Accession No
0020
Brief Description
folding nose spectacles in banjo style case, English [attributed], 1750-1800
Origin
England [attributed]
Maker
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1750
Latest Date
1800
Inscription Date
Material
organic (horn); metal (steel); fishskin (shagreen); glass; wood; cloth (velvet)
Dimensions
case length 69mm; breadth 51mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple in Folkestone in 03/1922.
Inscription
‘8’ (on bridge)
Description Notes
Folding nose spectacles in banjo style case, 1750-1800
Horn frame. Round convex lenses. Hinged steel bridge. Folds into pear-shaped shagreen case.
Condition: fair; complete.
References
Events
Description
Usually consisting of a pair of lenses held in a frame, spectacles may have originated in the ancient civilisations of China and the Mediterranean, but early forms were crude. It was only in the 18th Century that the grinding of lenses became sufficiently advanced to make them really effective for correcting sight defects. In order to correct for near-sightedness, the lenses must be concave, which diverges the rays of light (angles them apart), and for long sightedness they must be convex, to angle the rays of light together.
Spectacles are not solely used to correct eyesight; the Inuit and the Yupik use wooden spectacles with very small slits in them to reduce the glare from snow and ice.
FM:42706
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