Saturday 27 November 2010

FAQ: How do I remove a perfume stopper that's stuck?


There is something to be said for those spectacular vintage perfume finds... the scents of yesteryear that you might have stumbled upon at a yard sale, or triumphed over others to win in an online bidding war. Fortunately more often than not, the item turns out to be well preserved for it's vintage, but occasionally the one thing standing between you and enjoying your ultimate fragrance find is the ground glass stopper - one that simply won't budge!
Possibly the most frequently asked question I receive from antique perfume enthusiasts is "How do I remove the stopper?" ...
With so many differing opinions online, I can only suggest the methods that have worked for me with maximum results and minimum risk.

Stubborn ground glass stoppers won't shift usually for one of two reasons: either the stopper has expanded slightly inside the neck of the bottle over the decades, or perhaps perfume residue has hardened between the stopper and the bottleneck, forming a glue-like seal. In both instances, I have on numerous occasions managed to remove stoppers with the following non-destructive method.

You will need:

The perfume bottle in question
2 plastic pipettes
A soft cloth
A few drops of of cooking oil
Access to a refrigerator/freezer
A good measure of patience


First of all, its a good idea to clear a workspace. Take your time and handle the bottle and materials with care. Start by giving the bottle a gentle wipe with a damp cloth (avoiding wetting any paper labels), particularly around the neck area so that surface dust and residue is minimised.

Step 1: Take the cooking oil and a plastic pipette and draw up just a small amount of cooking oil.
Carefully pipe the oil slowly and evenly in the small space where the glass stopper and bottle neck meet. Try not to flood the area, but be sure to turn the bottle slowly and ensure you have evenly oiled the rift. (The idea is that this will act as a light lubricant when the time comes to try and remove the stopper). Once you have piped the oil onto the neck of the flacon, set it aside for 15-20 minutes. Resist the urge to twist it at this point.



Step 2: Take the perfume bottle and gently place it inside your freezer. (Frost free is ideal so that there is no risk of damage to the paper labels). Leave the perfume to sit inside the freezer for approximately 20-30 minutes. The perfume itself won't freeze due to the high alcohol content, but the glass will shrink ever so slightly. After 20-30 minutes, remove the bottle and take it back to your clean work area. It is more than likely small beads of condensation will have formed on the outside of the bottle. Hold it firmly in the soft cloth at the base, and fold the cloth over the top of the stopper so you can get a firm grip of it. Applying a reasonable degree of pressure in a clockwise direction only, try and twist the stopper. (In the case of a perfume bottle with a fluted neck, then pull the stopper upwards with a very slight twist). You may need to attempt this several times. 9 times out of 10, here is where the stopper will pop off or hiss as it lets the trapped perfumed air loose for the first time in decades!


Step 3: Here you have to work rather fast. Set the stopper down for a moment, and immediately use the cloth to clean around and inside the open mouth of the bottle. Try and wipe up as much of any remaining cooking oil residue that might be present before it trickles down into the juice. Pick up the stopper and thoroughly wipe the oil residue from the stopper too (you may even see the tiny beads of oil on the surface of the cold glass). Take a look inside the bottle and see whether you can see any tiny drops of oil floating on the top of the solution. If yes, use a clean pipette to extract it.
If the stopper has old caked-on perfume residue around it, wash it off carefully under warm water with a soft cloth, and dry it thoroughly before placing the stopper back into the bottle.


Once loosened, (provided you do not get the bottleneck and stopper coated in perfume residue again), you should be able to open your bottle without any trouble each time thereafter.

Note: I would advise you not to knock the stopper on the side of a bench in an attempt to "shock" it into shifting, nor would I advocate heating the glass bottle in any way as the results can be both unpredictable and disastrous.

In extremely severe and unfortunate cases (usually if the glass is extremely thin and delicate or if the handler is very impatient), the stopper can occasionally snap off, leaving the decorative part in your hand, and a glass plug inside the bottleneck. This link provides the best possible advice I have found regarding a method to both salvage the perfume, and repair the broken stopper.

Happy vintage perfume hunting, people!

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your careful way of opening stuck stoppers ! I wish I had known some weeks ago, when I danced around a vintage flacon of Zibeline/Weil and kind of prayed for a wonder...
I finally opened it with a much more brutal way, by wrapping a round nose plyer with tissue paper on both noses and placing them side by side with the stopper neck. Then I used them as a kind of crank to lever up the stopper ( which I had wrapped in foam padding before, to prevent breakage when it would fly away)
All worked out smoothly, but my nerves were blank...You can see this lovely undamaged bottle in my blog. I still tremble, when I think of this adventure. Will try your way next times !

