Chanel No. 19 - Finding Legit Vintage EDT

[CeeTee]

I recently purchased the current EDP and I’m blowing through it. I love it!
I also sampled the current EDT in the store and, you guessed it, I loved it.
I’m considering looking for a vintage EDT, if that’s even possible to find.

We have no perfumeries in my town. Nor do our 2nd hand shops ever seem to have perfumes.
Any tips on how to avoid bogus bottles, or where to source one?
Or is the hype over the vintage exaggerated?

 

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

Aside from ebay, I would suggest creating a fragrance wanted thread and see if any fellow BNers may be willing to part ways with their vintage No 19 EDT bottle.

It is worth pursuing in my opinion, also look at the vintage pure parfum.

 

[CeeTee]

Aside from ebay, I would suggest creating a fragrance wanted thread and see if any fellow BNers may be willing to part ways with their vintage No 19 EDT bottle.

It is worth pursuing in my opinion, also look at the vintage pure parfum.

I was thinking I could do eBay, but it sounds like a recipe for getting a counterfeit product. I know from my love affair with Mugler, there are a lot of details to scrutinize, and I didn't see much on YouTube.

 

[Pippin06]

Aside from ebay, I would suggest creating a fragrance wanted thread and see if any fellow BNers may be willing to part ways with their vintage No 19 EDT bottle.

It is worth pursuing in my opinion, also look at the vintage pure parfum.

This is excellent advice.

 

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

I was thinking I could do eBay, but it sounds like a recipe for getting a counterfeit product. I know from my love affair with Mugler, there are a lot of details to scrutinize, and I didn't see much on YouTube.

It takes a bit of research and investigation to vet the bottle. How's there feedback, pictures, quality, description, forthcoming on information, is there a return policy? What to look for in a vintage bottle and/or box presentation?

It takes a bit of patience and expertise but that tends to pay off in succeeding in getting something genuine.

When in doubt of something something that appears suspicious that can't be debunked, it's better to pass.

 

[CookBot]

I've bought a lot of vintage No. 19 EDT, and I think it would be very unlikely that you'd have a fake one fobbed off on you. People just aren't very likely to create fakes of things that have such a limited market -- their big money is in counterfeiting popular modern perfumes that have a huge audience.

There's a lot of minutiae to study on Chanel bottles to help date them (and there's a lot of advice about it here on Basenotes in many different threads), but one surefire place to start is with the color of the juice itself. Truly good stuff is a soft golden ambery color, and the color at the time it started to be not-so-good is a bright green, getting more & more neon as time went on. Examples from my own collection:



Notice the color of the two splash bottles: the golden one on the left (circa mid to late '80s), and the green one in the middle. The green one is only from about 1995-2000, but it's already being produced as a bright green.

The ones even more modern than that are practically neon green.

One piece of personal opinion: if you really like the EDP, you migth want to start with just a mini of the EDT, because it's almost an entirely different fragrance. I'm fanatically devoted to the EDT, and a little less so to the parfum, but I don't like the EDP at all, it's just too floral for me.

 

[CookBot]

One more suggestion: you might want to move this thread to the Vintage Forum, to get more eyeballs from vintage hounds on it.

Just hit the "report" button on your OP and ask the mods to move it for you.

 

[CookBot]

And one more thing: the most knowledgeable BNer on dating Chanels is, IMO, a member named RoRo. When you're searching threads for info, pay particular attention to his posts. Here's two of his blog entires on dating old Chanels:

https://basenotes.com/threads/a-deep-dive-into-a-1970s-vintage-chanel.519049/#post-5550148

https://basenotes.com/threads/deep-dive-part-ii-a-closer-look-at-chanel-japan.519050/

The best deals I've gotten on vintage No. 19 have come from Asia, specifically Japan and Hong Kong. He' has educated himself very deeply about Chanel products from those areas.

 

[CeeTee]

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I've bought a lot of vintage No. 19 EDT, and I think it would be very unlikely that you'd have a fake one fobbed off on you. People just aren't very likely to create fakes of things that have such a limited market -- their big money is in counterfeiting popular modern perfumes that have a huge audience.

There's a lot of minutiae to study on Chanel bottles to help date them (and there's a lot of advice about it here on Basenotes in many different threads), but one surefire place to start is with the color of the juice itself. Truly good stuff is a soft golden ambery color, and the color at the time it started to be not-so-good is a bright green, getting more & more neon as time went on. Examples from my own collection:

View attachment 337219

Notice the color of the two splash bottles: the golden one on the left (circa mid to late '80s), and the green one in the middle. The green one is only from about 1995-2000, but it's already being produced as a bright green.

The ones even more modern than that are practically neon green.

One piece of personal opinion: if you really like the EDP, you migth want to start with just a mini of the EDT, because it's almost an entirely different fragrance. I'm fanatically devoted to the EDT, and a little less so to the parfum, but I don't like the EDP at all, it's just too floral for me.

Thank you for the photo and the scoop, Cook!
Is there a certain period that would be over the hill at this point? That would be a disappointment. I did try the EDT and it was a love for sure. Verrrry different fragrance.

