Kölnisch Wasser | 1942
Eau de Cologne: more than 220 years of history. Founded in 1792 in Cologne by Wilhelm Mülhens, 4711 Eau de Cologne is one of those successes that never seem to go out of fashion.
It was first sold as a medicine, a miracle elixir against every ailment; only from 1810 was it sold as a fragrance.
Its name has a famous story. In 1794 Mülhens lived on Glockengasse (Bell Lane) when Napoleon’s troops occupied Cologne. To control the city, the French numbered every house, and his was number 4711. Hence the name Kölnisch Wasser No. 4711, and the little bell beside the number in the logo.
This ad ran in the German magazine Signal in 1942, in the middle of the Second World War, next to a report with photos of tanks and soldiers.
Text in the ad
No. 4711 – Das Haus der Kölnisch Wasser-Spezialitäten
Aus den erlesensten Duftstoffen der Welt schuf das Haus “4711” neben seinen berühmten Kölnisch Wasser-Spezialitäten eine reiche Auswahl köstlicher Parfums, Seifen, Cremes und Puder, für deren vorbildliche Güte die Zahl “4711” volle Bürgschaft leistet.
Translation:
No. 4711 – The house of Eau de Cologne specialities
From the world’s finest fragrances, the house of “4711” has created, alongside its famous Eau de Cologne, a rich range of exquisite perfumes, soaps, creams and powders, whose exemplary quality is fully guaranteed by the number “4711”.
- Brand
- Kölnisch Wasser
- Year
- 1942
- Decade
- 1940s
- Country
- Germany
- Medium
- Magazine
- Themes
- Cosmetics
- Original publication
- Signal, 1942
