-40%
Pompeian Double Vanity Case, Antique Makeup Compact C. 1918 Original
$ 1320
- Description
- Size Guide
Description
Antique Pompeian Double Vanity Case 1918-1922Truely an extremely rare piece of history. The condition of this vanity case is of museum quality. This case still contains the original face powder, blush pucks and one original puff.
Hinge closes firmly. The mirror shows no signs of clouding and is in perfect shape. The piece has not been cleaned or
polished
with the exception of the mirror.
COLOR: Medium and Flesh.
The makeup is not sold for use!
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WAS OBTAINED FROM COLLECTING VINTAGE COMPACTS BLOG:
Pompeian's double vanity case containing both rouge and
face powder compacts. Manufactured by E Loesser Mills
C1920
The drawing pictured is not for sale it is an extract of William Kendall's innovative double vanity case
Pompeian’s
choice of manufacturer for its first metal case was E. loe
asser Mills metal novelty manufacturer based in Montclair, New Jersey. By late 1919 Pompeian
would again use Loesser, this time to produce an oblong-oval double vanity case for both pressed rouge and face powder. The oblong oval case marked another developmental marker in American cosmetics history. Women now wanted the convenience of a single box that contained both rouge and face powder compacts and soon they would expect that the same box would also contain lip rouge and an eyebrow pencil. But, at first the rouge and face powder compacts were a good first start and Pompeian would be one of the first American cosmetics companies to package their compacts in this type of container. It was marketed as the Pompeian Vanity Case because the term 'vanity case' was the most commonly used expression to describe such containers. The term 'compact' would not appear for some years.
The case designer for this double vanity case would be the prolific New Jersey inventor William Kendall (arguably, the father of the American compact case industry) who actually filed the patent application in April 1918. With the recognisable Greek Key design and the unique
Pompeian
font, the oblong-oval vanity case was matched by an updated version of a P
ompeian Bloom
rouge box. The oblong-oval vanity case would have been discontinued by 1922 but Pompeian advertisements show that the small P
ompeian Bloom
rouge box was available until at least 1925.