One of the first bottles used was the Rene Lalique designed bottle that featured the double moth/butterfly frosted glass stopper, patinated in brown. This bottle was originally designed by Lalique for the Coty fragrance Muguet (Lily of the Valley) in 1912, but was later used for almost all of the Coty fragrances. I dub this the "Moth Stoppered Flacon". The flacon is a simple square shape, measuring slightly over 3" per side, with straight shoulders, slightly convex, an indented base, a small neck and a fancy molded stopper.
It is listed as Rene Lalique - Model No. Coty-Perfume-16, circa 1910.
This flacon is pictured in the following books:
- Marcilhac, R.Lalique Catalogue Raisonne, page 929 of the 2011 French printing, under the reference "Coty 19" (photo 9).
- Utt, Lalique Perfume Bottles, 1990, page 26.
- Jones-North, Commercial Perfume Bottles, 1987, page 36
The authentic Rene Lalique produced bottles have intaglio molded "long-tail L" Lalique signatures on the base. They were made roughly from 1911 to about 1918/1919. The Lalique flacons came in two sizes: 3.34" tall and 3.93" tall.
In 1914, to save money, Coty commissioned Baccarat to make the flacons based on the original Lalique designs. This caused a falling out in the friendship which resulted in the two men not talking for 13 years. Eventually, the two friends made up and Lalique designed one last bottle for him in 1927. Baccarat started making the bottles in 1916, the bottle being mold number 307. These bottles have sloping shoulders, not as straight as those found on the Lalique flacons. These bottles should be acid marked Baccarat on the base. Like the Lalique flacons, the bottle also has an elongated oval indentation in the center of the base. The Baccarat bottle can be found standing at 3.25" tall. You can see this bottle pictured in the book "Baccarat: The perfume bottles" by Addor Press, 1986, as #307.
However, the Baccarat bottles also proved to be too expensive, and François Coty, who was excessively cheap, had the Lalique-copied bottles produced at his own glassworks in Pantin, France. Like those by Baccarat, these bottles have sloping shoulders, not as straight as those found on the Lalique flacons. The bottles made at the Coty glassworks are marked "Coty" on the base either embossed in the glass or acid stamped. Unlike the Lalique and Baccarat examples, the Coty made bottle does not have the elongated oval indentation in the center of the base, presumably to cut costs. The Coty base is flat.
The Coty marked bottle holds 1.6 oz of parfum and stands 3.25" tall, it was housed inside of a green leather covered box. Another size is 2.75" tall.
Looking at the base is a simple way to differentiate those made by Rene Lalique. This is important to note, because you will undoubtedly come across auctions and sales of these bottles where the seller or auction house claims they are Rene Lalique made bottles. They were not marked "R. Lalique" so beware of fake signatures applied to old non-Lalique produced bottles.
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