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Avon Benjamin Franklin Bust — 1970s Wild Country Decanter with Original Bicentennial Box

$22.00 Only one available

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1970s Glass, Plastic Excellent
HABC-VR-0002
"He snatched the lightning from the skies and the sceptre from the tyrants." Turgot's line about Franklin is printed on the back of this Avon box — and fifty years later, it still lands. A 1970s Avon figural decanter: white milk-glass bust of Benjamin Franklin, originally filled with Wild Country After Shave, issued during the run-up to the American Bicentennial. The bust is clean and bright. The box has shelf wear and the original printed biography card, with the Turgot quotation, intact on the back. The bottle itself is empty — fifty-year-old aftershave doing what fifty-year-old aftershave does.

Highlights

  • Avon figural decanter, Wild Country After Shave, 6 fl. oz.
  • Produced circa 1974–1976, the Bicentennial era
  • Original printed box with the Turgot quotation panel intact
  • White milk-glass bust, crisp molding, no visible chips or paint loss
  • A timely piece for 2026 — America's 250th and Avon's 140th

Condition

Bust is in excellent condition. Box shows shelf wear and light foxing typical of original 1970s cardboard packaging. Bottle is empty.
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Avon Benjamin Franklin Bust — 1970s Wild Country Decanter with Original Bicentennial Box

Circa 1974–1976

American Bicentennial Figural Decanter

Avon issued a series of figural decanters during the run-up to the American Bicentennial — small white milk-glass busts of the founders and presidents, each filled with one of the company's mens' fragrances. The Benjamin Franklin bust held six fluid ounces of Wild Country After Shave, the cologne Avon launched in 1967, and went home with American families through their neighborhood Avon Lady from roughly 1974 through 1976.

What lifts this one above its peers is the box. The original green-printed packaging is still here, and so is the printed biography panel on the back: a few short paragraphs about Franklin's life that close with the eighteenth-century French economist Turgot's most famous line about him — "He snatched the lightning from the skies and the sceptre from the tyrants." Two anniversaries meet on this shelf in 2026. The country turns 250. Avon, founded in 1886 by David H. McConnell as the California Perfume Company, turns 140.

Materials White milk-glass bust, original printed cardboard box with intact biography panel and Turgot quotation.
Care Display indoors, away from direct sunlight to protect the original printed box. Dust the bust with a soft dry cloth. Keep the box dry.
From the Research Archives
vintagerose.us Catalog No. HABC-VR-0002 • April 2026

Specifications

Dimensions
10 × 8 × 6 in
Weight
2 lbs
SKU
HABC-VR-0002
"He snatched the lightning from the skies and the sceptre from the tyrants." That is Turgot, the eighteenth-century French economist, on Benjamin Franklin — and the line is printed, in full, on the back of this fifty-year-old Avon box, perfectly capturing the essence of our American founding hero. This is an Avon figural decanter from the mid-1970s: a white milk-glass bust of Franklin, originally filled with six fluid ounces of Wild Country After Shave, sold to American households in the run-up to July 4, 1976. Avon issued a small group of presidents and founders for that bicentennial moment — Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Franklin — and they came home in the same green-printed boxes a Lady carried up the front walk. This one still has its box. It still has the printed biography card on the back panel, the one that ends with Turgot.

About the piece

  • Maker: Avon, founded 1886 as the California Perfume Company
  • Form: Figural decanter, white milk-glass bust of Benjamin Franklin
  • Original contents: Wild Country After Shave, 6 fl. oz.
  • Era: Circa 1974–1976, produced for the American Bicentennial
  • Packaging: Original Avon box, green and gold printing, biography card with the Turgot quotation intact on the back panel

Why this one matters in 2026

Two anniversaries collide on this shelf. 2026 is the 250th anniversary of American Independence — the moment the country has been quietly building toward for a decade. And 2026 is also the 140th anniversary of Avon itself, founded in 1886 by David H. McConnell as the California Perfume Company. A bicentennial Avon decanter, kept whole with its original packaging, is a small artifact of both stories at once: the founders the country still argues over, and the company that put a little bottle of Wild Country in millions of American homes. It is uncommon to find one piece that touches both threads. This is one.

Condition

Bust: excellent. The milk-glass molding is crisp — eyebrows, the famous side-curl hair, the buttoned clergyman-style coat all rendered cleanly. We see no chips, no cracks, no paint loss. Box: original, intact on all sides, with shelf wear and light foxing on the printed panels. The Franklin biography panel — the one with the Turgot quote — is fully legible. The bottle inside is empty, which is what fifty-year-old aftershave does. Nothing about that empty bottle is damage; it is simply the decanter doing what decanters do over half a century.  

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