Featured Crystal Perfume Bottle - Made in Czechoslovakia

I would much appreciate any comments about this small, crystal perfume bottle, which is 7 inches tall - mostly stopper. I hope that even though it still has two paper labels, it has some age. The three labels provide the only information, I have. They all have "Made in Czechoslovakia" on them. The roundish label also says " A__ Irice Product" and "___________NG* W. Rice & Co New York City." The blue triangle label includes "Hand Cut Crystal" and the etched label, I think has only "Made in Czechoslovakia," though it is blurry. It is well polished; I couldn't feel any unpolished cuts. Missed you all.

*@Aquitaine filled in this blank - Irving W. Rice

 

Glad you're back! You've been missed.

Pretty! The company was founded in the 1920's and the Czech label would mean pre-WWII.

 

Oh great information. Thanks very much. I was hoping for older.

 

I did NOT find yours, but I found this pin on Pinterest.....close as I was able to come....

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/575827502327115530/

 

Very close indeed. Thank you. Same style of stopper.

 

Filled in a blank too. Irving W. Rice

 

Believe I. Rice was an import/export company and like Lefton from Japan had different items made for export/import purposes.
So the actual company that made this isn't really known. Just that it originated in Czechoslovakia.

Maybe @pearlsnblume will know more.

 

Hmm wondering if I have people mixed up.
Maybe it's @bercrystal who collects perfumes.

 

Very interesting. I thought maybe the paper label was from the retailer. Thank you.

 

I think it's @bercrystal too. She is always so knowledgeable and helpful.

 

@clutteredcloset49 is correct. Irice was owned by Irving W. Rice. Here's a little background on the company.

The company started as a “jobber” or importer of various vanity items in the 1920s in New York. The head of the company was named Irving W. Rice and he gave an abbreviation of his name to the company, which has appeared on the distinctive silver and blue foil labels ever since - IRICE. The company still exists today in New York and every Christmas if you go to a drug store and look on the counter there will be a display of IRICE atomizers.

IRICE didn’t actually manufacture these perfume bottles, they were importers and jobbers. So the perfume atomizers and bottles came in a wide variety of modes from many, diverse countries.
IRICE brought in box-car loads of Czechoslovakian crystal before World War II. During the war, IRICE employed American companies. After the hostilities had ended, the company began importing again, but this time from West Germany – the labels reflect this.

Today most of IRICE’s sources are in the Far East in Japan and later in Taiwan.

IRICE is located in New York City at 15 West 34th St. and continues to supply vanity items and perfume bottles to America.

For a brief period in the 1930's IRICE dabbled in commercial perfumes (that is, perfumes that came in the bottle) and created a limited line of these fragrances (Grape Cologne and Pineapple among them). A perfume called Renaissance that was contained in an IRICE bottle for the Scherk company is occasionally falsely sold as a Victorian antique today. The bottle was made from heavy pressed glass with a gilt frame and marble-like jewel on each corner of the frame. The portrait of an old fashioned lady completed the antique look though the bottle is from about 1935.

Any collection of IRICE items can be dated by the information on the labels or by carefully examining the parts of the atomizer. A glass tube in the atomizer means 1930's roughly, while by the time of the 1950's plastic tubing was found in the atomizer. Most of the porcelain flower decorated atomizers date to the 1950's. Time line on the labels can be determined by the country cited under the name "Irice." So it goes: Czech, American, West Germany, Japan, and finally Taiwan.

Most heavily collected and sought today are the IRICE series called Little Drams or sometimes Stubby series. These were tiny perfume bottle made in Czechoslovakia with charms or dangles hanging from chains from the top of the stopper. A wide variety of animals and dolls have been seen. A cross-over collectible here is the 1939 World's Fair IRICE bottle with the peristyle and hemisphere charms. Most other IRICE perfumes are still in the category of inexpensive collectibles.

I got this from the site below.

https://www.justcollecting.com/miscellania/irice-perfume-bottles

Needless to say, there are a lot of bottles out there that bear the Irice labels some more expensive than others. Some of the things that determine price would be the color of the glass, how intricate the cutting is, does the stopper have a design also, & can it be attributed to a specific maker.

This thread has some information on Franz Joseph Vater. Two bottles attributed to him sold last month at the IPBA auction for $25K.

I had always been under the impression that the round acid-etched made in Czechoslovakia mark was used later after WWII & the oval mark was used before WWII. Given the style of this bottle that would fit that time frame. It is simpler than those made pre-WWII during which many of the glass producing factories were lost. I would "guesstimate" this bottle to be circa late 1940's to early 1950's.

If you are going to sell it definite keywords would be Irice, cut glass or crystal, acid-etched mark & original labels.

 

Fabulous information. I love the detail you bring to the table. It is so helpful for someone like me, who is interested in finding out what to look for. I'm happy with the late 40's or early 50's as a date for this. This will join my small collection on my kitchen windows, which I enjoy looking through now because they are filled with these little glass creations from a time in our past. Thank you so much for your research and information.

 

@KikoBlueEyes - this is a photo of some of my bottles I had posted here some time ago.



These bottles were sold by DeVilbiss & were shown in the 1937 catalog. The dauber bottle has the oval acid etched mark on the bottom.



The bottle on the left has an Irice made in Czechoslovakia sticker on both the dauber & the bottom of the bottle so I can't see if there is an acid-etched mark or not on it.


I forgot to include size in determining the price. This bottle is almost 9" tall. However, some of the miniature bottles such as the ones shown in the first photo on the far left first row can sell for pretty good money also. The miniatures have to have the same thing going for them as the regular-sized bottles such as color, cutting, etc.

 

You are very welcome!! God knows I could talk about perfume bottles until your eyes crossed & you passed out from boredom. Just ask my family.

I forgot to say that if you get sunshine coming in that window that stopper should give you some rainbows. There is actually one in your photos.

 

The last blue one makes my heart stop, it's so lovely. I so enjoy it when you share your beauties. The zenith of years of learning and collecting, I would guess. I rarely come across something special with respect to perfume bottles. Nothing near what you have but I am happy with a prism. I was away when the hoards that people donated during the long spring/summer COVID-19 cleanings were available. But you gave me some more ideas what to look for. Keep sharing and I will keep admiring.

 

With very few exceptions my collection of bottles be it DeVilbiss, Czech, or other bag:) have been bought off eBay. Every once in awhile I will luck into something out in the wild, but it seldom happens. The ones I hunt for are just getting harder & harder to find.

That blue one came from eBay & was part of a large lot of bottles. There were no measurements listed but I knew just by looking at it that it would likely be a Czech bottle. The seller had several lots listed & I ended up buying 4 of them which contained 47 bottles.

I only kept 7 or 8 of the bottles & sold the rest at the auction house. I ended up making more than I had spent on the bottles in total so essentially mine were free.

 

Ebay scares me because of the misinformation and deliberate deception by some of the sellers. The same thing with auctions. Unless I have someone holding my hand like @James Conrad and the Chippendale chair, I really am in over my head. The fact that you got the blue bottle for free - I am so jealous. Actually, I love looking at what you have found. Each is a small piece of art. What I especially love is the knowledge that I gain here. When members share what they know, I think about them when I see the piece. It adds so much - you have no idea of the joy I feel. I sincerely thank you for adding such delight to my life.

 

@bercrystal - You were right! The afternoon sun hit the window in the right spot - very intense color