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Imagine, please, London in the Roaring Twenties, the glittering facade of Atkinsons, and, at its legendary portal, the dashing Crown Prince Mohammed Ali Ibrahim, renowned pugilist, sports car driver and extravagant dandy. At his side is his most recent conquest, the Hollywood movie star Mabel Normand, whom, alas, he has been forbidden to marry. The dashing Emir is carrying, hidden inside a delicately engraved wooden box in his vest pocket, the key ingredient for the perfumes he wishes the illustrious house to compose. He presents the box to the first Atkinsons employee bold enough to approach his eminent personage. The perfumers gather around as the gilded lid is slowly lifted, revealing the fragrant resin nestled inside. "Oud", they whisper, "the liquid gold of the Orient." To be worn with straight-backed posture, stiff-upper lip and a most regal jauntiness and insouciance.
