Prince Matchabelli
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- This article is about the perfume line. For the person who founded it, see Prince Georges V. Matchabelli.
Prince Matchabelli is a perfume line. It was first designed by Prince Georges V. Matchabelli who was an amateur chemist. Georges Matchabelli had previously been a Georgian Prince of Georgian descent and ambassador to Italy, but fled the Soviet Union and immigrated to the United States after the Russian Revolution. In 1926 he and his wife Princess Norina Matchabelli established Prince Matchabelli Perfume Company. The company became known for color-coded, crown-shaped bottles that housed such well-known perfume brands as Wind Song, Ave Maria, and Princess Norina. The crown-shaped bottle was designed by Norina after the Matchabelli crown. In 1936 they sold the company to perfume manufacturer Saul Ganz for $250,000. Ganz then named his son Paul H. Ganz president of the company. Ganz remained as president until the company was sold in the late 1940's to the then Vicks Chemical Company. In 1958, Prince Matchabelli became a division of Chesebrough-Pond's, the consumer products conglomerate. In 1987, Chesebrough-Ponds was acquired by Anglo-Dutch company Unilever. The division now has annual domestic sales of about $140 million, according to company officials. Prince Georges Matchabelli died in 1935.
[edit] References
- New York Times, June 2, 1986 [1]
