Accession No
0401
Brief Description
box of spectacle samples, 1800-1850 (c)
Origin
Maker
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1800
Latest Date
1850
Inscription Date
Material
wood; cloth (velvet); fishskin; glass; organic (tortoise shell)
Dimensions
box length 254mm; breadth 140; thickness 45mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased from Stevens Auction Rooms via T.H. Court on 17/09/1928.
Inscription
‘C & W’ (on ‘4 1/2’ glasses)
‘C’ (on some pairs)
Description Notes
Box of spectacle samples, 1800-1850 (c).
Wooden box lined with velvet and cased in fish skin, containing 12 (originally 14) pairs of round-frame tortoiseshell spectacles with temple sides, in two layers. Wide C bridges; convex lenses graded from 2-5 by 1/4, and then 6. Graduation engraved on left side-piece. Straight side-pieces with loop end (except ‘4 1/2’ has solid ends; most have velvet padding on side pieces; 7-2-2000) .
Paper labels in box with numbers, as on frames.
Makers name plate removed from top of box. Hole patched (badly) with piece of fishskin.
Condition: fair; incomplete (two pairs missing).
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:42723
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