Angela Cox said...

So no hammers then Dimitri ? So far I have not had too much trouble but if I had a bottle of a vintage Mitsouko sense might go out the window. I shall show the instructions to my husband who will tie me to a chair ,tape my mouth and make me watch as he does a lovely job ( shut up in the peanut gallery)....I tear Christmas paper off like a loon too.

ggs said...

Thanks for the tip. I haven't heard of using oil before, but have had success using a pipette with drops of alcohol to loosen vintage crystal stoppers stuck fast due to perfume resins. One advantage of alcohol is less concern about it contaminating the perfume.

It is a little nervewracking trying to open a valuable vintage bottle!

queen_cupcake said...

Thank you for posting these tips. I have a couple of bottles I want to try to get unstuck.

Blog Author said...

Thank you all for your comments. :)

Angela, you're hilarious! I totally know what you mean!

GGS, non-scented perfumers alcohol is great for breaking down the residue, but I find it evaporates too fast to act as a lubricant.

Queen Cupcake... please let me know if this method works for you!

Anonymous said...

It works! Thanks D.! : )

gretchen lang said...

Wow, my husband just did a mind-blowing job of removing a broken-off stopper from a bottle of vintage Chanel 5 that I got for a song. I took a bunch of pictures but am not sure I'll be able to post them here; I'll try. It's a 3-oz (my best guess) bottle of pure extrait from sometime between 1924 and 1950 - see the dot under the "No" in the pics. That's right, 3 ounces - the bottle is more than 3" high by 3" wide by 1.25 inches deep! I just put on a dab and my eyes rolled back in my head.
Here's how he did it:
1) First he filed a flat spot on the broken stopper top so the drill bit wouldn't slip, then he used a drill press with a 1/8" carbide glass-cutting bit at a very slow speed, with a very small amount of water dripped on to cool it. He paused frequently to clean away the glass dust slurry.
2) After drilling down about 1/4", he put a drop of 2-part epoxy in the hole, and inserted a steel pin (he says if he did it again he would square the end of the pin first to prevent it from turning in the hole). He first flattened the end of the pin that protruded so that he could grasp it with a vise grip.
3) He allowed the glue to set for 24 hours, put the bottle in the freezer for 30 minutes, and then very quickly did the following before it could warm up at all:
4) He put a tiny amount of vegetable oil around the seam between the stopper and the neck, and wrapped a hot wet paper towel - microwaved - around the neck (not allowing it to contact the bottle and heat the perfume).
5) He grasped the pin with vise grips and tapped smartly upward on the vise grips with a small hammer while holding the bottle on a towel to cushion it.
6) VOILA! the stopper lifted out and then a careful wipe of the neck to remove the oil residue, and I have a lifetime supply of pure Chanel 5 perfume! My hero.
*I just tried to paste the photos and couldn't, but if you let me know how to do it I'll add them. They're instructive.

susiemusic said...

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I have followed your instructions (but using a drop of oil on a cotton wool bud instead of a pipette)on a 50 year old bottle of Chanel No 5 that has been sealed all its life until tonight! I am thrilled that your advice worked and I am now enjoying the glorious, unspoiled fragrance.

Unknown said...

I am trying the "Oil & Freezer" method at this very moment. (Monday June 4 9:30 in morn.) My 1st attempt did not work. I was patient and cautious. I am sooo afraid that the very slender glass stopper is going to break off in my hand!! I will post back if i ever do get the stopper out..or don't! FINGERS, TOES AND ANYTHING ELSE I CAN THINK OF ARE CROSSED. Wish me luck!

Unknown said...

I cannot thank you enough for this tip on removing a stopper. My 2 OZ Baccarat bottle of Shalimar had a broken stopper and was so rudely stuck... a sad aftermath to the 2 oz bottle I received 2 months before this one arrived, as it's stopper unstuck in transit and all of the contents leaked out and arrived empty! Now I had the opposite problem. I tried several fixes to no avail. I added a little sunflower oil with a swab around the stopper and bottle seam, waited my 1/2 hour and then gave it the freeze for another 1/2 hour. The broken stopper finial had just enough left (albeit crumbly glass) to apply a wide rubber band and use my pliers to carefully lift and twist clockwise... the stopper came out after about a half-dozen tries (grips). I am so happy.

Now to try this on my full 1000 ml (yeah BIG) bottle of Shalimar cologne next! Thanks again.

Blog Author said...

Im so pleased to hear you found it helpful kate - enjoy that lovely Shalimar deliciousness!

Unknown said...

