GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Recognizes Sudhir Gupta as Record Holder for Largest Factice Collection

Includes more than 1,400 Rare and Historic Factice Fragrance Bottles from CHANEL, Dior, Guerlain, Caron, Estée Lauder, and others

NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Collector Sudhir Gupta (India) has achieved the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the largest collection of factices. The collection of oversized display bottles features more than 1,400 fragrance bottles valued up to $100,000 from world-renowned fragrance houses including Hermès, Nina Ricci, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Gucci and others.

Gupta recently celebrated this honor with a reception at Bergdorf Goodman's BG Restaurant, where he was joined by Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu and Michael Empric, an official GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS adjudicator. Ms. Sandhu and Mr. Gupta are from the same hometown, Chandigarh, India. The restaurant was elaborately decorated by Mercedes Acosta, creative director of Facticerie: The Factice Collection, with thousands of flowers serving as the backdrop to display over 350 factices. Ms. Acosta developed her unique talent for floral arranging while working on the Met Gala.

Gupta has spent 30 years in the fragrance business collecting these exquisite replicas of iconic fragrance bottles. Throughout the 21st century, artisans of fragrance houses mostly based in France, created these oversized display bottles for use at department store beauty counters, fragrance shops and pharmacies around the world. 

The collection features a 1920s Caron urn, "Les Fontaines Baccarat," from the estate of Madame Alexander, created by Baccarat, estimated to be worth $100,000. Others include a PARERA Tentacion factice from 1927. One of only two in the world, the other is on display at the Museu del Perfum in Barcelona. The oldest factice in the collection is a one-of-a-kind 1920's bottle for Gardenia by Richard Hudnut (1855-1928), known as "the first American perfumer."

Gupta came to the U.S. from India in 1992 to pursue his Master's Degree in Engineering and discovered his first factice, L'Air du Temps by Nina Ricci, while working at a perfume shop on Canal Street. At a price tag of $2,000, Gupta saved his weekly $200 paychecks to ultimately acquire the piece which is now the cornerstone of this world-renowned collection.

The collection is currently on view at Facticerie: The Factice Collection, located at 70 1st Street, Hackensack, NJ 07601. The exhibition space was uniquely designed for the collection using remnants from the interior of Lascoff Drugs, an Upper East Side institution that closed in 2012 after 113 years in business. 

For more information or to book an appointment, please visit Facticerie.com or contact [email protected].

For PR inquiries, contact R. Couri Hay or Sarah Gartner at R. Couri Hay Creative PR  
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SOURCE GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™