Crown Perfumery

kd7kip · Post by **kd7kip** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:36 pm

Anyone (Gordon) ever heard of Crown Perfumery? Someone recently brought them up in another thread (Gordon), left interesting and enticing hints (Gordon) but did not explain the whole history (Gordon). What's the story there?

Any thoughts (Gordon)?

-Scott

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:21 am

( chuckle ) Just couldn't let it pass, I see. Yep, cologne acquisition disorder is already happening, that much is clear. Crown Perfumery has it's origins in mid 19th c. London. The firm was started by an American born chap named Thompson. They made....a....corsets....which led to also offering scented smelling salts. Thompson's son apparently had a gift for perfumery, and he took the company in that direction. During the latter 19th and early 20th c. Crown was one of the premier English perfumers, known world wide. They had a shop on Bond Street, and offered dozens of ladies and gentlemen's scents and related products. By permission, their bottles were capped with a facsimile of the Royal Crown ( like Trumpers ). Probably their most famous fragrance was called 'Apple Blossom', obviously a ladies scent. They held Royal Warrants to Queen Victoria and were highly fashionable. The firm's trade was hit very hard by WWI, and around 1920, the last remaining Thompson, a daughter, sold it to, I believe, the Dutch Unilever. Unilever neglected it, and the firm closed completely on the eve of WWII. However, in the 1990s, a serious scent aficionado, after ten years reserch into the old archives and formula books, legal wrangles, and so on, managed to recreate more the two dozen of the original Crown scents from the 1880s-1920s. These were the real deal, using the original formulas and the same quality of ingrediants. So, here one had a slew of top shelf colognes straight out of the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Originally, in the US, eleven men's and eleven women's fragrances were offered. Many of these were highly interesting. For example, he recreated Ed. Pinaud's original Eau de Quinine, the one from which Mr. Trumper presumably drew his inspiration for his version. Their Town & Country was very similiar to Penhaligons Blenheim Bouquet and Trumpers Wellington. A little while back, I sent a bottle of the Crown Eau de Russe ( 1880s ) to Chris M. A most unique and classy scent. Alas, Crown was bought out by furniture baron, Clive Christian, who then proceeded to, bit by bit, to discontinue the entire line, opting instead for his own line of absurdly expensive ( and IMO, so-so ) scents. So, once again, Crown Perfumery is out of business. But, there are still a few bottles of their colognes lingering around, here and there. There, now you know ( and are free to scour the internet in a feverish search for them...chuckle ).
Regards.
Gordon

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 2:26 am

And very nice it is, too. If you were to look at http://www.englishhall.com/
I daresay Gordon can tell you which is the real thing and which is Christian adulterated (if you know what I mean).

Chris

kd7kip · Post by **kd7kip** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 7:36 am

bernards66 wrote:Just couldn't let it pass, I see. Yep, cologne acquisition disorder is already happening, that much is clear.

Combine CAD with my chronic Anglophilia and you end up with the pathetic specimen you see here (or read here, actually).

Thanks Gordon!

-Scott

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 9:44 am

Gordon,

Very interesting! I have a bottle of Sandringham in the mail from an E-bay seller in England right now. The notations on Basenotes seemed interesting. Can you share any background on this particular fragrance?

Thanks,

Howard

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:21 am

Howard, Yeah, I had a 100ml bottle of Sandringham, which I passed on to another serious shavegeek awhile back in return for some kindnesses that he had shown me. The scent is suppossedly from the 1880s, although I must admit that it didn't smell to me like it was quite from that era, more like the 1930s, but that's just my take, and nothing more. It's an herbal/woody kind of 'country' scent, but pretty potent and long lasting, IMO. Like many of the Crown scents, it's not all that much like any other cologne I can think of; maybe a little like 'Moustache'.
Regards,
Gordon

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 5:15 pm

Gordon,

Thanks for your take on Sandringham, and for the general information on Crown Perfumery.

Howard

EL Alamein · Post by **EL Alamein** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:54 pm

Was not the Crown Perfumery line bought and now produced by the Anglia Perfumery?

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:12 pm

Well, that whole situation is very murky. My take is that it wasn't "bought" per se, but rather that that chap in Berlin has had someone attempt to recreate or copy the scents. He did the same with the two main Royal Yacht colognes, but Taylors picked up the real ones, which are now sold as their 'No 74' colognes. I have a bottle of the Anglia Perfumery 'Royal Court' ( which is obviously suppossed to be the original Royal Yacht ) and I also have a bottle of Royal Yacht. Believe me, they are not the same. I imagine that the same is true of the 'facsimile' versions of the Crown scents. Pretty obviously, he didn't buy the actual line, because he's not using the original names for the colognes. Personally, I don't think that any actual 'Anglia Perfumery' exists. I think it's just a brand name that he uses. Any google searches I've done in UK business listings have failed to turn up any such company ( not that I'm any sort of master internet sleuth, you understand ).
Regards,
Gordon

EL Alamein · Post by **EL Alamein** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:31 pm

Thanks, Gordon that paints a better picture for me. I have some of the scents prior to Clive buying the line and I have half an eye on the situation should I ever want to buy more. Perhaps someone will once again rescue this line.

