Spectacukar Spectacles, Antiques Roadshow
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SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS GAGGLES OF GLASSES mong the many different types of antique SPECTACULAR SPECTACLES... Aeyeglasses you might see at auction are nose spectacles, lorgnettes, pince-nez, and …and other ophthalmic antiques: Don’t scissors spectacles. What is the difference? • Nose spectacles began as early as the 13th overlook these visual artifacts that century and have no sides. • Lorgnettes, on the other hand, have a little reflect the history of vision care. By Laura Gehl Skinner Inc. got $1,422 for this Art Deco lorgnette of platinum, onyx, and diamond. Photos courtesy of David Fleishman handle on one side. (In 2000, Christie’s sold a jeweled two-color gold and enamel lorgnette marked Fabergé for $32,900.) Dr. David Fleishman bought this pair of antique • Pince-nez, like nose spectacles, have no leather-framed glasses with wooden case (left) sides; they stayed in place by “pinching the for $25 — and was offered $8,000. nose.” They came much later than nose spectacles—c. 1840. Christie’s sold a set of late Ed. note: If you’re the queasy type when it comes to descriptions of medical 19th/early procedures, you might bypass our author’s “Keratomes and Cataracts” section. 20th century pince-nez for $1,850 yeglasses are one of the great- of a very special client: Thomas Jefferson. in 2005, but est inventions of all time, yet Fleishman paid $3,100 for the pair. they can “Ethey are taken for granted,” Getting a pair of antique glasses with be had at says Dr. David Fleishman, retired oph- its original case is a definite win for any A collector won this pair of Oxford pince nez frames far lower thalmologist and international authority collector. But a really special case, such for $125 on eBay. prices; one on antique eyeglasses. as one made of sharkskin or solid gold, eBay bidder Fleishman started collecting glasses might also come up for auction on its recently got the pair above for $125. some three decades ago with a lucky find at own. Fleishman bought a case made of • Scissors spectacles, of course, look a lot the Brimfield flea market in Massachusetts. silver, ivory, mother of pearl, and tor- like a pair of scissors. There are two lenses For just $25, he got his hands on a pair toiseshell for $350 in 2003. on a Y-shaped frame, with one lens sticking of c. 1600 leather-framed eyeglasses in He also bought a pair of Nuremberg up in front of each eye. George Washington a wooden case. Since then, he has been nose spectacles inside a wooden case at gave scissors spectacles to Lafayette; the offered $8,000 for that pair of spectacles Skinner Inc. several years ago. The case Smithsonian Institution now owns that pair. (and said no). pre-dated the spectacles by about 100 Fleishman explains that leather-framed years and likely held leather-framed glass- KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR... eyeglasses are generally the oldest antique es originally. Fleishman liked both the hen picturing a glass eye, many think specs you can buy. Slightly more than 100 glasses and the case, despite the fact that Wof a ping-pong-ball-shaped glass piece. pairs of these leather-framed eyeglasses are they definitely did not belong together. Wrong. Dr. Gary Edwards explains that a glass known to exist—about 20 in the U.S. and Sometimes a group of cases may eye is more like a curved slice from the front the rest in Europe. Anything earlier than appear at an auction as well. In 2003, of a ping-pong ball, and not sphere at all. These days, “glass” eyes are actually made these would probably be in a museum. Christie’s sold a lot of four Chinese eye- of acrylic; traditionally, they actually were Thirty-five years later, after amassing glass cases made of lacquered wood incised made by blowing glass. An artist would paint Chinese eyeglasses, Japanese eyeglasses, with flowers, birds, and poetry for $1,016. the small curved piece of glass to match a real solid gold eyeglasses, and early American iris and pupil as closely as possible. eyeglasses, Fleishman is still adding Dr. Laura Gehl, former editor of Science Weekly, Today, with more cures for eye-related con- antique spectacles to his collection. writes on scientific and medical ditions and better surgical techniques, the need Just this year, he bought a pair of glasses topics for adults and children. In for glass eyes is low. But collectors of both on eBay that he hopes will stay in his fam- Insider, she has covered antique ily for generations. The glasses have tiny medical instruments (July 2014), ophthalmic items and antique dolls look for c vintage ones; examples turn up on eBay for $20– lenses, each one smaller than a dime. They microscopes (May 2014), $40. Edwards recently sold a box of 21 blown were made by John McAllister, the first binoculars (April 2014), and glass eyes from around 1900 for $599. —L.G. optician in the U.S., based on the drawing telescopes (March 2014). ANTIQUES ROADSHOW 14 INSIDER JANUARY 2015 Right: Thomas Jefferson-inspired eyeglasses made by John McAllister, the first optician in the U.S. Collector David Fleishman scored them on eBay for $3,100. Dr. Gary Edwards is a collector of Compare that version of cataract antique ophthalmoscopes and surgical surgery to today, when an incision instruments. Until 1851, he explains, the is made with a laser and a manmade inside of the eye could be seen only after a lens is effortlessly inserted into the person’s death, through dissection. Trying eye to replace the defective lens. to look into the eye was like looking into Other antique surgical tools in a dark room through a keyhole. Edwards’ collection include muscle The invention of the ophthalmoscope hooks, long L-shaped instruments Photo courtesy of David Fleishman allowed doctors to look into the eyes for fixing crossed eyes; lens scoops and Figure out what interests you, he adds; of their patients. Back in the mid-19th lens spoons for getting cataracts out of the otherwise, it’s just too much. century, before the distribution of elec- eye after incision; iris spatulas for pushing If you get into the category by buy- tricity into our homes and buildings, an the iris around; and iris scissors for cutting ing fairly common items, like a Loring ophthalmologist would use a gaslight or a hole in the iris in case of glaucoma. ophthalmoscope (which can be had for candlelight reflected off of a mirror. Edwards also has lid clamps, used $50–$150 at auction), its shouldn’t matter, Other than the addition of an electric because you didn’t yet have one in your light, ophthalmoscopes haven’t changed collection. Gradually, Edwards says, you’ll much since 1851. Nonetheless, figure out what’s common and what’s about 100 different models of not and you’ll be ready to pounce ophthalmoscopes exist, because when a rarity becomes available. many famous ophthalmolo- For antique spectacles, David gists created their own versions. Fleishman advises looking for Edwards’ collection includes round frames. They tend instruments by Liebreich, to get collectors excited, Loring, Knapp, and Wessely. because round-frame specs If money were no object, come from an earlier time Christie’s Images © 2014 Edwards would love to own period than oval-frame Christie’s sold this 54-inch-wide, a Helmholtz ophthalmoscope. 26-inch-tall New York optician’s trade glasses. Herman von Helmholtz (1821–1894) sign from c. 1915 for $87,500 in 2014. Solid gold frames are also valuable invented the first ophthalmoscope in to collectors, Fleishman says, and not Germany in 1851. Today his instru- for preventing bleeding when operating just for the obvious reason (who doesn’t ments go for about $10,000. on an eyelid. “They look like something love solid gold?). They’re exceedingly from a horror movie,” he says, “but they rare; untold numbers of gold frames were KERATOMES AND CATARACTS were state of the art at the time.” melted down over the years. “The evolution of cataract surgery is These types of early instruments turn You can sometimes obtain large lots one of the most dramatic changes in up at various auction houses and are of glasses at auction. Skinner Inc. sold modern medicine,” Edwards says. You’ll fairly reasonable in price. For example, 15 pairs of 19th- and early-20th-century likely agree if you contemplate Edwards’ Christie’s sold a box of c. 1880 surgical spectacles for just $170 in 2011, and a antique keratomes (or keratotomes). instruments for $976 in 2011. group of 12 eyeglasses from similar time Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, periods went for $120 in 2009. a keratome—looking like a small arrow- STARTING OUT Occasionally, you might find some- head at the end of a stick—would be used If you’re interested in starting a collec- thing particularly special in a large lot. to stab into the eye in order to remove the tion of ophthalmic antiques, there are Fleishman remembers buying 50 glasses entire lens. The cataract victim, er, patient, two collectors clubs you might want to as a single lot at Sotheby’s for around would then be forced to wear glasses as consider joining: the Ocular Heritage $3,200. In that lot was one pair of glasses thick as magnifying glasses in order to Society and the Ophthalmic Antiques that by itself was worth the total price compensate for the loss of the lens. International Collectors’ Clubs. Fleishman paid: a pair of Benjamin That was the best-case scenario, of Gary Edwards suggests choosing one Franklin’s bifocals.