Blue Casket / Голубой Ларец ('Goluboy Larets')
Novaya Zarya (1940)

Novaya Zarya – Goluboy Larets “Blue Casket” – 1940

Jasmine, orange blossom, muguet, violet, heliotrope

“Launched in 1940, Blue Coffret or Blue Casket is a fragrance for women and belongs to a group of green floral chypre fragrances. The elegant, twisted bottle of frosted glass with a glass bouchon was manufactured in Gus-Crystal and is presented in a lovely azure box with gold ornamentation and a rich silk lining. This perfume won a gold medal at the International Exhibition in Brussels in 1958.” – Parfums de Paris

These sets were sold in combos of one three ounce bottle of edp and one one ounce bottle of parfum. Invariably, when one finds these on Etsy or Ebay, the parfum bottle (though still sealed) has leaked and evaporated to a certain extent, indicating a poor original manufacture seal. It is rare to find two intact bottles in this coffret set. The bottles themselves resemble the onion dome tops of churches and minarets found in Russia.

How to describe the scent is difficult. It is a “sharp” scent, as would be a description of muguet, but in no way unpleasant. It is a floral mélange, but it is difficult to tell what flowers make up the formula, beyond the discernible rose and jasmine, and the muguet at the center. Perhaps floral oils native to Russia and not to the rest of the world were used. The dry down impresses with powdery violet.

A unique scent, for daily use and appropriate for business wear. It is not a romantic scent, so not for seduction or evenings out. The bottles themselves are worth collecting and for other uses. They are quite beautiful.