"The Queen of Spades" historical formula

[RomanB]

Hello, today I want to share with you a formula of a historical perfume "The Queen of Spades", named after a Pushkin's character.

Main composition:
Neroli essential oil 10
Vanillin 10
p-Anisaldehyde 20
Isoeugenol 50
Musk ketone 50
Musk ambrette 50
Ylang-ylang essential oil 50
laevo-Linalyl acetate 50
Oakmoss resinoid 55
Phenylethyl alcohol 75
Benzyl salicylate 80
Coumarin 100
Hydroxycitronellal 100
Iralia 150
Base "Jasmine 31" 150

Perfume:
Main composition 100
Benzoin Siam 10% 20
Ambergris tincture 3% 30
Musk tincture 3% 50
Ethanol 800

Base "Jasmine 31":
Vanillin 1
Lauric aldehyde 2
p-Cresol 5
Indole 5
Eugenol 5
Rose absolute 10
Jasmine absolute 13
Jasmine aldehyde 14
Hydroxycitronellal 15
Isoeugenol 15
Cinnamic alcohol 25
Methyl anthranilate 25
laevo-Linalyl acetate 100
Diethyl phtalate 190
dextro-Linalool 250
Benzyl acetate 300

Originally it was filled in bottles with a glass wand.

 

[parker25mv]

I could see the p-anisaldehyde strongly shaping the character of this fragrance.
What else jumps out at me is the benzoin and cinnamic alcohol (taking it into a more oriental direction I assume), benzyl acetate (kind of old style fragrance smell), and that is a huge dose of isoeugenol.

 

[Septime]

Roman, thanks for posting this.

I note that the main composition and the complete perfume both add up to 1000, but the Jasmine 31 base adds up to 975. Is it possible that another ingredient at 25 parts per thousand is missing? (I know European formulae don't always add up to round numbers, but I thought to ask.)

I'm struck by two things:
1) The animalic tinctures - very classical! Do you know approximately when this formula was created?
2) Lots of coumarin. Together with the Iralia, the anisaldehyde etc., I imagine the overall effect is very powdery.

(I had to look up 'jasmine aldehyde' to discover it's amyl cinnamaldehyde, so I learned something new.)

 

[RomanB]

Roman, thanks for posting this.

I note that the main composition and the complete perfume both add up to 1000, but the Jasmine 31 base adds up to 975. Is it possible that another ingredient at 25 parts per thousand is missing? (I know European formulae don't always add up to round numbers, but I thought to ask.)

I'm struck by two things:
1) The animalic tinctures - very classical! Do you know approximately when this formula was created?
2) Lots of coumarin. Together with the Iralia, the anisaldehyde etc., I imagine the overall effect is very powdery.

(I had to look up 'jasmine aldehyde' to discover it's amyl cinnamaldehyde, so I learned something new.)

Supposedly the perfume was created in 1949. I've checked my formula of the base, indeed it doesn't add up. My versions of the formulas were written two decades later than the perfume was created, so perhaps they omitted something. In such case just use some neutral solvent like DPG, TEC or IPM. Or, if you are fine with modern additions, add Hedione.

The perfume was manufactured for about 40 years at several different factories, in Russia and Georgia. In later years the glass stopper with a wand was replaced with a black crown-shaped screw cap.

Animalic tinctures were used extensively, USSR had a whaling fleet which was ordered to hunt for sperm whales to find ambergris. Musk was taken from cabarga deers in Siberia. I don't like such cruelty, so just take you favourite musks and ambergris tincture replacers. Ambroxide and Pentadecanolide would be fine if you want to keep it simple.

 

[jfrater]

This looks like a really nice formula. The centenary of Pushkin's death was 1937 - perhaps it was timed to coincide. Prokofiev wrote a film score of the same name based on the same book in 1936 for a film that never got released.

 

[RomanB]

This looks like a really nice formula. The centenary of Pushkin's death was 1937 - perhaps it was timed to coincide. Prokofiev wrote a film score of the same name based on the same book in 1936 for a film that never got released.

