany’s invasion of Czechoslovakia shuttered production, destroying
facilities and causing many artisans
to flee.
Many bottles survive, having
been exported to the United States
or preserved throughout Europe.
Styles run the gamut: Some sport an
art deco flair, others are more classic.
Many of the bottles themselves are
exquisite but squat, with much of the
Left: The sparkling reflection of three elegant American Brilliant cut glass bottles,
ranging from 1876 to 1916, on a dressing table in the Tolson’s home conjures up
the feel of old-Hollywood glamour.
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Above: Tolson’s rarer bottles include a jeweled green bottle (far right) depicting “kissing
butterflies” etched into the stopper, and a peach bottle (to the extreme left), featuring the
front of a 1920s woman looking into a mirror, with the reverse intaglio showing her backside.
Right: This authentic Louis Comfort Tiffany bottle is one of the collector’s favorites. An “L.C.T.”
mark is scratched into its surface. The silken iridescent Favrille glass was made around 1905 by
combining real $20 gold pieces with acid and spraying the solution on the cooling glass. height and design focused on the stoppers.
Nudes, classical Greek figures, animals and flowers are popular themes for the stoppers, often pressed as
negatives from the reverse side into the glass, then frosted. The process, known as intaglio, is how her woman in
the formal dress got on the first piece she bought.
The glass itself is usually clear white, but in more
valuable pieces, it also can be green, purple, peach or
opaque malachite. Some include adornment with metal
work and colored glass jewels.
An intact dauber — the thin glass rod that stretches
from the stopper into the perfume — adds to the bottle’s
value.
Although the pieces had a function in storing fragrance, the makers ensured the beauty extended to the
container as well as the contents.
“I consider it art,” Tolson says.
The collection is a window to another time, as well.
“You look at the old-time movies from the 1920s
and ’30s, and you’ll see them on the dressing tables. To
me, it’s history,” she says.
Tolson checks the bottoms of the bottles for acidetched imprints and researches authenticity, but she also
trusts her eye. By this point, she can spot a reproduction.
Some reproductions are made in Czechoslovakia today,
using original molds that survived the war.
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Left: Donna Tolson of Melbourne holds a handset embellished amethyst perfume bottle, while
an assortment of jeweled intaglio and malachite
Czechoslovakian bottles rest on a nearby table.
Below: The first in her collection, this glass
Czechoslovakian-crafted piece portrays a draped
nude woman celebrating a bouquet of flowers.
“I’d never seen anything like it,” Tolson says of the
bottle, which started 25 years of passion and thrills
for collecting.
Many of her favorites were designed by Heinrich
Hoffman, one of the foremost Czech designers, who used
a small butterfly molded in the glass as his trademark.
She also owns some pieces by Hoffman’s son-in-law,
Henry G. Schlevogt, who used the mark “Ingrid,” after
his daughter. His surviving pieces carry the Ingrid name
on a paper label or acid mark. One of Tolson’s Ingrid
bottles features a chrysanthemum design in green glass.
In addition to appreciating the beauty, Tolson clearly
sees the creators behind the work when she looks at a
bottle.
“If they’d known how collectible they’d be today,”
she muses while looking at her collection.
Tolson is partial to the colored glass bottles, which
she displays primarily in two large glass cases. A third is
devoted to clear glass and malachite bottles.
Rather than organize the bottles by some criteria, she
prefers to “play” — rearranging for the greatest effect and
sparkle.
“I love my bottles,” she says with an almost childlike
happiness, gazing at the collection.
Sprinkled among the full-size perfume bottles are
purse bottles, made for a woman to carry in her handbag.
The smaller bottles were more likely to be broken in use,
and therefore are hard to find.
Oversized display bottles line the side of her bath,
filled with colored water to mimic the look used in
department store perfume counters.
She has almost 150 pieces on display, plus some
packed away. Her collection once grew to 200 pieces, but
she has sold or given away some bottles that don’t fit her
vintage Czech focus.
Tolson seeks out bottles during visits to antique
stores all over the world: A pink bottle with a crescent
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Above: Many of the collector’s perfume bottles are found in a display case in an office area of the
Tolson’s Melbourne home. The stoppers of many of these Czechoslovakian pieces, depicting flowers,
a crescent moon and other designs, are the main focus.
moon stopper was a find during a trip to Australia. She acquired
most of her bottles, however, at annual conventions of the International Perfume Bottle Association.
She credits her inclination toward collecting to her mother, who
acquired American Brilliant cut glass. The Brilliant period in the
United States began in 1876, when the prismatic glass was displayed
at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and marked the end
of dependence on Europe for designs. America shone in glass production until 1916, when the lead needed for cut glass blends was
diverted to making ammunition as the country became involved in
World War I.
Though American Brilliant cut glass is not her focus, Tolson
keeps a sample on a dresser. The set of three bottles features facetcut stoppers and sits on a dresser tray dating from about 1900.
(
“I couldn’t get rid of that,” she says.
She’s also partial to a 1905 bottle made of gold melted down and
shaped by Louis Comfort Tiffany, with a L.C.T. mark on the bottom.
“That’s the only Tiffany I have, but I couldn’t get rid of him,” she
says.
Tolson has many favorites, including a green bottle with a stopper depicting two butterflies set as though they’re kissing each other.
This year, she’s on the lookout for more green glass with embellishments to add to her collection.
Her husband, Bill, has learned to enjoy the hunt, as well.
Sometimes she’s looking for a particular item. Other times she’s
simply entranced by the beauty of a piece. The artistry and history
behind the creations add to the allure.
“Everything was so luxurious then,” she says. u
Above: An antique cabinet displays a collection of American Brilliant cut glass and clear
intaglio perfume bottles, malachite perfume bottles and purse perfume bottles, all made in
Czechoslovakia.