Six Yardley Vintages

stanmog · Post by **stanmog** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 6:21 pm

I would appreciate any suggestions as to the approximated dates of manufacture of these Yardley soaps:

4 and 6 are obviously produced some time after the copyright dates.

Thanks,
Stan

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:18 pm

Looks like grist for Gordon's mill.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:28 pm

Okay Squire, I'm on the case. Well, I'm not quite as sharp at this as I was a few years back but I'll give it a go. The first one is the oldest I think. That crest/Royal Warrent is for The Prince of Wales in the style of the gent who was briefly Edward VIII and then The Duke of Windsor. Once Edward VIII came to the throne in 1937 there was no Prince of Wales until the current one, Charles. So, that bowl can't be much more recent than that. The second and third are slightly more recent because they display the Warrent of King George VI who followed his swiftly abdicating older brother to the throne at the end of the '30s and reigned until 1952. So, that gives you an approximate age spread for those two ( keeping in mind that Warrents often continue on products for several years after the death of the bestower as we've more recently seen with the Queen Mum's Warrent on the D R Harris's products ). The last three are considerably more recent, the middle one in particular could be from as late as the 1990s. Certainly they are from that period from the '60s through the early '90s. Hope this was helpful.
Regards,
Gordon

Jonnieboy61 · Post by **Jonnieboy61** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 1:57 am

In support of what Gordon has commented on, I seem to remember my Dad using the YYY version back in the 70's where he said it was the best stuff ever made. And there was me playing around with cans of foam saying to him get with it Dad....................................how wrong could I be!!

stanmog · Post by **stanmog** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:45 am

Gordon,

The soap in the top dish, which you think must be almost 80 years old, is unused and still has a lavender scent.

So you think the crests/warrants on the 2nd and 3rd dishes are the same?

Regards,
Stan

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:43 pm

Stan, Yeah, I think so. Slightly different labeling style showing that they are not from the exact same date, but it is George VI's Warrant in both cases. Also they give an Old Bond Street location and Yardley still had an actual shop there during George's reign but not for that much longer once Elizabeth came to the throne, I don't for exactly how much longer. This stuff is tricky though because, as I said, Warrants are often still displayed on products for at least awhile after the bestower is deceased and I think, in the past, this whole thing was more lax than it is today. I've seen illustrations in a Trumper catalogue from around 1980 which showed a few bottles of hair lotion still displaying the Warrant of George VI! It's amazing that the top one still has noticeable scent ( unless it's a newer soap in an older bowl ) as the one I had from the 1950s had pretty well lost it's fragrance.
Regards,
Gordon

petr · Post by **petr** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:40 am

I managed to pick up a very old puck like the first one pictured. 1930's? Wow. It was as hard as a rock and completely unlatherable.

stanmog · Post by **stanmog** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 5:25 am

Petr,
Because of your comment, I tried the ~80 year old puck this morning. It lathered beautifully, just as the newer Yardleys, but once lathered, had very little lavender scent. An excellent shave, nevertheless.

Stan

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 12:23 pm

I agree that #1 must be the PoW before the current holder of the title - the fonts used in the first three soaps are the art deco typestyle typical of the 1920's and 1930's, so #1 probably belongs to Prince Edward (later known as the Duke of Windsor). You could argue that George V was PoW from 1901 to 1910, but the typography argues against that, and Yardley got their first royal warrant in 1921, so that one won't fly. #2 and #3 have the monarch's crest with lion and unicorn (#2 unicorn has lost his horn, but this was before Viagra) and the different styles could be explained perhaps by one being for George V and the later one for George VI. It is also possible that when Edward became king that warrants were issued during his brief reign - he was king for 11 months, but was never crowned.
Yardley still exist, even though they don't make shaving soaps. You could always ask them....

Chris

petr · Post by **petr** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:06 pm

stanmog wrote:Petr,
Because of your comment, I tried the ~80 year old puck this morning. It lathered beautifully, just as the newer Yardleys, but once lathered, had very little lavender scent. An excellent shave, nevertheless.

