Czechoslovakia was famous not only for its jewelry but also for its glass perfume bottles. They were made in many kinds of glass: clear crystal, colored and pressed glass, and above all malachite glass, which became the most recognizable of them all.
Malachite glass first appeared in the Art Deco era, around the 1920s and 1930s. Glassmakers in Jablonec and the surrounding region blended opaque and translucent green glass so that milky veins swirled through the material, echoing the banding of real malachite stone. No two pieces are alike, because the pattern is shaped by the moment the glass is worked. Most of these bottles are unsigned, so the exact maker is often impossible to pin down, though names like Curt Schlevogt and Heinrich Hoffman are associated with the style.
From the middle of the 20th century, many more malachite glass pieces were made, often from the old molds and traditional forms. They are lovely in their own right, but they are a later chapter in the story, which is worth keeping in mind when dating a bottle.
Czech perfume bottles came in many other styles. Some were decorated with delicate openwork filigree, set with crystals and glass stones, so that a bottle became almost a piece of jewelry in itself.
Size matters too. The tiny bottles are especially charming: they were made to be carried in a lady's handbag, so she could freshen her scent through the day. The larger bottles are showpieces. They look striking on a dressing table, but also well beyond the lady's boudoir, in any interior where you want to show your taste, your refinement, and your love of vintage and special details.
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