I like Prokofiev's music, thank you.

As of the formula, I don't understand how they separated or synthesised dextro- and laevo- isomers in 1930-s and 1940-s. Perhaps they were extracted from essential oils in which some isomers were dominant. Yet is is specifically stated to use d- and l- isomers.

 

[jfrater]

I like Prokofiev's music, thank you.

As of the formula, I don't understand how they separated or synthesised dextro- and laevo- isomers in 1930-s and 1940-s. Perhaps they were extracted from essential oils in which some isomers were dominant. Yet is is specifically stated to use d- and l- isomers.

I am not sure on the DL isomers but I do find myself constantly amazed at the materials I find in many of the vintage bases I work with. There is a lot of stuff that was being used internally long before it was known to have been "invented" or "discovered" and available to the general perfume trade. It can make dating old perfumes difficult if they are obscure.

 

[LaFou]

Little bit of history, a nice formula and some music too, my my this thread is shaping up classsyyyy 😅

 

[parker25mv]

As of the formula, I don't understand how they separated or synthesised dextro- and laevo- isomers in 1930-s and 1940-s. Perhaps they were extracted from essential oils in which some isomers were dominant. Yet is is specifically stated to use d- and l- isomers.

I don't wish for this discussion to drift too far off topic but in another thread I posted some information about how, in earlier times, they extracted linalool from the distillation of rosewood.
The fragrance of rosewood is more like the laevo- enantiomer of linalool, woody, flowery and lavenderlike (as opposed to the dextro- form which is more fresh, sweet, citrus, herbaceous impression).
By the 1970s, camphor tree leaf oil was beginning to be exported from China, and then laevo-linalool was sourced from that.
Pell Wall is now selling laevo-linalool sourced from basil. Any time you see specific enantiomers of something sold in perfumery, it is very likely derived from something natural. (I can only think of a few exceptions off hand)

I think this fragrance may have been available in the Soviet Union between the late 1950s to 1980s. (But I'm really not sure about that)
The Russian version of Fragrantica gives a release date for it of 1949.
But it may not have been widely available to Russians due to the state of the economy at that time. (For example, toilet paper was not widely available in the Soviet Union until all the way up to 1968 ) I'd guess that when this perfume was first released, it probably would have been enjoyed mostly by more privileged party members in the intelligentsia (wives of professors, doctors, mid-level bureaucrats) and mostly only in Moscow.

 

[jfrater]

Little bit of history, a nice formula and some music too, my my this thread is shaping up classsyyyy 😅

always

 

[RomanB]

I don't wish for this discussion to drift too far off topic but in another thread I posted some information about how, in earlier times, they extracted linalool from the distillation of rosewood.
The fragrance of rosewood is more like the laevo- enantiomer of linalool, woody, flowery and lavenderlike (as opposed to the dextro- form which is more fresh, sweet, citrus, herbaceous impression).
By the 1970s, camphor tree leaf oil was beginning to be exported from China, and then laevo-linalool was sourced from that.
Pell Wall is now selling laevo-linalool sourced from basil. Any time you see specific enantiomers of something sold in perfumery, it is very likely derived from something natural. (I can only think of a few exceptions off hand)

I think this fragrance may have been available in the Soviet Union between the late 1950s to 1980s. (But I'm really not sure about that)
The Russian version of Fragrantica gives a release date for it of 1949.
But it may not have been widely available to Russians due to the state of the economy at that time. (For example, toilet paper was not widely available in the Soviet Union until all the way up until 1968 ) I'd guess that when this perfume was first released, it probably would have been enjoyed only by more privileged party members in the intelligentsia (wives of professors, doctors, mid-level bureaucrats) and mostly only in Moscow.

Soviet perfume industry was capable of large volumes, they made around 300 000 000 bottles of perfume per year. "The Queen of Spades" wasn't meant for Nomenklatura. There were perfumes made for elites, like "Rizhanin" Eau de Cologne - Brezhnev's favourite perfume, or "Leningrad" in bone porcelain bottles, which was used as an official gift or reward:

Also there was "Yaroslavna" made in honour of cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova:

It contained 18% of jasmine Sambac absolute in the main formula, total concentration of perfume was 30%.

