Amouage crystal gift sets unused in boxes

Hi all,
I need help and guidance on something my mother forgot she and my father were gifted in the 1980s.
*context*
We as a family relocated to Riyadh (I was 8 months old when we moved) when my father worked for the Saudi Arabian government to help build private hospitals.

Dad met (and mum sometimes) met many many officials and royalty and on this occasion, I have no idea who, he met a sheik who gifted him and my mum an Amouage gift set for each of them. We were in Riyadh from 83- 90ish and it was packed away.
Fast forward to today, and sadly, dad has had to relocate to a facility as he has alzheimers and mum is clearing out her house of things (partly to start downsizing and partly so we won’t have to deal with stuff later on down the line) and came across these gift sets (and some other belting thing I think) from various points in their life/journey together.
She’s asked that we either use them or sell them. They are brand new and just not my type of scent.
Sooooooo I have no idea other than I think they are rare as single bottles and not the gift sets seem to be expensive even empty bottles…
As mentioned, these are not touched, only slight wear from time but still full of scent and sealed bars of soap and it’s the ‘cristal and gold’ collection…

If anyone could help with information - it would be appreciated (excuse the crap picture taking on the kitchen table - hubby snapped these I can take more?

Any info would be appreciated.

Sorry for the rant.

Amy

Was

Welcome!

These are really great perfumes. The brand still exists but the current versions are not as rich because of restrictions on ingredients. Too bad that you don't like the perfumes. I would save them for your kids (if you have any) and see if they enjoy them.

Hard to estimate the market value for something rare that trades infrequently. The prices one can see, say, on ebay, are too high and in fact the stuff doesn't sell. Not sure why people continue posting these prices-perhaps they hope that eventually, after a few years, somebody will make a mistake and buy? What a selling price could be is highly uncertain. I'd say 2-300 dollar each is easily attainable. Higher than that and it will be very random.

There's a men's that sold for $750 (without the soap) and a partially used men's one that sold for $500+, and that one was an auction with 15 bids. I feel that auctions give a better estimate of demand. I don't think the soap is worth anything itself, but it's the sort of extra that ensures you get top dollar for the other item. I don't think $750-1000 is out of the question for the men's.

I don't know much amount Amouage I'm afraid so I can't help too much but you need to do some research on these to find out exactly what they are because they're potentially worth a lot of money.

It sounds daft to say 'what are they' when they have all the information on the boxes but it's not clear. Amouage Cristal & Gold Man was launched as a special edition in 2023 and was perfumed by Alexandra Carlin, as was Amouage Cristal & Gold Woman. They look exactly like the ones shown here. They were apparently created using the 'original bottle moulds' which suggests the earlier vintage versions also came in these style bottles.

If these are not the 2023 versions and from what you've said about the history of them they are actually the original vintage versions originally perfumed by Guy Robert using a high proportion of naturals they would be worth considerably more than the 2023 versions.

My advice would be to try and find a physical auction house that could give you an independent valuation rather than risking them on somewhere like ebay. They could be worth a lot more than the ebay prices suggest.

WarmJewel said:

I don't know much amount Amouage I'm afraid so I can't help too much but you need to do some research on these to find out exactly what they are because they're potentially worth a lot of money.

It sounds daft to say 'what are they' when they have all the information on the boxes but it's not clear. Amouage Cristal & Gold Man was launched as a special edition in 2023 and was perfumed by Alexandra Carlin, as was Amouage Cristal & Gold Woman. They look exactly like the ones shown here. They were apparently created using the 'original bottle moulds' which suggests the earlier vintage versions also came in these style bottles.

If these are not the 2023 versions and from what you've said about the history of them they are actually the original vintage versions originally perfumed by Guy Robert using a high proportion of naturals they would be worth considerably more than the 2023 versions.

My advice would be to try and find a physical auction house that could give you an independent valuation rather than risking them on somewhere like ebay. They could be worth a lot more than the ebay prices suggest.