Chris

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:49 pm

Chris, We can certainly hope. In the meantime, there are still a few bottles floating around. I think that Parfums Raffy has some, for example. I kind of wish I'd gotten a little more Eau de Quinine when I easily could have.
Regards,
Gordon

fisherc · Post by **fisherc** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 5:08 pm

I have a bottle each of Crown's "Spiced Limes" and "Park Royal" for sale. If interested PM me.

Chris

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 5:26 pm

fisherc wrote:I have a bottle each of Crown's "Spiced Limes" and "Park Royal" for sale. If interested PM me.

Chris

Chris, can you give us a quick review of these colognes?

Post by **Sam** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 5:31 pm

Chris, what else do you have. I could shop in your bathroom, charlie V's closet and Tony's garage and be quite happy

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:14 pm

Sam, I do shop the Fisher Warehouse. One of my main sources for quality shave goods and toiletries, actually. I don't know why the shop isn't mentioned more frequently on the forum, as it has a excellent selection of hard to find, quality items. The prices are generally very good as well.
Regards,
Gordon

Tye · Post by **Tye** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:15 pm

Did someone say 'Spiced Limes'?

-Tye

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:24 pm

Just a point of information for those who may not know; the Crown Park Royal and Spiced Lime were probably the most 'modern' smelling of all the Crown scents. Not that they're 'bad' mind you, the quality is still very high, they're just not very typical of what the line was largely like, IMO. They are two of the four that Clive Christian kept around for a little while, after he had axed the rest.
Regards,
Gordon

yourmando · Post by **yourmando** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 10:15 pm

Gordon, *sigh* I was happy enough not knowing about these. Now I have several bottles on the way.

Crown Perfumery Crown Imperial in particular sounds like a description of my fantasy cologne:

The culmination of the perfumers art, this classic Eau de Cologne fragrance is reminiscent of the Edwardian barber's shop. Crown Imperial has a fresh herbal accord blending oil of orange, lavender and lemon with a rich powdery background. Lemon, orange and lavender develop, with a herbal twist, into rich, musky, manly undertones.

I looked on basenotes and folks note that it is also soapy upon dry down. I love classic Eau de Cologne, as well as all those other things. I can't help having high hopes for this one.

Town & Country--if this is like Blenheim's Bouquet, but tones down the pine/cedar a bit, then it's also a keeper. (I also have Spiced Limes, Park Royal, and Esterhazy on the way. I'm sure I won't like all of these, so you might see them here.)

Armando

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:01 pm

Armando, I'm sorry, but Scott insisted. What could I do? Anyway, it could be argued that a gent of your tastes and inclinations, needed to know, in any case.....ahem. Oh yes, Imperial. Well, that's an interesting one. Imperial is the only true citrus scnet I know of that has as much punch as Penhaligon's Lords/Douro. It's not as dry a scent as Douro, however. Rounder, 'sweeter' in a sense. Very heavy on the orange type top note. Like many Crown scents, you'll probably like it a lot, or not much at all. 4711, it's NOT. Personally, I prefer their Town & Country to Blenheim, for the very reason you mentioned; a bit less intense pine motif. Pat Thayer now has that bottle, as I sold it to him awhile back. He's an especial fan of Blenheim Bouquet, so, I thought he'd find it interesting. On the other hand, and despite what some say, I found their Fougere to not be particularly like English or Wild Fern. I didn't like it as much, myself. Ah, but Eau de Quinine, that was interesting stuff. Not for everyone admittedly, but you might appreciate it.
Regards, ( and condolences to your bank balance )
Gordon

fisherc · Post by **fisherc** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:14 pm

Well I would disagree with Gordon but only by a small amount. I find Spiced Limes and Park Royal to be far from "modern." They are both very "English" if that makes any sense and Spiced Limes in particular seems very traditional to me. Spiced Limes has a strong Lime and Citrus top note and dries down to a melange of spices (cinamon, clove, nutmeg, etc). It's very unique and I have tried many many fragrances from around the world.

Park Royal is bright and green. The dry down is a bit powdery and herbaceous to my nose. It is more "modern" than the Spiced Limes but again it's very English and traditional to my nose.

I used to shop at the Crown Perfumery in an arcade adjacent to the Grosvenor Hotel in London when I travelled to London on business. This was mostly in the mid 90's. The Crown line was a truly unique and qunitessentially English perfume house. For me it was far more representative of haute English perfume making and far superior to the Trumpers, Floris, Penhaligon, etc. that dominate the English perfume industry today.

Chris