The Osmothèque’s treasures

2 July 2015

With 3,200 perfumes in its collection, the Osmothèque is a showcase for many treasures that it takes special care in preserving. As protector of the unique heritage of the perfume world, the Osmothèque is comparable, in another field, to the Bibliothèque Nationale.

The treasures are perfumes that have disappeared from commercial channels and whose original formulas are archived at the Osmothèque, making it possible to create identical remakes so the public can discover the perfumes (which, of course, are never for sale).

These fragrances still have an influence on today’s perfume world.

Today, there are about 100 of these treasures at the Osmothèque.

A few examples include: Amour Amour and Moment Suprême (Patou)

• Ambre antique, Le Chypre, L’Origan, Emeraude, La Rose Jacqueminot (Coty)
• Le Parfum idéal, Fougère royale, Quelques Fleurs (Houbigant)
• Arlequinade, Le fruit défendu from Parfums de Rosine (Poiret)
• Apple Blossom (Helena Rubinstein)
• Zibeline (Weil)
• Le Numéro Cinq (Molyneux)
• Nuit de Longchamp (Lubin)

Crêpe de Chine (Millot)

Detchema (Revillon)

Iris gris (Jacques Fath)

Fracas and Bandit (Piguet),

Je reviens (Worth), etc.

Some are particularly old, such as L’Eau de la Reine de Hongrie (14th century), Le Vinaigre aromatique des 4 voleurs (1800) or L’Eau de  Cologne de Napoléon à Ste Hélène (1820).

These perfumes are preserved at the Osmothèque only. You cannot smell them anywhere else in the world.

 The Osmothèque also has a few other treasures: major houses have done remakes of certain perfumes that no longer exist on the market and have entrusted them to us. For example, Guerlain has recently handed some of its perfume remakes over to us for safekeeping: Coque d’Or (1935), Fleur qui meurt (1901), Sillage (1907), Voilà pourquoi j’aimais Rosine (1900), Chypre de Paris (1909). In addition, Chanel has reweighed Bourjois’s famous perfume Kobako for the Osmothèque.

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