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Avon Buffalo Nickel Decanter — Wild Country After Shave, Circa 1971–1975, Original Box

$20.00 Only one available

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1970s Glass Excellent
HABC-VR-0003
A Buffalo Nickel decanter from Avon's early-1970s figural line — and this one is the variant collectors actually chase: factory-sealed, never opened, with the original red presentation box included. A glass body with chrome-tone metallic finish carries crisp relief on both faces of the 1913 nickel: Native American profile on the obverse, the iconic bison on the reverse. It's a quietly fitting piece for 2026 — the year of America's 250th and Avon's 140th. A small object that holds both anniversaries at once.
  • Maker: Avon Products, Inc.
  • Era: Circa 1971–1975
  • Contents: Wild Country After Shave — bottle is unopened, factory seal intact
  • Construction: Glass body with chrome metallic finish, screw-on cap
  • Includes: Original red Avon presentation box
  • Provenance: Estate find, Lexington, North Carolina
  • Condition: Decanter in excellent condition — bright finish, sharp coin detail, no chips or significant wear. Original box in acceptable vintage condition with light shelf wear consistent with 50+ years of careful storage.
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Avon Buffalo Nickel Decanter — Wild Country After Shave, Circa 1971–1975, Original Box

Circa 1971–1975

Americana Figural Decanter

Avon's figural decanter program — bottles shaped like cars, animals, chess pieces, coins — defined a particular sliver of American midcentury living. The Buffalo Nickel decanter, issued in the early 1970s, rendered both faces of James Earle Fraser's 1913 five-cent piece in chrome-plated relief. Sold door-to-door in red presentation boxes, filled with Wild Country After Shave, these were Father's Day gifts and Christmas-stocking staples across the country.

This example came out of an estate in Lexington, North Carolina — and unlike most surviving Buffalo Nickels, this one is unopened. The Wild Country is still sealed inside, the original box still wraps it, the chrome still reads bright and crisp. 2026 marks America's 250th anniversary and Avon's 140th. A door-to-door chrome nickel holding sealed cologne named for the open West is, in its small way, both stories at once: a domestic Americana artifact preserved exactly as it left the warehouse half a century ago.

Materials Chrome-plated zinc alloy decanter with screw-on cap; sealed factory contents (5 fl. oz. Wild Country After Shave); original red Avon presentation box.
Care Display indoors, away from direct sunlight and heat. Wipe chrome gently with a soft dry cloth — no polish, no abrasives. Keep the bottle sealed; the contents are not for use.
From the Research Archives
vintagerose.us Catalog No. HABC-VR-0003 • April 2026

Specifications

Dimensions
7 × 7 × 4 in
Weight
1 lbs
SKU
HABC-VR-0003

The Find

Avon's figural decanter program ran for decades, and the Buffalo Nickel — issued in the early 1970s — became one of its most recognizable releases. It's a near-perfect rendering of the 1913 James Earle Fraser nickel: glass body with chrome-tone metallic finish, the Native American profile with LIBERTY across the obverse, the standing bison and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA · FIVE CENTS on the reverse. Both faces sit in sharp relief on this example, the kind of detail that gets soft on metallic-finish pieces that have lived hard lives. This one hasn't. What sets this listing apart from the pack of empty Buffalo Nickel decanters drifting through estate sales is simple: the factory seal has never been broken. For a fifty-plus-year-old Avon piece, that's the version collectors look for and rarely find — most of these were purchased to be used, and were.

Two Anniversaries, One Small Object

It's worth saying out loud: 2026 is America's 250th and Avon's 140th. Avon was founded in 1886 by David H. McConnell, originally as the California Perfume Company, and grew into one of the most distinctively American consumer brands of the twentieth century. A Buffalo Nickel decanter — molded in glass with a chrome metallic finish, sold door-to-door, holding aftershave named Wild Country — is about as concentrated an Americana artifact as Avon ever produced. This piece sits comfortably at the intersection of both anniversaries.

Details

  • Maker: Avon Products, Inc., New York, NY
  • Era: Circa 1971–1975
  • Contents: Wild Country After Shave — bottle is unopened, factory seal intact
  • Construction: Molded glass body with chrome metallic finish, screw-on cap
  • Design: Both faces of the 1913 Buffalo Nickel rendered in relief
  • Original packaging: Red Avon presentation box, included
  • Provenance: Estate find from Lexington, North Carolina

Condition

The decanter itself is in excellent condition. The chrome metallic finish is bright and even, the relief detail on both faces remains crisp and fully readable, and there are no chips, repairs, or significant wear. The cap is present, seated correctly, and the factory seal has never been broken. The original red Avon box is in acceptable vintage condition: light shelf wear, minor softening at the edges, period labeling intact. It hasn't been pampered, but it hasn't been abused either — exactly what you'd expect from a piece that was given as a gift, kept, and stored for half a century. The bottle is unopened, factory seal intact, and still holds the original Wild Country.

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