I don't know if it is by MLR. But looks like it. If you haven't, send an email to MLR or contact Pranjal Kapoor via IG (kapoor.pranjal). He can give you an authoritative answer. As for the reliability, it depends if the source is reliable and if you trust them.
That red top-cover is interesting. I have seen similar things being used in other older Mysore sandal bottles - including official Karnataka ones.
Mr Pranjal is always available to answer any query. WhatsApp him, and all will be clear. He instantly answers when it is some matter about the house.
Thanks very much to both of you. I will reach out to Pranjal this morning and wait to hear back.
My source isn't reliable at all. Lol. But not for the reasons we usually cast suspicion on sources. These came second hand from someone who knew what they were, but also didn't want to deal with trying to cross-market them in niche communities like this or Basenotes. Also not eBay apparently. I found them locally on a whim.
The story was that they had been in storage for around 20 years after an unfortunate situation. They were being sold alongside a bunch of other stuff. The seller still has actual (presumed - not sure how I'd confirm) sandalwood pieces, which I may go back for (I procured one of them to play with/chip for the burner). Again, who knows what hands they were in prior to this, but the bottom line is this is someone who was doing a favor for a friend and asking prices that provided zero value to them lying about it. That being said, oral history isn't a particular art (not an honest one, anyway) in the U.S., so the story behind the story, I'm not sure anyone really knows.
Anyway, here are a couple of additional photos after cracking open a bottle last night. Fascinating. The seller opened one up for me to smell prior to purchase as well. Super funny. Used a wine corkscrew and dumped the whole dang bottle for me to smell. The top is sealed by foil and below that, a cork sealed with what appears to be wax of some kind.
Looks as if these corks have seen better days, which tells me these probably haven't been sitting in a climate-controlled environment, but the oil still smells great. Reminds me a bit of current Indonesian oils I've put my nose on, but with a creamier, more floral mid/late drydown. Not as long lasting as some I've encountered, but really nice IMO. Now I gotta figure out what I'll do with it since I got all excited and bought it on impulse.
Thanks again, y'all. And I'll report back once I hear from Pranjal.