The Coty Envelope Compact

This compact happened to be one of my Christmas presents [I'm suffering from a bit of a serious compact backlog when it comes to posting them so beware of the forthcoming compact over load] and its additionally one of the compacts most collectors will come to own, it's sinuous with powder compacts and one of the most important powder compact manufactures. 

As a brand, Coty was one of the leading French perfume houses [later additionally producing from New York] and became known for introducing unusual styled compacts particularly during the 1940 and 1950s. One that they most famous for is their envelope shaped compact around 1954. Yet it wasn't their original design - they merely added extra presentation boxes in a post war era. In fact the envelope as a style for vintage powder compacts was first introduced in 1923 by the French jewellers Van Cleef and Arpels.

Its gold tone engine turned metal exterior has a smoothed edge with its Coty trademark engraved upon the lid of the powder well. Additionally attached to the powder well lid is a small clip, designed to hook over your puff, additionally featuring the brand of Coty to keep it in place - a tiny detail I've never seen before. Unlike some of it's American counterparts the mirror is held in place with an overlapping rim of metal - something more often associated with British compacts.