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HANDHELD LIVEBOX/SLIDE VIEWER

FROM EUROPE

c. Mid-19th C.

DESCRIPTION HISTORY

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DESCRIPTION:

This simple microscope is about 140 mm in length and the slide/livebox holder is 32 mm wide. It is made of lacquered brass with a fruitwood handle. The case is thin leather over cardboard and is lined in thin blue-green and red velvet. There are dots embossed into the top and bottom on one side of the case so as to suggest those sides match up. It is fitted with a relatively high power Lieberkuhn and so can be used to look at both opaque and transparent objects. Fine focusing is by screw. The instrument was designed for use with a round livebox and will accept relatively narrow slides, as the center of a one inch wide slide will not reach the center of the field of view. The other two examples I have seen had liveboxes included in the case, and this one has enough room for one to be stored on the instrument or above it in the case. Slides which could be used with this microscope would include bone sliders, as well as the small ones commonly made in France. The livebox shown with this microscope is used for illustrative purposes and, although of the same time period is not original to this instrument.



HISTORY OF THE THIS MICROSCOPE

The microscope is relatively uncommon, and to date no engraving or catalog entry has yet been found. The outside of the case has similar construction to the 'Flower Microscope' on this site and therefore this microscope is tentatively dated to the middle of the nineteenth century or about 1850. Although the Lieberkuhn works well with it, it may not be the original lens, the other known examples not having a Lieberkuhn.