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| One of a Kind |
There was an accident in the bathroom the other day (not that kind, no toilet paper needed), and my vintage Lilac Vegetal, which was three-quarters full, was shattered on the tile floor. My immediate thought upon hearing that this had happened was that it was no different than if someone had dropped a common drinking glass on the floor, as it was simply a glass object containing a lot of fluid. But it also occurred to me that the passing of this particular glass object posed a larger problem: replacement.
If you're a member of Badger & Blade, or just a guy who collects fragrances, you know what it means for something like this to happen. I considered myself lucky to have found an unopened midcentury bottle of Lilac Vegetal, and to be the first (and I hoped only) person to open it and use it. I still believe I'm lucky to have had it in my possession, and to have worn several ounces of its contents. But when I considered the ramifications of its being broken, I realized that the odds of my ever finding another bottle of that quality again were exceedingly slim. Sure, there are other vintages of Lilac Vegetal out there, and yes, some of them are quality specimens and deserving of buyer reverence. But chances are I will never find another new vintage of untouched midcentury stock again. That was a once-in-a-lifetime deal, and even the luckiest are not that lucky again.
With that said, what's done is done, and I can't resurrect the bottle, so there's no point in crying over spilled Veg. The task now is to find another vintage of comparable value, and to take no prisoners in securing it. I scanned the various merchant sites for items, and found only one of comparable quality, a barbershop bottle from the late seventies or early eighties, with label in good condition and, most importantly, the phrase "Lilas de France" clear and unsullied. For some reason many vintages that pop up online seem to have excessive fading and/or tearing on that part of the label, so finding a bottle with it looking close to new is exciting. The image of this particular item is below:
I paid about $84 for my former bottle after winning it at auction, which of course came down to the last split second. It was a tight bidding war with two other eBay members, one of whom dropped out a little early and left the other to spar with me up past the sixty-dollar range. Time and date matter with vintage Pinaud. In 2020 there were a few more readily available items on eBay, and it wasn't uncommon to see at least three good vintage specimens every week ("good" being defined as any aftershave or cologne housed in glass). Thus finding the "new old stock" Veg was exciting but not surprising. I found it gratifying to win the auction, but was also of the mind that a similar bottle would appear again, and indeed at least one has in the time since.
This is no longer the lens through which to view vintage Pinaud products. There is increased scarcity in 2024, as several more years have passed and supplies have thinned. As with any vintage fragrance, Pinaud vintages have been winnowed by time until scantly anything but the unaffordable are left. Take for example the Eau de Quinine tonics on eBay this season: None of these are reasonably priced, except for one bottle that was priced under one hundred dollars because someone was stupid enough to write "$5.00" on the label in black magic marker. There is a large bottle of the tonic priced at $1K, which is exorbitant at any size. There is a four-ounce bottle priced at one hundred dollars, which is a bit high, but the point is that Eau de Quinine in shampoo and tonic form is one of the most expensive due to its having been mentioned in a James Bond novel, so a bottle of either form of this scent at or over 100 ml. is reasonable for between eighty and three hundred dollars. (If I were into it, I would pay the max price without a second thought.)
There are four things I look for in vintage Pinauds, and all four must be present for me to see value in owning them. The first is the bottle must be glass. The second is the labels must be in at least good condition with the name of the fragrance and any marketing slogans legible. The third is the interior of the bottle must be clean, i.e., free of black sludge, dried detritus, or evidence of secondhand abuse. The fourth is the cap must be included, preferably the Bakelite/plastic version (the metal caps give me the willies, as I'm never sure if lead was alloyed into them). Because glass is key, I attend to any of the older formulas in glass, and am always on the market for things like the discontinued Naturelle Sec (I would pay over one hundred dollars for a bottle), Lime Sec, Citrus Musk, if they made it (I've never seen a vintage bottle), the original Clubman in glass, and any of its flankers, and the coveted Bay Rum, as well as Lilac Vegetal. Any of these in a size larger than 1.5 ounces commands top dollar from me, and I would gladly pay it.
I prize these so highly because they're never coming back. Due to market pressures, Pinaud switched from glass to plastic sometime in the late nineties or early 2000s, and in doing so have been saving a fortune on both shipping and collateral costs (everything cheaper because lighter; no broken bottles). It would be an incredible thing if Pinaud ever offered the glass bottles for a limited time, and if they did I would probably buy them up outright for resale value alone. But I doubt they will bother. As it stands, the glass bottles are becoming a rarity, with fewer and fewer appearing in decent condition, and those that have intact labels and original contents have become nearly impossible to source. Given that I paid almost $85 for my bottle in 2020, that is the baseline value that anyone should be paying for a similar bottle today, and I think if you locate something better than what is pictured at top, you ought to be prepared to pay at least twice what I did. Once in a lifetime opportunities are exactly that, and no small amount should be asked.