Microscope
date: label: date made
content: ca 1890
name: label: maker
content: R. & J. Beck
notes: label: Description
content: R. & J. Beck introduced the Star microscope in the summer of 1885, explaining that it was designed “to combine thorough efficiency with great economy.” The Star won a gold medal at the International Inventions Exhibition held in London, and Beck’s American agent termed it “the most wonderful cheap instrument ever made.” And yet there was room for improvement. By 1891, having tinkered with the form, the firm announced that “we confidently believe that it is by far the best instrument ever offered at so moderate a price. The leading idea, in designing and constructing the ‘STAR,’ was to produce a microscope in which nothing should be sacrificed to mere looks, and in which the optical and mechanical qualities should be the very best.”
label: Description
content: The Star is a compound monocular with coarse and fine focus, square stage, trunnion, sub-stage apertures, sub-stage mirror, and heavy triangular base. This example, which is of the improved form, probably belonged to Marvin Ashdowne Custis (1866-1956), an American physician turned business executive. The inscription reads “R. & J. BECK / LONDON / 16925.”
label: Description
content: Ref: “The New Star Microscope,” <i>American Monthly Microscopical Journal</i> 5 (1885): 229.
label: Description
content: Ad for “Beck’s New Model ‘Star’ Microscope” in <i>Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science</i> 30 (1890).
label: Description
content: R. & J. Beck, <i>An Illustrated Catalogue of Microscopes and Accessories</i> (Philadelphia, 1891), pp. 6-9.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Microscopes
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Miss E. P. Custis
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-06938
label: catalog number
content: M-06938
label: accession number
content: 214851
label: catalog number
content: 214851.36
objectType: label: Object Name
content: microscope
label: Other Terms
content: microscope; Medicine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 25.8 cm x 11 cm x 16.5 cm; 10 3/16 in x 4 5/16 in x 6 1/2 in
label: Measurements
content: accessories box: 1 5/8 in x 2 7/8 in x 2 7/8 in; 4.1275 cm x 7.3025 cm x 7.3025 cm