Hallelujah!!! THANK YOU for these concrete, effective solutions! My 2 oz. vintage black glass "Boule" of Arpege, with the gold-painted glass ball top & stopper, was FROZEN SOLID. After reading recommendations, it became clear that what I suspected, was in fact true: My large bottle of this 1927 treasure release (date of my boule, unknown), pure extrait, had become "glued" shut with it's own dried juice/oils, just exactly at the snugly fitted glass stopper/neck.

I now have a huge blister on my thumb, from 2 hours of my own stumbling attempts to grasp & twist the ribbed glass top, carefully yet steadily...

Next, I tried running it under hot water (concentrating on the neck area)- more twisting- bigger blister- no luck. Then, I tried the suggestion of taking a sterile dropper, and carefully applying rubbing alcohol just all around the small diameter circle, where the stopper enters the neck of the bottle- AND, I put this in the freezer for 20 minutes... Still, my thumb is severely blistered now, but no luck OPENING the boule!

Finally, I threw my hands up in despair, and filled a small child's stainless steel drink cup with 91% rubbing alcohol, (what I had in the medicine cabinet), & inverted my boule in the cup, so that the entire neck area was completely covered & SOAKING in pure alcohol. All was lost anyway, I figured.

So... I left it alone, and after a half hour, decided to see what, if anything, had changed... VOILA! I carefully turned it right-side up (inverting & spilling the 1/2 cup of alcohol into another cup), and- Took the boule out, barely grasped the gilded glass stopper top- It opened easily!

It turns out, that it was indeed "glued" shut with it's own dried juice & oils, just at the delicate neck- I also learned that ~ 1/2 way down the length of the glass stopper portion (which inserts into the neck), is grooved, running around the diameter of the stopper- THAT's exactly where the "glue set". The alc. dissolved it (yeah!). I took a cotton pad, soaked up some alcohol, & carefully cleaned the entire (intact!) stopper, + inside & outside the neck, all around the bottle, etc. And now, I am wearing my vtg. Arpgege- SCORE!

There is no-thing like this deep, dark, explosion of GORGEOUS floral aldehyde w/ civet- Mwa-hahaha!!!

Now, I feel a lot more confident about how to resolve this, if I encounter again. That stopper was STUCK / FROZEN for-EVER (I thought). Once my thumb blister heals, all will be well :) omg, it smells D-I-V-I-N-E !!! THANK YOU !

Blog Author said...

Thanks for your message Zoso Roxy :) Im pleased you managed to finally pop that top like a champagne cork :)
You might have missed the alert when you hit "Publish Your Comment" that notified you that comments are stored and published *after* they've been moderated by yours truly - it wasn't a bot thing. ;)
Hope you stop by again.
Dimitri

Lee Curran said...

Just received a vintage Caron Nuit de Noel bottle with quite a bit of fragrance but with a stuck stopper. I googled the problem and came upon your site. After sharing the info. with my husband (I am hopeless at fixing things), he sprayed the top with liquid graphite lubricant (very inexpensive in an auto parts/supply store) and then put it in the freezer for one-half hour. After taking it out of the freezer, the stopper came off immediately with no fuss or muss. No vice grips, pliers, drills necessary...it worked beautifully!

Blog Author said...

Im happy to hear the info was helpful, Lee!

Anonymous said...

Just unstuck my sixties bottle of Belle de Rauch parfum. All I did was pop it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

I suggest trying this first before getting all messy and/ or complicated with oil, glycerin, lubricant or alcohol prior to the freezing. Only after the freezing doesn't work on its own: that's the time to add other steps. Keep it simple!

Ling said...

Thank you for sharing. I was actually in a panic mode when I realised that I couldn't budge the stopper of my newly acquired Caron nocturne parfum. I soak the top part in hot water (avoiding contact with the bottle), it remained firmly stuck and my fingers got all red trying to twist it open. Was contemplating to try your method as a last resort until I tried putting it in the freezer. Thank goodness! I managed to get the stopper off with a gentle twist after 10 mins in the freezer. Hope this won't affect the quality of the juice. Again, thank you for sharing all your experiences! Merry Christmas everyone!

jennyg said...

My epic battle with a "cognac bottle" flacon of Revillon's Carnet de Bal ('37) has finally ended in glory. First, I followed your directions but to no avail. My bottle was in the 1/10 percentile that is immune to such efforts. I then took Zoso Roxy's directions with the isopropyl alcohol. No results there either at first, but after a second soak, which removed all of the paper around the stopper, I was able to pry it off with a wooden spatula. All very scary and frustrating, but I now smell delicious!