 

[Bavard]

Being "too old" is not a problem. Looking for yellow instead of green is probably the only tip you need. I think any version is fine: edc, edt, edp, or parfum. I'm seeing a bunch of the old edc online.

 

[CookBot]

Seconding what Bavard said (except for the EDP part, heh heh).

I'm seeing a bunch of the old edc online.

Really? I need more No. 19 like I need another leg, but now I won't be able to resist taking a look. It's a sickness.

 

[WarmJewel]

Is there a certain period that would be over the hill at this point? That would be a disappointment. I did try the EDT and it was a love for sure. Verrrry different fragrance.

I echo the advice given so far, particularly from @CookBot

Ideally, you want to be looking for a 1970's bottle in the colour that @CookBot described, it should be a kind of beigey/green and not the bright almost neonish green colour of the later versions. There's a massive difference between the beigey/green coloured 70's bottles and the later green ones, so much that it's almost a different fragrance. It's well worth taking your time, doing your research and finding the right bottle.

The difference is well documented here by Victoria in her excellent blog boisdejasmin, particularly this bit -

A side note on galbanum, fragrance and politics. When Chanel No 19 was created in 1971, it was formulated with a superb grade of Iranian galbanum oil, which was sourced especially for it. However, when the Iranian Revolution broke out in 1979, the oil became unavailable. No 19 had to be reformulated, which was accomplished with much difficulty, because the original galbanum oil was of a particularly fine, rare caliber.

Source: Chanel No 19 : Perfume Review

Here's my Chanel No. 19 Eau de Toilette dated from the batch code 2531 blind stamped into the bottom of the box - likely September 1976. This should give you some ideas of what to look for.

Note:
1/ The colour difference between the 70's bottle and the later probably 90's bottle.
2/ The ˚ sign rather than % sign to indicate alcohol percentage. This was used mostly before 1980.
3/ No EMB code. EMB codes were introduced in 1978 to indicate the originating production facility.
4/ No size indicated on the box or bottle. It's probably a 4oz, 120ml one, the 90's one next to it is 50ml.
5/ The foil blocked silver on the box of the 'Eau de toilette', early ones had this although I don't know the date when it started or ended.

 

[CookBot]

5/ The foil blocked silver on the box of the 'Eau de toilette', early ones had this although I don't know the date when it started or ended.

Good tip! Haven't heard that before, and am curious if someone might know some dates for that. Maybe @RoRo ? Sounds like just the sort of minutiae he might have dug into.

 

[CeeTee]

@CookBot and I will now engage in bidding wars! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

[RoRo]

Good tip! Haven't heard that before, and am curious if someone might know some dates for that. Maybe @RoRo ? Sounds like just the sort of minutiae he might have dug into.

That's something I had noticed, but never paid real close attention to for dating purposes.

@WarmJewel, the volume is indicated on the bottom of the box: P.M.
For EDTs and EDCs, this does in fact indicate 118ml/120ml/4 fl. oz.

 

[WarmJewel]

...the volume is indicated on the bottom of the box: P.M.
For EDTs and EDCs, this does in fact indicate 118ml/120ml/4 fl. oz.

How fascinating! That's not something I've ever come across before. What does P.M. stand for?

e2a: I found it, Reference 1303 PM = Petite Modele, 4 Floz, 120ml.

I wonder when Chanel changed from using those reference numbers for sizes and actually started putting them on the bottles and boxes?

 

[CeeTee]

Good tip! Haven't heard that before, and am curious if someone might know some dates for that. Maybe @RoRo ? Sounds like just the sort of minutiae he might have dug into.

Hey @CookBot , if you happen to be looking and you find an EDT or parfum you don want, but it looks legit, could you send me the link? Researching identification is going to be a beast, given that one could literally get a Master’s degree in bottle identification.

 

[CeeTee]

And one more thing: the most knowledgeable BNer on dating Chanels is, IMO, a member named RoRo. When you're searching threads for info, pay particular attention to his posts. Here's two of his blog entires on dating old Chanels:

https://basenotes.com/threads/a-deep-dive-into-a-1970s-vintage-chanel.519049/#post-5550148

https://basenotes.com/threads/deep-dive-part-ii-a-closer-look-at-chanel-japan.519050/

The best deals I've gotten on vintage No. 19 have come from Asia, specifically Japan and Hong Kong. He' has educated himself very deeply about Chanel products from those areas

I wasn’t sure about bottles from the far east, as they seem to be a red flag for other perfumes I’ve heard BN chatter on.

 

[CeeTee]

Being "too old" is not a problem. Looking for yellow instead of green is probably the only tip you need. I think any version is fine: edc, edt, edp, or parfum. I'm seeing a bunch of the old edc online.

Is longevity or strength, so to speak, not applicable to the EDC,EDT, etc.?

 

[Bavard]

Usually - generalizing based on a limited data set - and it's subjective anyway - usually the old edc's are just about as strong as the edt's (80 to 100% as strong) and smell a little better (another half star).