Opera Glasses
date: label: date made
content: ca 1900
name: label: maker
content: Lemaire
notes: label: Description
content: Each eyecup of this small instrument is marked “LEMAIRE FABT * PARIS *.” The objective lenses are 30 mm diameter and the optics are good. The frame is black metal. The barrels are covered with black leather. A center wheel adjusts the focus. The small image of a bee on the central brace is the Lemaire trade mark. The carrying case is black leather with a red silk lining.
label: Description
content: If this was made for the American market, the words “MADE IN / FRANCE” on the central brace indicate a date after the McKinley Tariff went into effect on March 1, 1891. If it was made for the British market, the words indicate a date after the British Merchandise Marks Act of 1887.
label: Description
content: Jacques Lemaire began making opera glasses in 1847 and was soon a major manufacturer noted for using mechanization, division of labor and interchangeable parts. M.J.B. Baille joined the firm in 1871 and took charge of it in 1885.
label: Description
content: Ref: Nicholas Gilman, <i>A Dividend to Labor: A Study of Employers’ Welfare Institutions</i> (Boston and New York, 1899), pp. 297–304.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: France: Île-de-France, Paris
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Optics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Jane and Mary Henle
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.336806
label: catalog number
content: 336806
label: accession number
content: 1978.2216
objectType: label: Object Name
content: opera glasses
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: closed: 1 11/16 in x 4 1/8 in x 2 1/2 in; 4.2926 cm x 10.4902 cm x 6.35 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 3 3/8 in x 5 in x 2 3/8 in; 8.5725 cm x 12.7 cm x 6.0325 cm