Mellier Co., French Roses, 270 ml. or 9 oz. Flacon, Parfum Extrait, 1865, 1905, St. Louis, Missouri, USA ..

Mellier's perfumes are historic vintage fragrances produced by the Mellier Drug Company, which was also known as Mellier Co., from St. Louis, Missouri. Mellier operated from the late 19th century through the early 20th century. Established in 1865 and incorporated in 1887, the Mellier Drug Company created numerous floral extracts, colognes, and toilet waters roughly between 1885 and 1933.

Their productions featured classic turn-of-the-century floral notes and bouquets such as Heliotrope, Shamrock, Persian Pink, Wood Violets, French Roses, Narcissus, and Special Frangipani. Some of their later lines .. such as Vogue and Narcissus .. were eventually distributed under Richard Hudnut.

Today, antique Mellier perfume bottles, apothecary jars, and frosted glass figural stoppers .. some reminiscent of early Lalique designs .. are sought-after collector's items in vintage-fragrance and antique communities.

This particular 9 ounce bottle is an antique 'Counter Bottle' .. a shop refill bottle .. from between 1900 to 1910. During the turn of the century Mellier's supplied pharamacies and department store perfume counters with these large 9 oz 'master bottles'. Customers would bring their own small, ornate personal vials to the counter, and the shopkeeper would refill them directly from these large bottles, charging by the ounce.

Turn-of-the-century fragrances were typically "soliflores" .. single-flower focused .. or simple bouquets. Mellier's French Roses was a classic, straight-forward, and rich floral rose scent. In that era, a "French Rose" profile relied heavily on the sweetened, deeply romantic notes of Rosa centifolia or the classic Cabbage or Provence Rose or Rosa Gallica, often backed by a clean, soapy, or powdery musk base typical of Victorian and Edwardian toiletries.

These master counter bottles were usually filled with what Mellier labeled as "Quadruple Extract" or "Extract of Perfume." These were highly concentrated alcohol-based extracts designed to last when decanted into smaller bottles. Most Mellier bottles from this specific 9 oz line feature a clear glass body standing roughly 7.5 inches tall with a distinctive frosted/satin glass ground stopper detailed with embossed leaf patterns around the rim.

Turn-of-the-century rose perfumes were heavily reliant on absolute extraction methods of traditional French fields. The scent profile for Mellier's French Roses consists of a rich, authentic, sweet Cabbage Rose .. Rosa centifolia .. accord. It smells like a literal, full-bloom living rose rather than the abstract or synthetic rose notes found in modern fragrances.

Early formula logs from the Mellier Co. show their floral "French" lines frequently incorporated clean, powdery musk bases and subtle touches of iris or violet root .. orris .. to fix the scent to the skin and give it a velvety, clean, soap-like finish.

These bottles showcase a beautiful piece of early American glass artistry. The gorgeous, multi-petaled frosted satin-glass stopper mimics the shape of a rose bloom itself. This type of decorative stopper was a signature premium detail for Mellier's grand presentation bottles. The gold foil label reads "Mellier's French Roses - Mellier - New York - St. Louis .. mentioning both cities places this right at the height of their distribution expansion before the fragrance lines were phased out or absorbed in the 1920's and 30's.

This bottle has been sealed for well over a century. I was able to carefully remove the stopper to release the beautiful rosey fragrance, and it is well preserved as it has been keep away from heat and light.

This is as rare as it gets for an American perfume from the late Edwardian era .. 1905 to 1915. A fabulous find ..