Proto-original Aqua Velva (I think)

[DonOhio]

It was apparently misplaced at the antique mall last time I checked. Went in this morning and it had reappeared.

The clerk let me take a whiff...it's still fairly potent but seems designed to be understated. Flowery/herby/citrusy, with what I want to say is bergamot but I could be wrong. Interesting scent, surprisingly mild for what I'd expect of a man's aftershave from that era.

The bottle is definitely legit, given the company's own mould stamp on the bottom. Label seems the same.

Upon getting it home, I realized it reminded me of Avon's Tai Winds. Instantly paranoid, I compared it to a mint container of T.W. The A.V. is in the same general ballpark but subtler (not just due to age) and more complex...more notes than Avon has. Also, T.W. is a deeper, faintly greenish yellow color, whereas this stuff is a dead match of pics of '50s era A.V. available on the net.

My verdict: Bottle and label are legit, no doubt. The contents...well, since I can find no info on precisely what original, pre-blue A.V. smelled like, and since it doesn't match any Avon I've tried (an obvious and dirt cheap move if someone wanted to pull a switcheroo), and since the color matches known A.V. samples of that era, I assume it's legit, too.

Anybody here old enough to have any input on the real original?

 

[sandmountainslim]

VERY nice score!

I wonder if the shavers of the 50's had a fit when it went "Ice Blue" and they did away with the original?
Wp

 

[DonOhio]

Dunno, but the reason they did so is hilarious, I think (see Wikipedia's A.V. article). That's when they shifted to blue, I'm led to understand.

 

[The Nid Hog]

Beautiful score! That bottle would be worth it, even if it was filled with lemonade. The color certainly looks like the original AV that I have, although mine is in a much newer bottle. Congratulations!

 

[DonOhio]

Just took a closer look at the excellent A.V. writeup on another site. The bottle in the '30s era ad below has the same flange on the neck, same cap, and printing font as mine.

 

[DonOhio]

Beautiful score! That bottle would be worth it, even if it was filled with lemonade. The color certainly looks like the original AV that I have, although mine is in a much newer bottle. Congratulations!

thank you! You have the squarish bottle, then? If so, you've got great descriptive powers that I envy...how would you describe it?

 

[DonOhio]

Hey, the nose knows! I thought it reminded me of bergamot, and so it is (from the other site I, for some reason, can't link to):

The original Aqua Velva scent was a combination of Lime and Bergamot: a pleasant citrus blend which had a refreshing and tingling effect on a freshly shaven face.

That's it for me, then, it's the Real Deal.

 

[Topgumby]

Great score, and it reminds me that often what we revere as "original" or "classic" was seen in a different light at one time.

Imagine, indeed, if there had been a B&B when Aqua Velva went blue, or when Old Spice changed bottle designs. The outrage!

The Nid Hog sent me a sample of the original AV, and I found the scent pleasant and rather understated. IIRC, one of the big reasons that AV went menthol was in response to growing competition from Skin Bracer.

Funny to think that the original AV probably has more in common with the trendier mainstream scents of the present than Pete Rose's Ice Blue.

 

[DonOhio]

Funny to think that the original AV probably has more in common with the trendier mainstream scents of the present than Pete Rose's Ice Blue.

That's right. I was just thinking that since lime and bergamot were the main ingredients, it should be very easy for someone with perfumery skill to come up with something that duplicates the formula. Depending on what a fresh batch smelled like, I'd probably buy it.

 

[The Nid Hog]

I do have the square bottle. I think that the one I have is a barber's sample. Your description of bergamot and lime seems pretty close to me. There's also the touch of something murky--almost an oakmoss-like note. I've been thinking that it's because the juice is old. Maybe not.

I think that Hoyt's Cologne with a shot of Lime EO would do it. Maybe I'll give it a try and see what I come up with...