THE POWELL & LEALAND 1/50 OIL IMMERSION OBJECTIVE

MAKER: POWELL & LEALAND

DATE: c1880

SIGNED: N.A. 1.38, POWELL & LEALAND oil immersion, 1//50, POWELL & LEALAND No. 1

Authors: Jurriaan de Groot & Barry Sobel

Editor: Joseph Zeligs

This rare 1/50 oil immersion objective is signed Powell & Lealand both on its proximal part as well as its distal part. It is also signed with its serial number of 1 and its N.A. of 1.38. The original can is also signed Powell & Lealand, ¹/₅₀, Oil Immersion, N.A. 1.38, London. Unlike earlier P & L objectives, the signature on this objective is in block letters rather than script. According to Seville Bradbury this objective was first made in 1880 and this is that first example. In the 1893 catalog, the 1/50th oil immersion achromat was priced at £80; in 2022 this would be over £11,426 or around $12,797 US. Its very short focal length would make using it very difficult and objects under a coverglass impossible to see unless the coverslip was unusually thin.

Prior to making oil immersion 1/50 objectives, P & L made dry 1/50ths; serial number 28 of these earlier dry objectives is part of the 1878 Binocular P & L number 1 Outfit on this site. Serial number 8 of the earlier dry version of the 1/50 was sold at flints auction during November 2023 and that objective sold at that time for £938.