LAugust said...

Normally a little hot water is all I need; however, I have come across the occasional stubborn stopper. In one instance the stopper had apparently already been broken & glued back on before being sold so let's just say there was a Dremel tool involved. I would up gluing the top & stopper back together!
The best way I have found was:
1)With a Q-Tip apply a small amount of olive oil around the seal.
2)Boil some water in the microwave (and I do mean BOIL!!) to a very high temp.
3)Take a tablespoon and pour the very hot water over where the stopper is inserted.
This has worked every time except for the broke & glued stopper.
GOOD LUCK!
Lynev

Kathy Garrison said...

When I've come across a stuck perfume stopper, I put it in an ultrasonic (jewelry) cleaner. This worked every time for me.

Anonymous said...

What advice to loosen a stuck sterling silver perfume bottle? it's small, on a necklace. Never had perfume in it, and hasn't been opened in 10 years. Many thanks.

Anonymous said...

OMG, it worked! Tried the alcohol & freezing 20 minutes, nothing. Went to some extra virgin olive oil dropped and spread with a wooden skewer. Back in the freezer for 10 minutes. Wrapped the stopper in tissue and gently twisted with needle nose plyers & pop!!! I have owned this antique jet black sterling encrusted perfume bottle with it's 1/4" ground stopper for 20 years and nothing ever worked...Until now!!! THANK YOU!

Liz Shaw said...

I read through a few blogs on removing stuck stoppers and just opened two vintage bottles of perfume that I've struggled with for a while. The first was an an extremely old bottle of Joy and the other was a 60's bottle of Shalimar.... back when they made the real thing. I was able to get both off using ice cubes. I put an ice cube on the top of the Joy bottle and held it in place with a soft cloth so I didn't damage the old label. I did pretty much the same with the Shalimar except I used two ice cubes and held one on each side -- also with a cloth so the label was protected. I held onto the bottle itself to keep it warm and waited a bit before giving it a clockwise twist. Both opened up easily.

The Shalimar was a dream.... and held the magical perfume I fell in love with. The Joy was only colored water so I'm really glad I didn't try something extreme trying to get to the 'goods' and risk breaking the bottle.

Anonymous said...

An anonymous user above suggested putting the bottle in the freezer for 15 minutes before trying other techniques, as sometimes that's all that's needed. I was doubtful, but decided to try it and met with great success - my 25-year-old bottle of L'Heure Bleue with a "glued" stopper opened with ease after 15 minutes in the freezer (I did wrap the stopper with a thick rubber band for traction).

Anonymous said...

What about a stuck rubber stopper? I have a bottle of Muse de Coty parfum, and the rubber stopper has broken off into the neck of the bottle! :(

Blog Author said...

Anonymous - well, its a delicate dance for you with a needle and the bottle upended over a bowl. It can be done, put takes patience and a steady hand.

Rob L. said...

A very old empty bottle with stuck ground glass stooper. Tried every method without success. Had my Ultrasonic cleaner in use cleaning old coins and flash of inspiration, placed bottle on side , poured hot water from kettle (a dash of washing up liquid) covering the neck and 3/4 way over the bottle. Switched on and 30 secs later 'Pop" out came the stopper !

Sheryl said...

I have a 30 year old bottle of Obsession that I hadn't used in so long that the stopper had frozen solid. I upended it in a little cup of 99% isopropyl alcohol that covered just the stopper - soaked it for 30 minutes. No joy. Put it in the freezer for 20 minutes. No joy. Soaked it again, this time for an hour. No joy. Freezer again. No joy. Hair dryer around stopper after freezer. No joy. Olive oil around stopper. No joy.

My instinct told me that the elements that mattered were alcohol and the freezer, so I decided to focus there. I let it soak in the alcohol overnight. Tried again to open it. No joy. Then 10 minutes in the freezer, and POP!! It is open!!! :)

Unknown said...

Yay!!! I used WD40...let it sit for 30 mins...put it in the freezer for 30 mins.....covered the knob with a teatowel, gently secured a pair of wide tooth pliers, turned and pulled!!! Voila!!! Thank you for your guidance!!

Azar said...

Your methods work great! I Just freed up the glass stoppers of a lovely 1 oz. Lalique L'Air du Temps and a quarter ounce Caesar's Woman Extraordinary on the first try. Now I will attempt a couple of very old Carons that have been sitting around seemingly frozen forever. BTW I used fractionated coconut oil.

Sanibelle said...

