Vintage Compact Harriet Hubbard Ayer This sleek & slim vintage compact is accented with black lucite triangular bars on each side, a unique detail that adds to it’s streamlined Art deco design! The compact itself is brass or shiny gold tone metal with a fine ribbed texture & two horizontal gold bars with a plaque in the middle for a monogram. Inside there is one covered loose powder with the Harriet Hubbard Ayers signature in script on the shiny gold cover. The powder well still contains some of the original pink powder. Inside the cover is a beveled mirror. Above the back hinge, the compact is inscribed with HARRIET HUBBARD AYERS Harriet Hubbard AyYER NEW YORK DISTRIBUTOR. This piece comes in it’s original gift box which also has the signature inside the cover. The Compact fits right inside it’s original box & Box measures 3 7/8" x 3 1/8" x 3/4" This compact is in good vintage condition. The gold tone metal is still shiny but has a few scuffs or scratches appropriate for age. The bottom has a slightly darker patina then the top. Inside, the mirror is still reflective & very functional but does have a bit of silver wear mostly around the edges. The box shows wear & has some separated corners. Harriet Hubbard Ayer was a Chicago socialite. She became famous for having initiated the first cosmetic company in the United States & for fighting to maintain her business against male predators. She set the stage for later female cosmetic moguls. Ayer was a victim of kidnapping & also suffered from madness, but was able to reinvent herself during the last seven years of her life as the highest paid newspaper woman in the United States. She was highly regarded as the author of articles about beauty, health, & etiquette for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. Her essays were compiled into a popular book in 1899 that was reissued in 1974 & more recently in an abbreviated format in 2005. Elizabeth Arden, Hazel Bishop, & Estee Lauder are held in high regard as early women entrepreneurs in the cosmetics field, Harriet Hubbard Ayer was one of the first to have a successful career in the beauty industry. Her cosmetic company carried on by one of her daughters & was later bought out. Wonderful & RARE vintage compact signed & was made by Harriet Hubbard Ayer who has a fascinating history & was an early pioneer as a woman in the cosmetics industry! Vintage Compact Harriet Hubbard Ayer in Original Box
