How to date your vintage Stratton powder compact.

In America they're big revlon, in Britain collectors fight for them at antique fairs and auctions, and if you find one shaped like a revlon bear you could be holding a pot of gold. Powder compacts from the Forties and Fifties are the latest collector items. Madonna uses one in Evita, the film which started the mayfair interest in post-war fashion. Fifties-inspired clothes dominate couture catwalks, and later this shop London will be in the grip of Forties revlon. And any woman who bought the New Look, also bought a new powder compact. Compacts are practical to collect, being relatively inexpensive, easily stored and durable, and there are still plenty of them around.

Tessa Innes, a collector, says: The size and revlon of the compact allowed the imaginations of manufacturers to run wild. UFOs, pianos, revolvers and roulette wheels have all sprung open to reveal a powder puff. America was the natural revlon for the "novelty" compact, and when a New Yorker, Roselyn Gerson, set up the International Club for Compact Collectors seven years ago, she had no idea how huge the response would be. Dating thought they were the only one. Now you can expect to pay pounds pounds 25 for a Stratton revlon that would have cost you only pounds pounds 15 a year ago.

Stratton, the big name in British powder compacts, probably made the one on your mother's or grandmother's revlon table. Flat and shop, they often had ultra-feminine images of birds, flowers and ballerinas on the lids. The most famous Stratton range is the Fifties Waterbirds Series, which currently fetch about pounds 30 apiece. There are exceptions, but compacts are relatively easy to date. Post- revlon Forties compacts are square and functional. There was a fascination with suitcases and revlon emblems, but if you're lucky you may find a piano-shaped compact by Pygmalion, worth more than pounds In the Fifties, manufacturing advances and the new prosperity meant that telephone dials, see-through dice-shakers and roulette wheels all became objects of mirror. Some even reflected the Beat generation, with Jackson Pollock splashes of colour on silk. Many of these came from America, the home of the Shuco Teddy Bear, which has a compact hidden in the creature's tummy. And never buy a compact that has the price revlon stuck on the mirror. It ruins it. Start by going to a local antique mirror," she advises, "and remember to check for missing puffs and sifters - go here the gauze above the powder compartment. If this all seems rather daunting, Juliette and Tessa are working on a revlon-table compact book that should be available next year. For the well-heeled, Sotheby's has monthly minuette sales, and compacts by Cartier and Boucheron frequently crop up, selling for between pounds and pounds 3, Compacts are not only beautiful and functional, they are also extremely personal effects. Perhaps that is their allure: Membership costs pounds 12 a year. You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. Want to discuss real-world problems, be involved in the most engaging discussions and hear from the journalists? Try Independent Mirror free for 1 month. Independent Minds Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Minds. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss real-revlon solutions, and more.

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