Could your half-empty perfume bottle be worth thousands? One popular 90s scent is fetching £500 - and Chanel No 5 bottles with a rare feature could be worth £13,000

If you discover a long-forgotten bottle of perfume at the back of your bathroom cabinet, don’t throw it out – it could be worth hundreds or even thousands of pounds. Even those that are half-empty or completely used could be worth something.

Old scents from the 1990s are suddenly fetching up to £500, while an early bottle of Chanel No 5 sold for £13,000 last month.

Moreover, a limited-edition frosted oyster shell bottle by Rene Lalique sold at auction for an astonishing £171,000 in 2006 after being bought in 1939, and a vintage Guerlain Flacon Vinaigrier Ottoman from 1912 was sold for £50,700 in 2010.

The reason for this surge in value, which has seen some rare perfumes soar ten-fold over the past decade, is that fans of discontinued releases by brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent are nostalgic for the scents of their youth. Youngsters keen to dab smells of a bygone era behind the ears are also being drawn to their retro appeal.

Perfume fans often end up seeking the scents that remind them of their youth – but when lines are discontinued, they have no choice than to buy second hand. That drives up the price for old bottles – even those that are used or not in perfect condition.

It’s not just the oldest scents surging in value. Nostalgia among those who grew up in the Nineties is driving up prices for perfumes popular at that time.

‘Perfumes get discontinued because of changes in fashion and taste. This adds an air of exclusivity to fragrances no longer available – with scarcity making them more valuable to own,’ says perfumer and vintage scent collector Sarah McCartney. She adds: ‘There is a new wave of interest from nostalgic fans wanting to buy the aromas they remember when growing up. It is creating a surge in demand for perfumes from the 1990s.’

Gucci Envy perfume for women was released in 1997 and a year later Envy for Men hit the market. The scent was discontinued in 1998 but there are still plenty of fans willing to pay £500 for a sealed bottle. Even if it has been used a few times it can sell for £200 – which is ten times the price it sold for when first released.

Other such perfumes collectors are rediscovering include CK One, which was launched in 1994 and has been issued in several special editions since. First editions can fetch about £100 while a ‘One Summer’ variation rarity from 2013 is offered on the online auction site eBay for £440.

Short-lived fragrances are also being snapped up as the fact there are limited numbers increases their value. McCartney says: ‘When Yves Saint Laurent brought a perfume called Champagne out in 1993, nobody thought to ask the French makers of the famous sparkling wine if it was OK with them.

'It was housed in a bottle with wire to make it look like a cork ready to pop. Unfortunately, the wine producers were not impressed and filed a lawsuit so it was pulled from shelves to create a rarity.’

This perfume can sell for £200.

The iconic shapes of perfume bottles make the glassware collectable even if the perfume has been opened and used.

David Fergus, valuer and auctioneer for Richard Winterton Auctioneers in Staffordshire, says even empty bottles can be worth thousands.

‘Women used to keep a variety of perfumes in their boudoir – refilling their old bottles - a century ago, long before the modern idea for recycling,’ he says.

‘Perfume producers were aware of this, so ensured the bottles had appealing designs so the lady of the house would like to always see them decorating the dressing table. It means collectors are keen to own old perfume bottles in their own right.

'We regularly auction old perfume bottles that have been discovered by a family clearing out a property when going through the boudoir that once belonged to parents or grandparents.’

Chanel No 5 was launched by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel in 1921 and its minimalist design is believed to have been inspired by a whisky decanter. Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers sold an empty bottle of this perfume for £13,000 in January. This early design is a rarity because in 1924 it was remodelled into a chunkier square shape.

Zachary Woodhouse, a specialist at Sworders, says: ‘Unfortunately, the glass used in these first bottles proved too thin for shipping to clients and many of these early examples broke, making a bottle like this even rarer.’

Another iconic design is the 1937 mannequin-shaped Shocking bottle by Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. The curves are believed to be modelled on the figure of Hollywood screen legend actress Mae West.

Although long discontinued it was re-released using a similar design in 1997 by perfumer Martin Gras of Dragoco. You can pay £1,000 for an early original bottle and £500 for the re-issued examples.

Part of the reason the value can be so high is the original bottles had flower decorations that are fragile and can break. You might still fetch £200 for a slightly damaged bottle or if there is no longer any perfume sitting inside it.

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At auction on February 17, Richard Winterton Auctioneers sold a selection of partially used early 20th century bottles including a Complice de Francois Coty Paris, Meteor de Coty and Nuit de Noel, for a total £170 – more than double the estimate. An early 20th century Rene Lalique Dans La Nuite went for £90 at the same Staffordshire auction. The glass artist Lalique worked with the perfume manufacturer Coty from 1907 to create now highly collectable iconic Art Noveau-style perfume bottles.

If a bottle is still sealed, it sells for more than double the price of an empty example. If it still has the original box, expect it to add a further 20 per cent to the total value.

The formulas of scents have changed over time to adapt to changes in regulations. For example, the use of oakmoss – a species of lichen that grows on oak trees – was commonly used in old scents but has become restricted. The same goes for musk, which traditionally came from the glands of a male deer.

‘Perfume retailers might tell you the formulas for scents have not changed – but that is not true. Exposure to sunlight and heat also makes perfumes go off and can change the smell,’ says McCartney, who mixes perfumes at her shop 4160 Tuesdays in London.

‘However, if you store the perfume at the back of the bathroom cabinet with the stopper firmly in, then the scent can linger for many decades. One of the perfumer’s tasks is to try to make scents smell as close as possible to the original – and compare vintage and discontinued perfumes to newer examples.

'You should not just throw out old bottles because even if you are not interested in the smell yourself, others will be.’

Under Cosmetic Products (Safety) Regulations, traders are not supposed to sell opened perfume bottles on trading websites such as eBay due to concerns they might be contaminated. However, perfumes are able to bypass this rule if the bottles are being sold as artwork.

While an unopened perfume can last decades, once the lid has been taken off it might start to slowly oxidise and the aroma fades over time. Citrus and floral scents break down faster than heavier scents, like amber and sandalwood.