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Discover Mid-America — September 2004

The beginnings of Avon

D.H. McConnell Sr. founded the California Perfume Company (C.P. Co.) in 1886 in New York City. McConnell had previously been a salesman for a book company, later purchasing the company.

His door-to-door salesmanship usually had him dealing with the lady of the house, to whom he presented a free bottle of perfume. He discovered that his perfume was more popular than his books. It was then he decided that manufacturing perfume might be a lucrative business.

He began bottling under the name “California Perfume Company” and included a line of household products called “Perfection.” In 1929, the name “Avon” began appearing on his product labels.

By 1939, the California name had all but been removed from McConnell’s line of products. Much of the company’s success is attributed to the door-to-door sales approach and the “money back” guarantee offered by McConnell’s first “Depot Agent,” Mrs. P.F.E. Albee, known as the “Avon Lady.”

The company’s product containers continue to been quite collectible today, especially older items that are increasingly hard to find. Advanced collectors look for bottles and other items labeled “Goetting & Co. New York,” “Goetting’s” or “Savoi Et Cie Paris.” Such examples date from 1871 to 1896. McConnell at one time owned the Goetting Co. Savoi was a line he imported to sell through department stores.

Also of special interest are packaging and advertising with the Ambrosia or Hinze Ambrosia Company label. This company was a subsidiary whose objective seems to have been to produce a line of face creams for sale through drugstores and other retail outlets. The company operated out of New York from 1875 to 1954. Very little is known about the company and only a few examples of their product containers and advertising material have been found. Market values as collectibles have yet to be established.

Other examples of rare items being sought include products marked “Gertrude Recordon,” “Marvel Electric Silver Cleaner,” “Easy Day Automatic Clothes Washer,” pre-1930 catalogs and the 1909 and 1910 catalogs from the California Perfume Co.

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