Accession No
0687
Brief Description
compound microscope, Nuremburg ‘toy’ type, probably German, 1/2 19th century
Origin
Germany; Nuremburg [attributed]
Maker
Class
microscopes
Earliest Date
1800
Latest Date
1850
Inscription Date
Material
glass (mirror); metal; paper; wood (pear, pine)
Dimensions
overall microscope height 233mm; box height 121mm; depth 70mm; breadth 64mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by F.C. Dannot, Paris, France, from a collection of M. Dubreuil, Paris, France.
Inscription
“IM”
Description Notes
Compound microscope, Nuremburg ‘toy’ type; [German]; 1/2 19th century.
Pine box with a swinging concave mirror in the base controlled by knobs on either side; One side with a shaped opening; two sides with slots for holding the slide. Circular aperture in top with pear wood collar for optic body; paste board snout with paper cover; pear wood collar and screw fit attachment for objective; draw tube of similar construction with field lens and eye lens; turned pear wood dust cover.
References
Events
Description
This form of microscope is very similar in design to the Culpeper type (e.g. Wh.1790), except that the tripod stand is replaced by a wooden box containing the specimen stage and the mirror. It is so-called because the production of cheap wooden microscopes of this type was pioneered by wooden toy makers in the Nuremberg area of Germany.
From display label:
Nuremberg (Nürnberg) was the centre of German toy manufacture in the early 19th century, and microscopes of this design were marketed at regional toy fairs. The large number of ‘toy’ microscopes that survives indicates their great popularity in the period.
10/07/2009
Created by: Anna Judson on 10/07/2009
FM:42946
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