Look what we found!
This must be from the early fifties although there’s no date on it. When we
first produced PC49 the retail price was 1s/3d, which is what it says
here and that was in 1950 when you also had to use a ration coupon.
PC49, and our othr figures soaps were made with a special fragrance (and
soap) called Tah. We bought soap noodles (raw soap supplied in sacks) from Lever
Bros. (as they were then) and milled the soap before cutting into billets and
stamping in our special moulds
Quite a few of the figure soaps had glass eyes. I don’t think we’d get
away with that today! However, you can still get a safe gold paint, so if
we ever wanted to make PC49 again, (who had gold buttons and helmet crest), the
painting would be the least of our problems.
Pavel Danischewsky was the grandson of the original founders and
the man who brought the soap company to England after leaving Berlin in the
late 1930’s. During his life he witnessed many remarkable things. He was an
inveterate story teller. I was lucky enough to hear a few and I remembered one
the other day when the subject of ‘dacha’s came up. These were the summer
houses that initially wealthy and subsequently ordinary Russians would have to
escape from the city at the weekends in order to grow food and to breathe the
country air.
PAVEL SMOKES TURKISH
The story is that while the family were escaping from Russia
after losing their factory to the Bolsheviks, they spent some time in a dacha
outside Moscow, before they could travel on to Berlin. Papa Danischewsky
expressly forebade the young Pavel (who was a teenager at this time) from
straying too far from the hideout as they were trying to keep a low
profile. In this time of uncertainty, many dachas lay empty or abandoned
as their owners stayed away or had ‘disappeared’. Pavel, being adventurous, instantly
started exploring these properties and seeing what he could find. It appears he
found some quite useful stuff but how that made it’s way back into the
household without his father getting wind of it, I’m not sure. Anyway, one of
the items of contraband he uncovered was a stash of Turkish cigarettes, which
obviously he started smoking, and probably contributed to his lifetime habit.
He said he felt bad though, not because he was defying his father, but that he
couldn’t offer him any, as his dad liked to smoke and was reduced to making his
own homemade cigarettes using dried leaves and cones of newspaper.
Just to put this era into context, one of the events Pavel
witnessed was a rally with speeches by Leon Trotsky and VI Lenin.
Photo of a Communist rally in winter in Moscow
Welcome to Droyt Products
Droyt Glycerine Soap is a privately owned, independent company which has been making soaps in England since 1938, continuing a tradition that goes back to 1893. We use the best quality vegetable or mineral ingredients to make a soap which is aesthetically pleasing and very well regarded.
As well as cut soaps, we make liquid soaps and associated products and have Soil Association certification for our Droyt Organic Soap with Glycerine and Droyt Organic Liquid Soap with Glycerine.
You can buy online and we ship worldwide. All orders over £35 qualify for free UK delivery.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.