Page 32 - July 25 catalogue amended

130. TRUEFITT HAIR BOTTLE.
6.2ins tall. Pedestal based hair
bottle in a variating amber glass
- dark through to
light. embossed
‘H.P. TRUEFITT
/ BURLINGTON
ARCADE /
LONDON’. Tooled,
flared collar lip; flat
whittled base with
prominent central
indented pontil like base. Note: non-pontilled
later bottles have additional embossing of ‘LIMITED’ (after 1880). Some overall general wear, as dug. An extremely rare offering. £200-300+
Truefitt in Mayfair, established according to the
present company in 1805, is the oldest barber shop
in the world (according to the Guinness Book of
records). Now called Truefitt & Hill barbers to nine
consecutive monarchs and saw to the whiskery
needs of Charles Dickens, Lord Byron and William
Thackery, as well as fashionable cut of Beau
Brummell and Oscar Wilde. When they opened the
trade was not so much cutting hair as supplying it.
Their wigs were so well fitted the posh
dandy-accented phrase ‘right as a trivet’
became a description for perfect.
There were originally three members
of the family involved: brothers William
Francis (b.1784), who had a shop in
2 Wellington Street Long Acre, with
Francis (1784-1839) and Peter (1789-
1852) operating around Bond Street.
Although there are pot lids bearing the
name of Francis’s son Walter Truefitt,
the present bottle relates to Peter’s
shop established (according to court
reports in 1903) in 1819 in Burlington
Arcade. A newspaper account of
calamitous fire in 1836 lists ‘Mr Truefitt’
no. 26, early bears grease lids have ‘no 20’ (perhaps indicating a move as a result?). Peter’s son Henry Paul (1825-1909) joined his father’s concern in 1846. Henry ran a different side of the firm
specifically offering consultations and advice, over and above the hairdressing (literally) in no. 14 Old Bond Street, on the treatment of hair. Regarding himself a kind of hair doctor or “hair specialist” he published ‘Baldness New Views on Baldness; being a Treatise on the hair and skin’ in 1863. In 1870 the shop was extended until it connected to 13 Old Bond Street.
at
also sold perfumes, the present pedestal bottle is most likely a hair product: these included Euchrisma hair restorer, Tintura hair dye or Mexican hair balm.
Full feature article in BBR 168.
They opened another on Piccadilly in 1851, exhibited at the Great Exhibition and, by 1872, had branches first at Aldershot, then also at Sandhurst and, as ‘Major’ Truefitt, in Brighton where Henry lived until 1870. The
title ‘Major’ used in adverts tapped into the military moustache trade and explains why
Aldershot was picked: they operated both in the military camp there and (after 1861) in the
town. Surviving packaging includes a range of pot lids (see pages403-405 in ‘Historical
a Guide to Advertising Pot Lids’). Although Truefitt
131. SANDS OINTMENT POT. 1.7ins
tall. Off white cylindrical ointment pot with deep blue transfer within thick border. Visible rusting/ small hairline - all could bleach out? A great rarity still. 8/10 NR £120-150+.
5ins tall. Bright green stumpy cylinder with heavy,
well modelled, crown shaped stopper. THE CROWN PERFUMERY COMPANY LONDON embossed to front, original label around neck & rear. A very rare large
132. CROWN PERFUMERY LABELLED BOTTLE.
size example. 8/10 NR £40-60+