The trademark "A la Reine des Abeilles"

You will certainly have noticed that all of our bottles are covered with a circular stamp representing a bee surrounded by various inscriptions. 

Where does this print come from and why a bee?

You should know that Violet was, during the 19th Century, the supplier of many European royal courts.

Like its main competitor, Violet was under the Second Empire official supplier of Empress Eugénie, then wife of Napoleon III and Empress of the French from 1853 to 1870. 

The bee, considered the oldest emblem of the sovereigns of France, was initially the symbol of royalty, but above all of the empire, with its return to the coat of arms of Napoleon 1st.

The house acquired the title "A la Reine des Abeilles" in the late 1850s and filed a guarantee stamp with the Paris Chamber of Commerce on March 4, 1858. The purpose of this trademark was to stem counterfeits and imitations, which were already numerous at the time.

Thus, it affixed this special visual on each product developed during this period, and indicated in a manifesto, signed by Louis Claye, successor of the House at the time, that any product not having this trademark would be fraudulent. The House even renamed the Violet perfumery to “Violet, à la Reine des Bees”.

We found this print for the first time in the commercial register of the time, kept in the current museum of counterfeiting in Paris, and have since decided to affix it to the products of the house.