Tooth Soap

The little round package fit right into the palm of my hand.  It had been given to me just as I took my seat before the concert began.  I had no idea what it was.

In the dim light, as unobtrusively as possible, I examined the little parcel.  It seemed to be made of a sort of plastic.  To the touch it was reminiscent of my grandmother’s dresser set made of Bakelite – that precursor to modern plastic, developed back in 1907. I could feel raised letters/numbers(?) on the top and could almost make out what it said.

Ling George V

It wasn’t until the intermission was over that I could take a good look.  It was a little round box, black with a maroon cover.  The lettering, curved to fit around the top and bottom edges said:  TOOTH SOAP – Peppermint Flavor – Enolin (1926) Ltd.  In the middle were the words:  Specially Prepared For The Use Of H.M. NAVAL FORCES.  Inside was a small cake of soap, apparently in its original cellophane wrapper.  It, too, was embossed with letters reading TOOTH “SOAP/ENOLIN/FOR H.M. NAVAL FORCES.

“I saw this in a shop somewhere after one of your House Concerts,” my benefactor said.  “I had been looking at your coffee table with all of the curiosities displayed and I thought this just needed to be among them.”

People gathered around.  We all had questions.  “Who would have been the king then?” we wondered.  Later I found that it was George V, Queen Victoria’s grandson, who was, himself, a navy man and who was England’s king from 1910-1936.

The other burning question: “Was this soap with its container original or a reproduction?”  I also looked that up and I’m not totally sure.   A British site claimed it was an “unused warehouse find and was selling it for £8.50 (12 available, 31 sold).”  Another site made the same claims but added that the warehouse was in Malta and the price per pot was £7.50.  Another site, in Spanish, said “GPD 12.99, aproximadamente US $16.79.”  And yet another: “AU $125.00/Approximately Euro 78.88.”

Coffee Table of Curiosities

Still another site added this information:  “These packets of tooth soap were introduced into Royal Navy slops in 1936 as a replacement for tooth powder and in 1944 were sold at 3½ d for paste and case or 2 ½ d for just the refill…  A case of these tooth soap containers and contents seems to have come to light in the last few years and flooded the market, so they are plentiful and cheap and can be picked up for under £5 with little difficulty.”

So, there you have it!  It will be added to the items on display in our coffee table – definitely a curiosity and far more urbane when compared to the broken bits of china and doll parts that we’ve found in the garden over the years.  Elegance (of sorts) among the mundane!  Thanks so much, Mike!