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The Avon Collection and Information Thread

Spider

Spider

"The Cadre Constable"
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From the late 1950s, up until the early 2000s, Avon produced a myriad of different Aftershave Splashes in Decorative special shaped decanters. If you have found any of these decanters or love collecting them..... this is the thread for you!

If you have found a new decanter, or saw a good selection of them at an Antique Store or Thrift Store, post them! If you have questions about a certain decanter's age, or what aftershave might be in it (if the label is missing), please ask. I have a good reference book for Avon collectors and can probably answer most of your questions. Many decanters were made for only a span of 2-3 years, and some were unique to a given year, so finding Birth Year aftershave decanters is actually a thing!

If this is all new to you, and you are wondering why anyone would use aftershave that is up to 60+ years old, listen up. Avon was made in abundance. Since they were made in different shaped decanters (well over 300 different shapes), these were often given as gifts to the man of the house. Many of these were put on display and never used. As a result the secondary market is near saturated with them. They are super easy to find at antique store for anywhere between $1 - $10 each. Bottles range from 1.5oz all the way up to huge 8oz bottles. Yes, I have bought many 8oz bottles of aftershave for just $1-$2 each! That's a super bargain. And the quality of the aftershave is near unrivaled by its modern counterparts. Pleasant, masculine scents, with great feel and performance, and good longevity. Alcohol is a natural preservative, so there is little fear about the aftershaves going bad or rancid over time, unless they have been kept in extreme heat or direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time. I have purchased hundreds of Avon decanters and have only come across 2 that were bad.

Avon did continue to produce aftershave up until just recently, but not in special shaped decanters. Unfortunately, now, they only make an aftershave balm.


Avon Scents
Not all inclusive of every scent made, just what I've come across and can remember. General notes about scents are not all my words, but were also taken from others impressions. Always looking for help in making the scent descriptions better and filling in some blanks.

Common
Bay Rum - In my opinion, the best Bay Rum ever made!
Black Suede -
Blend 7 -
Bravo - Kinda sweet and fruity in a masculine way.
Clint - Leathery, woodsy. (Akin to Aramis?)
Deep Woods - nice green woodsy scent
Everest - crisp junipery scent
Excalibur - Leathery, woodsy. (English Leather clone?)
Island Lime - In my opinon, the best, truest, and longest lasting lime scent ever made.
Leather - just pure rugged leather scent.
Oland - Leathery, Smokey, Spicy (Aramis clone)
Sea Zone - Aquatic
Spicy - Nearly perfect Schulton Old Spice clone (see Brisk Spice)
Sure Winner -
Tai Winds - Oriental blend: citrus, musk, spice. (In the same vein as Hai Karate, Jade East, Oriental Jade, Kuros)
Tribute -
Wild Country - inspired by Clubman. To me, it's a bit sweeter and less powdery.
Windjammer - Light, citrusy. (similar to Canoe?)

More Rare
All Purpose Cologne -
Avon Original -
Blue Blazer -
Brisk Spice - Spot on Schulton Old Spice clone
Cool Sage -
Cool Seas - Light Aquatic
Cordovan -
Friktion - Bergamot, Balsam Fir, Musk.
Gallant -
Granite - Minerally aquatic.
Light Musk -
Sports Ralley -
Trailblazer - leather and tonka bean chypre
Trazarra -
Triumph - Cool Water clone?
Weekend -
Wild Country Musk -


Most of my Avon is still packed up from my recent move, but just to give you an idea, all of these boxes are full of Avon......

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I was given a bottle of Deeps Woods the first of second Christmas after my wedding by my MIL. Only started to use is recently but i like it a lot. I will try to remember to snap a pic for this thread later today.
 
Interesting post. My mom used to sell Avon when I was a kid in the late 70s. We had all kinds of these decanters around the house. My brother and I would play with the cars like they were hotwheels.
 
I think this is something I might get into. I've seen some of @Dave in KY 's collection in his SOTD pics and they are super cool. A buddy of mine (I mentioned previously in my journal) has 3 of them but they are empty and don't have caps. He said I could have them, maybe I'll have to work out a trade. I'd love to find some that actually have the AS left in them.
 
Excellent KJ! Since you mentioned birth year after shaves...what were the bottles/scents for 1972?
 
KJ is "THE" expert on these and I don't have a fraction of what he has but enough for my lifetime and I just fill in with extras of what I like when I find them. In the 1st pic The safety razor, brush and fire hydrant bottles are all basically empty as is the car on bottom left of 1st pic. The car had Tribute but the spout is cracked and leaked so I decanted it into the Avon Mouthwash Bottle in the 3rd pic.
In the 1st pic from Right to left top row- Deep Woods in the 1923 Maxwell, Ta Winds in the Fir Engine (I washed the gold flake off it) No idea what's in the Capital Building, Oland in the Packard Roadster, Xcalibur in the Touring T and Leather in the Electric Charger.

Right to left bottom row- Empty Stirling Six (Tribute decanted) Spicy in the Natchez Boat, No idea in the Packard ?/Studebaker?(last 2 pics of it if you know what the car is), Island Lime in the Straight 6, Wild Country in the Motorcycle, Deep Woods in the Football and Wild Country in the Lion.
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In the 2nd pic I have Island Lime in the motorcycle, Spicy in the Stirling 6 car, Tai Winds in the Boat, Deep Woods in the Red gas Pump and Cool Sage in the Yellow Pump (And YES, Cool Sage is RARE and hard to find)
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So that gives me:
Oland = 1
Xcalibur = 1
Tai Winds = 2
Leather = 1
Island Lime = 2
Wild Country = 2
Cool Sage = 1
Deep Woods = 3
Spicy = 2
Tribute = 1
Plus 2 that I don't know what they are yet......
Out of these I like The Island Lime, Leather, Spicy, Cool Sage and Deep Woods the best.
 
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Well, edit functions disappear after a short time now (Don't care for that but it is what it is) I should have said those descriptions for top and bottom rows are left to right............
 
Nice collection Dave! There’s a few in there that I don’t remember seeing before.

So these are usually pretty easy to find at second hand shops?
 
SteveChuckFrank said:
Nice collection Dave! There’s a few in there that I don’t remember seeing before.

So these are usually pretty easy to find at second hand shops?
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For the most part yes depending on area etc. Some find tons and others not so much. I always tell people I'm not a collector for the bottle but use the aftershave and they should be about $5. Some think they are a gold mine. Craigslist is another place to look.
 
I was on the bay earlier and saw a few lots raniging from 5-10 starting at $10. Shipping was another $15 though 😂😂😂. I think I’ll try to look locally before I resort to that.
 
August West said:
They really need to bring these back.
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They tried. Last year they brought back Wild Country cologne in a boot decanter. After that they all vanished.

My issue is the new stuff Avon had was in the $2o range, but vintage I can pick up for a few bucks. And the quality is not the same. Compare the vintage Wild Country aftershave wit the stuff they recently made, and they are very different.
 
I love my avon, but it's getting hard to find at a good price around here
 
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