Buyer Beware Alert: Old Spice

**ClubmanRob** · 03-23-2009, 01:29 AM

Just wanted to post this heads up to anyone who is buying a certain style of Old Spice.

There's been some sales here and abroad of Early American Old Spice. The photos for the various bottles are pulled off of other internet sources and as such are not indicative of what you may actually be getting. There's also erroneous descriptions attached to the sale.

First off, here's what's being offered according to pics:

This is all well and good, but the problem I have is that it's being advertised as "Early 1930's Early American Old Spice Cologne".

First off, there's no such thing as Early 30's Old Spice. Old Spice cologne wasn't released until 1938. Even then, the limited quantities of early stock make finding a pre-1940 bottle very, very rare- and command hundreds of dollars. You will simply not find a 2ml decant going for a few dollars, here or on Ebay.

Second, it's very easy to differentiate between 1938-1940 Old Spice Cologne. They're in the typical old style off-white ceramic bottle that you know and love, but "Early American" appears in small text on the front of the bottle.

Third, Early American Old Spice was introduced in 1937 as a ladies perfume. It, too, was in an off-white ceramic or pottery glass that resembled the traditional Cologne bottle. It wasn't very popular, and was killed off shortly after the Men's Cologne version, introduced the following year, became so wildly popular.

Fourth, EAOS was brought back in the fifties as a ladies perfume and toilet water. They were made available for purchase along with Early American branded bath salts, lotion and other "girly" stuff. Here's a 1955 print ad:

Basically, what I'm getting at is that I've been getting some PM's as to the validity of these sales, and I'm finding that either through ignorance or outright deception this stuff is being advertised as something it's not.

It's not cologne.

It's not from the 30's.

It's not exceedingly rare.

It's not worth more than a couple of dollars an ounce. The container is worth more than the actual perfume, and an empty glass in excellent condition is worth more than a full container in average condition.

Ask to see the actual container that it's being decanted out of. Anyone can pull a picture off the net and pretend it's theirs. Check around to see if it was pulled off of another site. This first came to my attention because one of the photos used in a sale was one I personally took almost ten years ago.

If you haven't read it yet, check out my Scam Guide: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...=caveat+emptor

Be leery guys, and if you're at all ever hesitant to buying something old or supposedly rare, feel free to PM me, and I'll help you out any way I can.

Rob