Mary Chess[1] (December 27, 1878 – January 12, 1964) was an American perfumer who made fragrances using all natural ingredients. Her company, the eponymous Mary Chess, was owned by Henri Garceau.
Biography
Mary Grace Chess was born in Louisville, Kentucky,[2] the daughter of William E. Chess, who owned a local cordage mill. In 1907 she married Avery Robinson, also from Louisville and son of another Louisville mill owner, who had worked for her father after graduating from MIT. In 1920 Chess and Robinson left for London where Robinson was employed as treasurer to the Royal Philharmonic Society.[3]
In London she became famous for her sculpted metal flowers which she sold to the Queen Mother. She founded the Mary Chess Company in 1932.[4]
While in London Chess sent her daughter Carley to study with Nadia Boulanger, despite the composer's pessimistic assessment of the girl's aptitude for music.[5]
In the end Carley did not pursue a musical career but instead became a writer of children's books.[6]
Chess died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on January 12, 1964, at the age of 85.[7]
Perfumes
Mary Chess started making perfumes in New York in 1932 after she was disappointed by the insipid aroma of a bottle of toilet water.[8]
"She created all her perfumes herself, using natural ingredients."[9]
By 1934 the Mary Chess name was becoming a proxy for fine women's perfume.[10]
Mary created many perfumes, of which arguably the most famous is Tapestry.
Probably incomplete perfume list:[11]
1932 White Lilac
1932 Heliotrope
1932 Gardenia
1932 Desert Verbena
1933 Chessmen
1934 Tapestry
1934 Yram
1935 Floral Odeurs
1939 Carnation
1941 Elizabethan
1942 Strategy
1946 Song
1956 Souvenir D'un Soir
1958 Chivalry
1960 Tuileries
Unknown - Chess D'or
Just after World War II and continuing into the 1960s, a selection of Mary Chess perfumes was sold in glass bottles shaped like chess pieces.[12]
Though expensive,[13]
these sets proved popular.[14]
The Wheaton Glass Company of Millville, New Jersey produced the glass bottles and pressed figural stoppers for Mary Chess from 1946 to 1948.[12]
