This box was catalogued and photographed by Barbara Prynn who also created the website entries.
The items in Box B4 are products relating to ladies cosmetics, make up, perfume, and so forth. They have likely been grouped together in the archive to differentiate them from the hair-related items and general accessories in other boxes.
Some of the products are still in use, though many of them, while still being produced and sold now, are produced and sold in different kinds or colours or containers.
Quite a number of them are no longer produced at all, and some are now produced by companies who bought out earlier companies. The types of products themselves are generally all still in use now.
It is hard to know exactly why these articles were kept. Some of them, like some of the perfume bottles, are rather beautiful and would presumable have been expensive and reusable in some form.
On the other hand, some of the articles are more ephemeral, like the kinds of hand wipes given out on planes or in restaurants, or items from hotel bathrooms.
Although they are interesting now from a historical perspective, it is difficult to imagine why anyone would initially have kept and stored them.
Some of the items in the box are from the 1960s and some rather later. Many are difficult to date, but others can be roughly dated according to the time when the production companies ceased to operate. Some of the articles were not produced in this country, and it is not clear how they ended up here.
With items that are no longer produced, this is most likely because their production companies having gone out of business or were taken over by other companies.
There are a number of items in glass bottles and many in plastic containers. The reason for this might be because of cost, or because of improvements in the kinds of plastics used as containers, or for reasons of safety or practicality, for example weight. Changes in fashion or in marketing might be a reason for changes in the designs and colours of containers over time.
Items of particular interest
The item is a small, round, red cardboard box. Inside it is a mauve powder puff.
On the lid of the box in gold lettering one can read ‘Knud Jacobsen Guldsmed Silkeborg Danmark.’ What is noteworthy about this is that Knud Jacobsen was a Danish Goldsmith, obviously with nothing to do with face powder.
I find it interesting – and amusing – to see this rather pretty box with something which doesn’t belong to it, which is inside it. And how did it get here?
It seems likely that someone bought something from the Knud Jacobsen shop – probably a ring since the box is small – and they liked the box, which is in good order, and used it instead of a powder compact because it, and whatever was inside it, had happy memories for them.
It is not possible to tell how old the box is. The Knud Jacobsen shop still exists in Silkeborg, though its founder died many years ago. The shop has a website, and the archives in Silkeborg have information about the history of the shop and the history of Knud Jacobsen.
However, neither of these places could offer any information about the box with face powder in it, though their staff were intrigued by the question of how this happened and why the box is in the Museum collection.