Accession No
0666
Brief Description
lorgnette and case, by Hamblin Ltd., English, 1830 (c)
Origin
England; Cavendish Square; 5 Wigmore Street
Maker
Hamblin Ltd.
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1830
Latest Date
1830
Inscription Date
Material
metal (gold); glass; hide (leather); cloth (silk, velvet)
Dimensions
case length 119mm; breadth 62mm; thickness 20mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased from Robinson Williams, 11 Lower Grosvenor Place, London SW, England on 14/03/1931.
Inscription
‘HAMBLIN Ltd.
5, WIGMORE STREET,
CAVENDISH SQUARE, W.’ (in case)
‘HAMBLIN LTD
5 WIGMORE ST W 15CT’ (on bridge)
Description Notes
Gold (15 carat). R. Bretell Bates Spring lorgnettes. One glass folding over another to look like a single glass. Shaft and ring handle with engraved foliage motifs. Rectangular tooled case with silk and velvet lining.
Condition: good; complete.
References
Events
Description
Spectacles
Usually consisting of a pair of lenses held in a frame, spectacles may have originated in the ancient civilizations 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 then 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 for defective eyesight; the Inuit and the Yupik use wooden spectacles with very small slits in them to reduce the glare from snow and ice.
FM:42720
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