Crystal Smelling Salts Bottle with Silver Filigree

The small cut crystal bottle exhibited here contains ammonia crystals and is enhanced with silver filigree ornamentation and chain work. The piece is one of several domestic articles that Victorian women carried with them in their reticules, so to be handy when needed. Smelling salts, also known as ammonia inhalants, spirit of hartshorn or sal volatile, are chemical compounds often used to arouse consciousness.
They were widely used in Victorian Britain to revive fainting women, and in some areas constables would carry a container of them for the purpose. During this time, smelling salts were commonly dissolved with perfume in vinegar or alcohol and soaked onto a sponge, which was then carried on the person in a decorative container called a vinaigrette. Not only were these containers used for rousing unconscious individuals, the strong smelling substance in the Vinaigrette could have been as innocuous as vinegar and carried by women in the Victorian era to counter the stench from open sewers and befouled streets, common in cities.
There are many beautiful examples of smelling salt or perfume bottles which date back as far as the Roman era. In earlier history, liquids could be held in metal containers that were attached to a band and worn as a ring. In the medieval period, these metal containers became heavily decorated with jewels and patterns. In the Victorian era the smelling salt bottles could be made of marble or have elaborate metal work. The one at Eldon House is an example of fine metalwork, and is rather dainty for ladies’ use. One of the most practical elements of design in the piece exhibited is the stopper being held by a hinge, allowing immediate access to the smelling salts the bottle contains.