Opera Glasses
date: label: date made
content: 1850-1900
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 a gilt metal. The barrels, eyecups and center focusing wheel are covered with mother of pearl. An image of a bee, the Lemaire logo, appears on the central brace; if there was once a number there, it is not now visible. The red leather carrying case is probably not original.
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 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
label: See more items in
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.336803
label: catalog number
content: 336803
label: accession number
content: 1978.2216
objectType: label: Object Name
content: opera glasses
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: closed: 1 1/2 in x 3 15/16 in x 2 1/4 in; 3.81 cm x 10.0076 cm x 5.715 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 5 1/2 in x 4 in x 2 in; 13.97 cm x 10.16 cm x 5.08 cm