The perfume vials were eventually recovered 2 to 2.5 miles beneath the ocean's surface, where it was discovered that many of the samples amazingly still contained their oils. The vials of essential oils that were recovered from the Titanic are what inspired the scent behind QVC's The Titanic Legacy 1912 Fragrance.
perfume bottle, a vessel made to hold scent. The earliest example is Egyptian and dates to around 1000 bc. The Egyptians used scents lavishly, especially in religious rites; as a result, when they invented glass, it was largely used for perfume vessels.
Adolphe Saalfeld survived the sinking but left his samples behind. Of the 65 vials that Saalfeld packed in his luggage, 62 have been recovered. These perfume vials have never been on public display.
The most valuable single item onboard the Titanic was, however, a 1912 painting by Merry-Joseph Blondel, La Circassienne au bain. Based on the insurance claim made after the fact, the work was estimated to be $100,000, equivalent to just over $3 million dollars today.
“The Big Piece” as it is referred, weighed nearly 20 tons and measured approximately 27′ x 20′ when it was recovered from the RMS Titanic wreck-site debris field. It was originally located on the starboard side of the ship between the 3rd and 4th funnels of the B and C decks.
In 2003, archaeologists uncovered what are believed to be the world's oldest surviving perfumes in Pyrgos, Cyprus. The perfumes dated back more than 4,000 years. They were discovered in an ancient perfumery, a 300-square-meter (3,230 sq ft) factory housing at least 60 stills, mixing bowls, funnels, and perfume bottles.
A faithful testament to the evolution of perfume making, the attar – or Ittar – boasts more than 60,000 years of history and an ancestral tradition of secret formulas that were passed down from generation to generation.
To date, the oldest perfumery was discovered on the island of Cyprus. Excavations in 2004-2005 under the initiative of an Italian archaeological team unearthed evidence of an enormous factory that existed 4,000 years ago during the Bronze Age.
No. 1 Majesté impériale by Clive Christian Perfume: $215,000.
Clive Christian No. 1 Imperial Majesty is the second most expensive perfume in the world and is priced at 12,721.89 dollars. The fragrance of this perfume features an enchanting scent of Tahitian vanilla, along with a hint of rosa centafolis, reminiscent of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.
AN OPULENT TRIBUTE
Clive Christian, the creators of the world's most expensive perfume, have been making and developing the world's finest perfumes and fragrances since 1872. The finest of all perhaps is No1, the perfume Clive Christian refers to as "the perfume of my heart".
The ship was stocked with a large selection of spirits, including whiskey, gin, brandy, rum, cognac, bourbon, and liqueurs like Chartreuse and Curaçao. Beer was also available, with a selection of British and American brews on offer. Of course, the Titanic would have also been well-stocked with fine champagne.
You probably already knew that Jack and Rose, the main characters in the 1997 movie Titanic, weren't real. Like all films “based on a true story,” the movie added its own fictional elements to historical events.
The Titanic
The sharp scent of fresh varnish, paint, and newly sawn wood were the initial smells that would have greeted passengers as they boarded the Titanic those five days earlier. At the time, paint was still made with lead and contained high amounts of linseed oil.
The top note is what you smell when you first sample the perfume. This lasts only for 5 to 10 minutes. To really know if a perfume is for you, you need to get to its “heart”, or the middle note. This is the scent that begins to emerge after the fragrance blends with your own unique skin chemistry.
In 1937, Mae West became one of the earliest — if not the first — star whose likeness inspired a perfume bottle. Decades later, Elizabeth Taylor blazed the trail for Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and other celebs who have built perfume empires.
"Taylor's White Diamonds wasn't the first celebrity fragrance — there was Cher's Uninhibited in 1987 and Sophia Loren's Sophia in 1981 — but it's known as the first hugely successful celebrity fragrance that told the world back in 1991 that if you're famous, a perfume might not be that bad of an idea."
When Was Perfume Invented? The first perfume maker on record was a woman chemist named Tapputi. Stories of the inventor of perfume have been found on a clay tablet from Mesopotamia, suggesting that perfume was invented by Tapputi sometime during the second millennium BC.
Many perfumes don't have a set expiry date and can last anywhere between 1-10 years. However, three to five years is often the average shelf life of a fragrance and most of Shay & Blue's fragrances will still perform for the length of time. According to experts, perfumes with heavier base notes will last the longest.
How long perfume lasts depends on the chemical composition and how the perfume is stored. Many perfumes don't have a set expiry date and can last between 1-10 years. Perfume shelf life depends on how it's stored. Perfumes that are correctly stored will last much longer than those that are not.
Oceanographers have pointed out that the hostile sea environment has wreaked havoc on the ship's remains after more than a century beneath the surface. Saltwater acidity has been dissolving the vessel, compromising its integrity to the point where much of it would crumble if tampered with.
In all only 337 bodies of the over 1500 Titanic victims were found, only one in five. Some bodies sank with Titanic. Winds and currents quickly scattered the remainder.
After the Titanic sank, searchers recovered 340 bodies. Thus, of the roughly 1,500 people killed in the disaster, about 1,160 bodies remain lost.