Click to expand...

In my experience, you will get the best prices on ebay, just have some patience and use a fixed price, never an auction. Auction houses take a huge cut, like 30-40% because in addition to whatever cut they tell you they're taking of the "hammer price", they also charge a "buyer's premium" to the buyer that you, the consignee, are actually paying for because it's part of the final value that's paid for the item. Like, the buyer isn't paying "extra." They're just factoring the buyer's premium into their bid and paying exactly how much they intend to pay. It's an ingenious way of taking a bigger cut of the item's selling price than it looks like. Only extremely niche or prestigious auction houses are going to command higher prices than ebay, but they're not going to be interested in these.

beleriand said:

Auction houses take a huge cut, like 30-40% because they charge a "buyer's premium" that you, the consignee, are actually paying for because it's part of the final value that's paid for the item.

Click to expand...

The buyer’s premium is strictly above the auction price, going straight to the auction house from the buyer, not out of the consignor’s pocket. (The consignee is the auction house.) However, the consignor pays an additional percentage or fee, so the house makes money from both sides of the transaction. eBay takes a smaller cut than traditional auction houses (for both auctions and Buy it Now sales), more than making up for it in volume.

I agree that eBay is probably the best way to go. One can search completed sales to see how much people are actually paying for these items, as opposed to what other sellers may be asking.

PStoller said:

The buyer’s premium is strictly above the auction price, going straight to the auction house from the buyer, not out of the consignor’s pocket. (The consignee is the auction house.) However, the consignor pays an additional percentage or fee, so the house makes money from both sides of the transaction. eBay takes a smaller cut than traditional auction houses (for both auctions and Buy it Now sales), more than making up for it in volume.

I agree that eBay is probably the best way to go. One can search completed sales to see how much people are actually paying for these items, as opposed to what other sellers may be asking.

Click to expand...

Yes, you're right, consignor. However, that reasoning is exactly why the buyer's premium exists. It seems like it's between the buyer and the auction house, but it's not.

Suppose I'm a buyer and I see an item that I'm willing to pay $130 for. The auction house has no buyer's premium, so I bid $130 and pay $130. The auction house takes a 30% cut, and the consignor ends up with $91. Now suppose there is a 30% buyer's premium. That fact doesn't make me, the buyer, willing to spend more on the same item. $130 is still what I'm willing to spend, so I take the buyer's premium into consideration and bid $100. The auction house charges me $130, which was the max I was willing to pay for the item, and takes their 30% cut as well. Now, the consigner ends up with only $70. They paid for the buyer's premium. The buyer just paid for their item in both cases.

A lot of sites show the total price (hammer + buyer's premium) while you're bidding, so you know exactly how much you're going to pay. They're not getting any more money from the buyer than they would if the buyer's premium didn't exist, but they're getting more from the consignor.

beleriand said:

It seems like it's between the buyer and the auction house, but it's not.

Suppose I'm a buyer and I see an item that I'm willing to pay $130 for. The auction house has no buyer's premium, so I bid $130 and pay $130. The auction house takes a 30% cut, and the consignor ends up with $91. Now suppose there is a 30% buyer's premium. That fact doesn't make me, the buyer, willing to spend more on the same item. $130 is still what I'm willing to spend, so I take the buyer's premium into consideration and bid $100. The auction house charges me $130, which was the max I was willing to pay for the item, and takes their 30% cut as well. Now, the consigner ends up with only $70. They paid for the buyer's premium. The buyer just paid for their item in both cases.

Click to expand...

Well, that’s one way of looking at it, sure. But there’s no way to know what a buyer would have bid with a lower or no premium. To say they’d have bid exactly a predetermined max minus the premium is conjecture, because auctions are competitive and bidders are often impulsive, something consignors and consignees alike count on.