Stan

Stan, that is very helpful information. That one old (and expensive) puck turned me off the entire vintage experience. Maybe it was just the way the puck was stored. I may give those older vintages another shot after all now.

Bargepole · Post by **Bargepole** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 1:59 pm

I have one with the Prince's feathers on it and the warrant "By Appointment to HRH The Prince of Wales 1911-1936". So by that time he'd already succeeded to the throne; but having abdicated in December '36 he could issue no further warrants.

Dreadful man by all accounts. The father of a former girlfriend knew him well. They played bridge every night in Monte Carlo for a while. "Bloody awful man," he said. "Never paid his losses. And stupid. But I'll tell you what the thing with the Wallace woman was..."

And he did. Actually rather disappointing but one can see why the King seized the moment, as it were.

Soap's good, though as others have said, the scent is almost gone. Still lathers better than a lot of the current soaps. How can that be, what with PROGRESS and everything?

EL Alamein · Post by **EL Alamein** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 5:41 pm

Bargepole wrote:I have one with the Prince's feathers on it and the warrant "By Appointment to HRH The Prince of Wales 1911-1936". So by that time he'd already succeeded to the throne; but having abdicated in December '36 he could issue no further warrants.

Dreadful man by all accounts. The father of a former girlfriend knew him well. They played bridge every night in Monte Carlo for a while. "Bloody awful man," he said. "Never paid his losses. And stupid. But I'll tell you what the thing with the Wallace woman was..."

And he did. Actually rather disappointing but one can see why the King seized the moment, as it were.

Soap's good, though as others have said, the scent is almost gone. Still lathers better than a lot of the current soaps. How can that be, what with PROGRESS and everything?

I think his lasting contribution to society was amping feminine fantasies via his abdication and helping to define men's classic clothing style (even if he was a bit of a dandy).

I can only speculate that Wallace Simpson had a hidden talent, otherwise I feel he did his penance on Earth marrying the likes of her.

Chris

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:52 pm

Chris, Yeessss.....'a hidden talent'...ahem...that has always been the assumption but since, once again, Mr. Bargepole seems reluctant to share his priviledged information we are still relegated to speculating....sigh...
Regards,
Gordon

gruffydd3 · Post by **gruffydd3** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:08 am

I have a Yardley soap different from all of the above. It isn't in the usual turned wooden bowl. Instead, the bowl is formed from very thin (1/16") strips of wood like those used in basket making.They're formed into a circle and glued. The bottom of the bowl is a thin wooden disc.

The label is the usual green & black, but in the center where the warrent usually goes there is the Yardley logo (the one with a woman and two children). Above that is printed Yardley shaving soap. Below is 33 Old Bond Street, London England.

Any ideas as to it's age?

Regards,
Rick

Bargepole · Post by **Bargepole** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:32 pm

bernards66 wrote:Chris, Yeessss.....'a hidden talent'...ahem...that has always been the assumption but since, once again, Mr. Bargepole seems reluctant to share his priviledged information we are still relegated to speculating....sigh...
Regards,
Gordon

Well (1) I can't prove it and my "source" was both private and actually unable to prove it himself -- at least I assume so; and (2) the "hidden talent" was pretty tame. No man I know would find it remotely exotic. But times have changed.

It is though a fairly good bet that she was genetically XY, though that doesn't mean she was "really" a man or a "hermaphrodite" or any of the weirder things that have been suggested.

Whatever she was, or was like, she didn't deserve her terrible, prolonged end.

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:10 pm

AIS? Not if the abortion rumours were true. My theory is congenital adrenal hyperplasia, with the sexual aggression consequent upon an excess of testosterone in a female. As for her special skills, let's just say she had passed her "'O'- levels".

Chris

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:11 pm

Oh, whatever . . . I decided a long time ago if anybody wanted to make rules for me they show up first with a check book and pay my bills.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:38 pm

Hmmm.....'congenital adrenal hyperplasia'?....you think?.....well, it would seem to me that if we consider.....huh?....oh yes...Yardley shave soap...wicker weaving...firm logo in center....probably 1950s. Now, as I was saying....what was the topic again?.....drat!
Regards,
Gordon