Accession No

0761

Brief Description

spyglass / prospect glass, by Jesse Ramsden, 1782 - 1800

Origin

London; England

Maker

Ramsden

Class

optical

Earliest Date

1782

Latest Date

1800

Inscription Date

Material

ivory; wood (?); metal (silver); hide (shagreen); cloth (velvet); glass

Dimensions

length 54 mm; diameter 37 mm (length 52mm; diameter 35mm; 3-2-2000)

Special Collection

Robert Whipple collection

Provenance

Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from Lea Brown, Edinburgh, Scotland, on 12/09/1934.

Inscription

‘RAMSDEN LONDON’

Description Notes

spyglass / prospect glass, by Jesse Ramsden, 1782 - 1800

Ivory with wooden (?) mounts. Ivory eyepiece (mounts cracked). Silver draw tube. Shagreen covered, green velvet lined wooden case with hinged lid.

Cracked; draw tube stuck; eyepiece glass missing; 3/2/2000
The case is not listed in the original accession register and it is unlikely that it is intended for this object

Condition: fair/poor; incomplete (glass missing)

[Note on the date: 1782 is the date of J.L. Martin’s patent for drawing tubes of silver-plated copper, a patent to whose cost Ramsden had contributed. He then regularly purchased sheets of silver-plated copper, to make small spyglasses of this type]

References

Events