What if it’s not competitive? Well, if you’re the only bidder, you can’t bid less than the minimum. So, you’re going to pay the premium on that, which has no effect on the consignor.

beleriand said:

In my experience, you will get the best prices on ebay, just have some patience and use a fixed price, never an auction.

Click to expand...

I'm aware of how physical auction houses operate.

Unfortunately you missed the main point of my post—exactly what these are needs to be defined. Are they the relaunched versions from 2023 or the original vintage ones perfumed by Guy Robert? If they are the original vintage versions (which looks likely going on the ingredients list) how do you value them given there are no equivalents currently on ebay?

I've done a cursory search and by no means exhaustive and only found one vintage equivalent that doesn't include the soap. Even then it's still somewhat more than your earlier estimates?

This is the problem the OP faces in terms of setting a value and a physical auction house may be a better option even given their buyer/seller commissions.

WarmJewel said:

…exactly what these are needs to be defined. Are they the relaunched versions from 2023 or the original vintage ones perfumed by Guy Robert?

Click to expand...

The packaging shown on Amouage’s website for the reissue looks different, so I would guess these are original. Even so, prices vary. I haven’t seen the gift sets with soap before, but I’ve purchased both men’s and women’s Cristal & Gold, and I didn’t spend anything approaching £1,800.

Recent sold listings for the men’s 50ml dagger range from $370–750. The low end of that range has been typical of my experience.

PStoller said:

Well, that’s one way of looking at it, sure. But there’s no way to know what a buyer would have bid with a lower or no premium. To say they’d have bid exactly a predetermined max minus the premium is conjecture, because auctions are competitive and bidders are often impulsive, something consignors and consignees alike count on.

What if it’s not competitive? Well, if you’re the only bidder, you can’t bid less than the minimum. So, you’re going to pay the premium on that, which has no effect on the consignor.

Click to expand...

Sure, I'll admit that it's not quite as simple as I'm making it out to be, but I have bid on thousands of lots, and in my experience, most of the time, the bidding goes the way you would expect it to go if bidders were taking the buyer's premium into account. You might get lucky and have some buyers who ignore the fact that they are going to have to pay 30% more than they intended, but in most case or in the long run, I think it hurts the consignor.

Also, it becomes pretty clear when you consign something and realize "Oh, the buyer paid the the auction house $3400 and I only kept $2200."

I don’t question your valid observation that eliminating the buyer’s premium (without raising the seller’s fee/percentage) would, overall, work out better for everyone save the consignee. It’s simply a matter of degree.

Alas, the house makes the rules!

List them on eBay for USD $750 each. The woman's version looks to be fine, the men's may have turned based on colour.

The colour hasn’t changed it’s the same as women’s version. They smell amazing still.

WarmJewel said:

I don't know much amount Amouage I'm afraid so I can't help too much but you need to do some research on these to find out exactly what they are because they're potentially worth a lot of money.

It sounds daft to say 'what are they' when they have all the information on the boxes but it's not clear. Amouage Cristal & Gold Man was launched as a special edition in 2023 and was perfumed by Alexandra Carlin, as was Amouage Cristal & Gold Woman. They look exactly like the ones shown here. They were apparently created using the 'original bottle moulds' which suggests the earlier vintage versions also came in these style bottles.

If these are not the 2023 versions and from what you've said about the history of them they are actually the original vintage versions originally perfumed by Guy Robert using a high proportion of naturals they would be worth considerably more than the 2023 versions.

My advice would be to try and find a physical auction house that could give you an independent valuation rather than risking them on somewhere like ebay. They could be worth a lot more than the ebay prices suggest.

Click to expand...

Hi there - thank you for your reply - I have done a little research and it appears these may have the royal seal insignia on them - that was when royalty in the 1980s had them I think commissioned to be given as gifts. I spoke to my mother again and dad did indeed work in Oman and confirmed again these were from royalty.

I also now have seen they were (Amouage 1983Gold and Cristal) last year on display in Omans national history museum. I think these may be worth a little something… but it’s only really worth what people pay…