Description: Late 19th / Early 20 Century. Elaborately carved bone handle with checkered flat end for erasing. Intricate detail and design. 1. 5.25 inches. letter opener or nib part is missing. But still can be used as needle holder (both ends attached together w/ the body via threaded screw-in parts) 2. 3.75 inches. Pencil inside. Stanhopes or Stanho-scopes are optical devices that enable the viewing of micro photographs. Novelty souvenirs that incorporated a tiny hidden image became popular during the 19th century and included objects such as ink pens, sewing accessories, letter openers and jewelry. The image is visible through a tiny hole with a magnified lens and can be found by holding the object up to a light. Images range from landscapes, to portraits, to event souvenirs, to religious icons and scenes and are about 1/10th an inch in diameter and 1/4 an inch long. These objects are named after the inventor of the Stanhope Lens, Lord Charles Stanhope, even though a further developed, modified lens called the Codding Magnifier, invented by Sir David Brewster, is used. Stanhopes were invented in 1857 by Rene Dragon after John Benjamin Dancer attached a microscope lens to a daquerreotype camera in 1839 and produced micro-photographs. By affixing the micro-images to a tiny, magnified lens, by 1860 Dagron was able to manufacture novelties with viewable microscopic photographs incorporated into common objects. He called them "bijoux photo-microscopiques" or "microscopic photo-jewelry" and in 1862 they gained instant popularity and world-wide attention after being displayed at the Exhibition in London. Date: 1860-1900
Price: 58 USD
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
End Time: 2025-01-08T06:16:06.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
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