The Eyes Have It: Selkirk Auctioneers & Appraisers’ March 2024 Spectacles & Other Vision Aids Sale

Selkirk Auctioneers & Appraisers of St. Louis, MO is holding its Spectacles & Other Vision Aids event on March 15, 2024. Almost 150 lots of 18th to 20th century glasses, optical accessories, and related materials are on offer. This collection is from Dr. J. William Rosenthal, who was an ophthalmologist, vision historian, enthusiastic collector, and author of Spectacles and Other Vision Aids: A History and Guide to Collecting. This important reference book was published by Norman Publishing of San Francisco in the 1990s. Here are some key lots that caught the eye of the Auction Daily team.

The top lot in this sale is #0007, a collection of four Chinese carved tortoiseshell spectacles. The quartet is estimated at USD 500 to $1,000. These all date from the early 19th century. Three have circular lenses and one has oval lenses. All are detailed with elaborately carved bridges, folding temples, and circular temple tips. 

Tortoiseshell, a material sourced originally from Hawksbill turtles, has traditionally been associated with high society. It has been used to decorate, or create, accessories and elegant items since the 18th century. It gained superstar status when André-Charles Boulle, the cabinetmaker to King Louis XIV, used tortoiseshell as part of his marquetry process to decorate royal furnishings. Tortoiseshell eyewear became a status symbol in America in the 1920s. Real tortoiseshell was used for eyeglass production through 1973. That year, CITES– the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species– made it illegal to do so.

Antique eyeglasses are well represented in this sale of spectacles and other vision aids. Lot #0076, a pair of Martin Margin spectacles, is estimated at $200 to $500. These glasses were made in England around 1750. They have round steel frames lined in tortoiseshell, a steel bridge, and folding temples with circular temple tips. They are accompanied by a flat, oval-shaped, pull-apart brown leather case.

Benjamin Martin (1704 – 1782) started Martin’s Margins eyewear in London. Martin was an instrument maker by profession. His early spectacles featured dark rims intended to protect wearers from too much light and to improve their vision. The majority of Martin’s Margins eyewear featured steel or silver frames and horn or tortoiseshell rims or inlays.

This single-owner sale features a robust collection of lorgnettes– temple-less spectacles held in front of a person’s eyes by a long shaft at one side. Lot #0106, a Napoleonic Lorgnette by Lacloche – Paris, is estimated at $200 to $500. This eye-catching design features folding gold-colored rims, a white enameled handle embellished with a small blue enameled figure and four rings of jeweled highlights, and a golden, looped handle. It is marked Lacloche – Paris on its ringed end.

Lorgnettes became popular in the 19th century, where they were often used by upper-class ladies at society gatherings including masquerade parties and the opera. Their name has its origins in the French word lorgner, which means to take a sidelong look at, and the Middle French lorgne, which translates to squinting. Lorgnettes were traditionally considered a piece of decorative jewelry rather than a vision enhancing device.

This sale of spectacles and other vision aids also includes vintage to antique eye baths. Lot #0134, a group of three ceramic eye baths, is estimated at $200 to $500. These English examples were all produced in the 18th through 19th centuries. One is decorated in cobalt blue and one is decorated in gold; both stand on round bases with thick stems. The gold one bears a small red crown mark. The third is stemless, unmarked, and overall and evenly glazed in blue.

Historically, eye baths were used to rid eyes of surface irritants. They were filled with water and held flush to the face right under the eye. The user would tilt their heads backward to release the fluid to their eye, and then blink to clear away dust, dirt, and other detritus. Their history reaches as far back as the 16th century. The earliest ones were made from silver; starting in the 18th century they appeared on the mass market in ceramic and glass. Eye baths fell out of favor when soothing eye drops became available on a commercial scale in the early 20th century.

This sale comes full circle with opera glasses, chatelaines, quizzers (single lens magnifiers), monocular (one lens corrective eyewear), cases, and other eye-related materials. Some fine art is also available. Lot # 0147, Paul Norman Peck’s (American, 1907-1982) Vessels of the Eye, is estimated at $300 to $600. This mixed media work features a rendering of the anatomy of the human eye. It is signed and dated ’68 by the artist on its lower right.

For more information on this sale, visit LiveAuctioneers. Find other upcoming auctions on Auction Daily’s calendar.