I guess my oldest perfume is a WWII era Tabue pure perfume in a Baccarat bottle, from Paris. Quite different from the inexpensive drugstore cologne I wore in grade school! It came in the original fitted box, with the original wrapping paper, and the gold seal had never been cut. Yet the fragrance comes through. I say this, because though I cut the string and tried to open it, several years later it remains stuck. I recieved much advice from members of the late, lamented Perfume Forum (Jeffrey Dame's one), and I tried them, except the ones that involved freezing or heating the bottle. I don't want to use a vise grip or hand it to my husband, for fear ofhaving it break. So it lives with with my other many vintage and contempory perfumes, in one of two small black lacquer Japanese cabinets, in a dark, cool bedroom. Someday I will get it open.