I have a vintage bottle of Caron perfume that has never been opened. It has a screw top cap, which I can remove. The problem is it has a gummy cork seal that is jammed down the small opening and I have no idea how to remove it without just pushing the whole thing down into the bottle. Any suggestions?

Unknown said...

Great info, thanks! I found several bottles of not so vintage yet vintage perfumes (early nineties Amourage) in my mother's storage unit with stuck stoppers so was searching for tips on how to open them and found your post. But reading the comments about heat exposure I am now also concerned about the heat/cold exposure while they were stored away and exposed to temp changes. Would the scent still be viable and worth the effort or are they now only good for the crystal bottles and not worth struggling to open and possibly damaging the bottles? Thank you for the wonderful post! Leigh

Dee said...

Thank you for these comments. I was given a small vintage Schiaparelli Shocking at Xmas. My favourite perfume in the 1950's
The small bottle was beautiful with a glass stopper and was sent through the post from the US unfortunately I couldn't open it.
We emailed the vintage perfume company for tips on opening the bottle, they didn't work.
I tried the oil and freezing idea, first time it didn't work, second time, bingo. I'm now enveloped in an evocative wreath of my all time favourite perfume for the first time in decades. So very many thanks and don't give up after your first attempt

Anonymous said...

Thank you SO much! The stopper was stuck on my purchase of a 1/4 ounce bottle of a vintage Germaine Monteil Royal Secret perfume... I was so sad and afraid to try anything because I broken the stem on one decades before. Your method worked on my 1st attempt :)

perfume lover said...

OMG! This works like a charm! My vintage bottle of JOY parfum was stuck , not budging at all. I used a little cooking oil around the edges of the stopper, waited 20 min. Then put in freezer for 20 min. With a towel gave a little pull with a slight twist and voila off it popped!!!!yay!!!! Thank you for this fabulous advice!!!! I wish I knew this years ago when I broke the top off of a big bottle of Chanel no. 5 perfume. Which I threw away because I couldn't figure out how I was ever going to get the perfume out....

Unknown said...

I can't wait to try this. I just received a 1939 Chanel No 5 from the "Three Moods" collection (small bottle, oval stopper) and it's not playing nice. It's never been opened--I had to take off the cord and onion-skin paper seal! Wish me luck!

Unknown said...

HI, thanks for this tremendous tip :) worked on second try one okd baccarat perfum bottle. I am very grateful to have read your instructions.
Kathy D. In USA

Anonymous said...

Wow this really worked for me and I have been trying to open my Mothers old glass perfume bottle for over a year now. Thanks

LAG

Rubber Chicken Girl said...

I bought a vintage EDC of L'heure Bleue and could not budge it. Lost count of how many of the above ideas I did over a 12 hour period. The cylindrical glass stopper is so hard to get a grip on. Oil, freeze, oil, freeze, alcohol, freeze, oil, hot water, hot compress...finally tried the alcohol overnight then 30 minutes in the freezer but finally took my needle nose pliers and gently pried. AT last!! Off to enjoy my new classic...Thx for the help, All.

Margaret D said...

I have tried the oil and freezer method and it has worked after many tries and much time. There is a comment by Kathy Garrison that says she uses an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner and this works every time. Another perfume collector said this as well. But, I don't know what fluid to put in an ultrasonic cleaner that would not harm delicate paper labels, for instance, Replique has a hand-lettered paper label. Could you still use an ultrasonic cleaner, but maybe dry? If anyone knows anything about this method, I would love to hear about it. Please. Thank you!

Margaret D said...

Hi,
Kathy Garrison said in the comments that she uses an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. I have heard this one other time from a seller of perfume bottles, but she hasn't provided any details. Has anyone else used this method? What about paper labels and damage to them? What flluid would you put in? I would really like to hear more about this method but can't find anything anywhere. Thank you!

Giulia said...

Hi! I just wanted to thank you (and all the people who added tips and experiences in the comments), today I received a large vintage Baccarat bottle of Shalimar, the stopper was advertised as stuck. It seemed indeed glued on! But I could smell the fragrance through the cap and a few drops had leaked during transport. I first tried to wrap the stopper/neck junction in tissue paper drenched in modern Shalimar edp. After about 15/30 mins I went to check on the bottle, ready to clean it, apply oil and refrigerate, but like magic! As I tried to unscrew the cap it came off quite easily! I promptly cleaned bottle neck & stopper and voilà. I am now the proud owner of about 4oz of wonderful, otherwordly vintage extrait. Now, dating the bottle isn't so easy but my guess is 1950s :)

Anonymous said...

How. Do you remove a glass stopper that is broken at the neck of the perfume bottle? No perfume in glass bottle