Richard Alexander Hudnut lived from June 2, 1855- October 30, 1928, and was an American businessman recognized as the first American to achieve international success in cosmetics manufacturing. The company once maintained separate US and European headquarters on Fifth Avenue in New York City and on the Rue de la Paix in Paris, respectively.
Although his fortune had been built around cosmetics and beauty products, he preferred to be known as a "perfumer”. Hudnut's father Alexander was a pharmacist with a store at Broadway and Ann Street in New York City. The name Hudnut derives from Hodnet, from Shropshire in England. After graduating from Princeton University, Richard Hudnut toured France and returned with the idea of introducing French-style perfumes and cosmetics to American women. In 1880 he registered his name as a trademark in both France and the United States.
Early Richard Hudnut fragrances included Queen Anne Cologne in 1880, Violet Sec in 1896, Aimée, DuBarry, Vanity, and Three Flowers, all of which were produced in the early 1900’s. Product lines include Violet Sec Toilet Water, DuBarry Beauty Products, Yankee Clover products, Three Flowers products, and a highly successful line of hair care products.
Originally launched in 1896, and continued through the 1920's, Wood Violet is one of those essentially feminine elements of the boudoir for French or American women who all loved violet scents in those times.
Hudnut perfumes in this class were principally soliflores, or mainly one dominant scent note. There are no remaining notes on the structure of this perfume, but it would contain elements such as ..
Top notes are Orange Blossom and Honeysuckle
Heart notes are Violet Flower, Violet Leaf, Lilac, and Lily of the Valley
Base notes are Plum, and Sandalwood
Offered here is an amazing flacon on this long lost perfume, still sealed and with its baudrouche on onion skin in tact, except for a small tear on one side as shown in the photos.
"The sweetness of the violet’s deep blue eyes, Kissed by the breath of heaven, Seems color’d by its skies." Byron
Violet lovers !! Collectors ..
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