 

[parker25mv]

Soviet perfume industry was capable of large volumes, they made around 300 000 000 bottles of perfume per year. "The Queen of Spades" wasn't meant for Nomenklatura.

I was referring to the earliest years, when it first came out.
I am by no means an expert in this area but from what I have read, the Soviet Union had very little emphasis on the production of luxury consumer goods in 1949 or the early 50s.
Yes, by the 70s and early 80s it would have been more like a common consumer item.

I think a lot of the articles you will find about the history of Soviet perfumery tend to wallpaper over how difficult things were in the country during the time period between about 1930 to 1950. By 1951 the society was just beginning to recover and a rudimentary modern consumer market was starting to take shape, at least around Moscow.

some further reading:

The Scent of Empires by Karl Schlögel - International Perfume Bottle Association

Reviewed by Lenore Worth Hiers. The introduction of this book explains the author’s constant exposure to the fragrance “Red Moscow” in Soviet Russia. The historian in him caused him to delve into its origins. The empires in the […]

perfumebottles.org

Scent of a Soviet woman: The fragrances of a bygone era

What was the aroma of the USSR? The smell of cigarette smoke, alcohol and dust was all-pervasive, but in this mix there was always the strident,...

www.rbth.com

Really drifting off topic but if you want a personal anecdote, I remember a story my grandmother related to me, from an acquaintance she had, a man who visited Russia and stayed in the home of a doctor, in a small apartment. This would have been some time between 1956 and 1966 I think. When it came time for dinner, the doctor served his guest a can of beans. That was pretty much the main part of the meal. Says something about the living standards at the time.

 

[fabianross]

"Пиковая Дама" is truly attested in 1939, but only after WWII it became a major perfume, for obvious reasons. Something is missing in the formula, compared to vintage extracts I have. A more complex rose note, a soft lilac base and aldehydes. For me it is lilac-jasmine-rose over a sweet powdery methyl ionone + tones of moss and musk. Like No5 overdosed with jasmine and mosses. There should be aldehyde C12 MNA, it is unmistakable in vintage extracts. The perfume is very good, overdosed, also complex but vintage in terms of style. There is a Bienaime perfume, not far from that idea. Your formula is probably a later interpretation of the theme, very close to the original. Good luck with your discoveries !

 

[RomanB]

"Пиковая Дама" is truly attested in 1939, but only after WWII it became a major perfume, for obvious reasons. Something is missing in the formula, compared to vintage extracts I have. A more complex rose note, a soft lilac base and aldehydes. For me it is lilac-jasmine-rose over a sweet powdery methyl ionone + tones of moss and musk. Like No5 overdosed with jasmine and mosses. There should be aldehyde C12 MNA, it is unmistakable in vintage extracts. The perfume is very good, overdosed, also complex but vintage in terms of style. There is a Bienaime perfume, not far from that idea. Your formula is probably a later interpretation of the theme, very close to the original. Good luck with your discoveries !

In 1939 the Jasmine bases were imported and hence different. "Jasmine 31" is a variation on Jasmine Invar theme.

Since 25 parts are missing from the formula, I guess it might be Aldehyde C12 MNA and something else too.

 

[RomanB]

An update on dextro- and laevo isomers of linalool: d-linalool was just extracted from coriander seeds and l-linalool from clary sage.

 

[fabianross]

An update on dextro- and laevo isomers of linalool: d-linalool was just extracted from coriander seeds and l-linalool from clary sage.

Linalool ex coriander and linalool ex clary sage are typical for Russian perfumery. The first is probably the most important, I smell it in all vintage perfumes. It is probably the cause for a certain sweetness, as seen in old Kremlin perfume versions. All those perfumes have very nice ideas, not the best ingredients, but all of them can be "updated" or "corrected" to express the original intention. I am thinking about В память о Москве, it has a vibe typical for Aka-Iveh (Renoir 1943) - very nice balsamic and mossy perfume.