Being a lover of both the art nouveau/art deco eras and fairies, I have been pining for a Djer Kiss Kissing Fairies compact for years now.
The purchase of this particular piece of cosmetological history, was no trivial thing as they are a little pricey. As it turns out, it was just a little too pricey for my pocketbook and so I am going to let it go back into the consumer abyss tonight on ebay. I am a little sad to see it go but it was a bit too indulgent a splurge for me and I would prefer to see that money go toward the betterment of my family rather than for my own personal gain.
This being said, selling it gave me the perfect opportunity to take some photos of it, which I have been meaning to do for some time. And let's just admit, taking photos, for me, is just about as exciting as owning such a magnificent piece, and sharing these photos with you is even better.
I am not sure if this compact was made from Sterling silver or only sterling plate. What I do know is that I was able to polish it with my little silver cloth. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning it up and making it shine...it was pretty dirty when I received it.
Like the magpie in The Secret of Nimh, I am a sucker for bright shiny silver things. My most vivid memory of that movie is of the magpie asking Mrs. Frisby for "the sparkly," as he called it, to impress a girl magpie.
I have had this obsession for the art nouveau/art deco era since I was a child. When my sister Laurie was in high school she worked for an upholsterer in downtown Racine, Wisconsin (this would have made me about 6). His shop was full of what most people probably saw as junk, but to me it was a treasure trove. My memory of the shop itself is hazy, sort of faded and grainy, like an old photograph, with sunlight streaming through whirling dust-motes. Despite my lack of detailed imagery, I feel like my memory of it has grown in my imagination and shaped my love for old things and patina. I still love to go treasure hunting in antique stores, the more chaotic the better.
In the building above the upolsterer's shop was an old ballroom from the turn of the century/twenties. I must admit to having been disappointed that it looked just like any large room with wood floors left in a state of decay, but I loved to imagine the dramas that had played themselves out in that room, the girls who had danced there, the dresses that had swirled and shimmied.
One thing I remember finding in that shop was a vintage compact. It was the kind of compact that girls would have carried to tea dances (a detail that only expanded the material for my imagination). It was large for a compact, but it held everything a girl would need...her powder, lipstick, a comb, a mirror, all of the essentials...who knows, it might have even held her dance card and a small pencil. Such things were, for me, the things of dreams. I have no idea what happened to that compact. It probably got thrown out in some purging. I don't remember having it for very long, so I imagine my mother thought it was disgusting and secreted it away from me...as a mother myself, I know that we are sometimes insensitive to the imaginations of our children and don't always recognize the treasure in all the trash. I am sure it would look like a ratty piece of plastic to me now. But who knows?
You'll notice that this compact still contains some of its original, now petrified, blush. I am not sure if I think this is kind of cool or really gross. It doesn't seem to possess any of its original coloring power however (I swiped a finger through it); it just feels like stone.
I have had a long "love" affair with compacts. Does anyone remember the compact used by Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins? It was a little black embroidered number, similar to this one. I loved that compact and dreamed of owning one just like it. In fact over the years I've bought several in the hopes that it would appease this desire.
In seventh grade I settled for a Cover Girl faux tortoise shell compact. You know the one. I can still smell the spicy aroma of Nozema that would puff out of the compact whenever I snapped it shut. The powder felt so smooth and clean. I still use Cover Girl powder (maybe that is why I can still smell it).
Then when I was in college I upped-the-anty and purchased a smooth, round, gold compact from Estee Lauder. I never really liked or used the powder contained within the compact; it didn't smell as good as Cover Girl powder you understand. The purchase was made for the compact alone. I still have that compact in my make-up drawer. The powder has long since cracked and blown away.
So you see, this purchase was not quite as out of the blue as it might seem. I have been chasing compacts my entire life. But alas, it is time to let this one go...it remains to be seen if owning it for a short while, handling it, photographing it will appease my desire to have one. If so, I wish all of my manias could be so easily satisfied.
