The unveiling of the 150-year-old ‘Florida Water NY’ — and its recreation — was held yesterday by The Bermuda Perfumery at its new store in Butterfield Place on Front Street — and the general public are invited to smell it during Harbour Night this evening.

The new Lili Bermuda shop filled with their many fragrances reflects the classic Bermuda pink and dark blue of the brand, and is decorated with blown-up black-and-white photos reflecting Bermuda during the earliest days of the perfumery and the then-ubiquitous lily fields.

But it was earlier still that the bottle at the centre of attention yesterday sank under Bermuda waters.

The 150-year-old perfume, still in its original bottle, was under glass as Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone, the director of The Bermuda Perfumery, and Dr Philippe Rouja, custodian of historic wrecks, unveiled the scent of antique perfume in a separate container of a material soaked in the scent for the public to smell.

The bottle of perfume — embossed with Piesse & Lubin London — was found on a blockade runner, the wreck of the Mary Celestia, after it had spent the last century and a half resting in the far bow of the sunken ship, a popular South Shore site that is regularly visited by recreational divers.

The favourable conditions — cool water kept the temperature of the perfume down and, buried in the bow of the ship, in darkness — the notes of citrus and amber are still evident, even after 150 years spent under the sea.

At a press conference journalists were invited to inhale that scent. Then, there was the recreated scent, where bittersweet citrus notes were soothed and smoothed with floral, resin and amber, creating a bright yet smooth, and warm, enveloping scent.

The event has excited international interest with a story in the New Jersey’s Star Ledger newspaper about the laboratory which analysed the American Civil War-era perfume. Drom Fragrances’ centre in Towaco got the job of analysing the fragrance — an exciting experience for senior perfumer at the laboratory, Jean-Clude Delville.

The Star Ledger reported: “Opening the sealed bottles, Delville says, was like ‘going back 150 years into life’.” There is also a PBS documentary being worked on, and the National Geographic have been keeping a watching brief on the project as well.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette, Ms Ramsay-Brackstone explained that since the original bottle has been opened, the smell has evolved with some of the less pleasant elements dissipating.

Dr Rouja said: “There was no contamination from seawater at all. It has spent 150 years in cool temperatures in darkness so it has been in protected conditions.

“We figured the bottle self-sealed [during its time under the sea] so it became more effectively protected,” he said.

During the press conference, Dr Rouja said the bottle was “deep in the bow of the Mary Celestia — it was no-go zone around the bow”.

He said the project had included James Delgado of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Maritime Heritage Programme in the Office of National Maritime Sanctuaries, and Dominque Rissolo, a Waitt Institute archaeologist and its executive director. They excavated a small section of the interior of the bow of the shipwreck.

“During the seven-day excavation the team uncovered and rescued a small cache of hidden artefacts including a ship’s taffrail log, a hairbrush, shoes, and intact wine, cologne and the perfume bottles,” he said. “The cologne and the perfume bottles, like the wine, contained a visible air pocket above the liquid inside, suggesting the contents had remained uncontaminated over the intervening 150 years underwater.”

The new Bermuda Perfumery on Front Street will be allowing customers to smell the original perfume and the recreation during an open house at the store Harbour Night tomorrow evening and on Thursday.