Opera Glasses: Museum Object and Cultural History
Opera Glasses: date made: ca 1850. retailer: Pike, Jr., Benjamin. Object Name: opera glasses.
The object in the museum catalogue
This is a brass instrument with tortoise-shell covering the barrels. The objective lenses are about 4 cm diameter. The inside of the case is marked “BENJ. PIKE JR. / 294 Broadway / New York.”
Benjamin Pike, Jr., the leading purveyor of scientific instruments in New York in the middle years of the 19th century, sold some things made in the United States, and some imported from Europe. This probably came from France.
Ref: Benjamin Pike, Jr., Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical, and Philosophical Instruments (New York, 1856), vol. 2, pp. 174-175.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: ca 1850
- retailer: Pike, Jr., Benjamin
- Object Name: opera glasses
- Measurements: overall: 4 in x 1 1/2 in; 10.16 cm x 3.81 cm
- Measurements: overall; glasses: 2 3/16 in x 4 3/4 in x 4 3/4 in; 5.55625 cm x 12.065 cm x 12.065 cm
- Measurements: overall; case: 2 3/4 in x 5 1/8 in x 4 1/4 in; 6.985 cm x 13.0175 cm x 10.795 cm
- place made: France
- ID Number: PH.334875
- catalog number: 334875
- accession number: 312744
- Credit Line: Mrs. David Gregg
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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