This is an exquisite and authentic piece of history.

Vintage mid century WWII Novelty Gilded Brass 'My Jerrycan' Mark Fael Paris Perfume Bottle

French perfumer Marc Fael utilized an utterly unexpected vehicle for the packaging of his fine fragrance, “My Jerrycan.” Fael’s perfume, produced and sold in the immediate postwar years, married a glamorous fragrance with a very unglamorous piece of gear. The “Jerry can” was a German military canister (Wehr-macht-Einheitskanister) intended for one of the most precious and scarcest resources—fuel—but adapted later for many other purposes. The Allies reverse-engineered and adopted its stackable, leakproof design; ads for the perfume played on the motif, noting that the two-inch-tall container was “non-spillable for the purse.” 

The National WWII Museum’s archives contain a letter written by Private First Class Herman Obermayer to his mother on June 15, 1945, that tells of an afternoon perfume excursion in Paris: “Almost every store is out of the famous name brands, but if they have a little there is always a long line, about 80% of which is made up of American soldiers.

In 1946, this fragrance cost $12.50—nearly $200 today

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