A rare 18th-Century miniature Wilson screw-barrel microscope

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A rare 18th-Century miniature Wilson screw-barrel microscope
Unsigned, with original eye-piece, sprung stage, two objectives, mirror (silvering lost), two black ivory sliders with some specimens, mounted on a tapering pillar and square platform base, 8 cm high; an object glass cover and slide; a telescope eye-piece mounting; a part navigational divider; a brass tapering pillar, 21.7 cm long; and a rectangular brass lock plate segment, 10.5 X 8.5 cm (6)

Lot Essay

The introduction of the screw-barrel microscope is normally attributed to the London maker James Wilson. He published his design in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1702. Other makers include Edmund Culpeper and George Sterrop. Many, such as this rare miniature example, are unsigned.

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