-6- SPECTACLES, Pairs

1 in case - Carter & Werner opticians, Melbourne and Ballarat. 1 rimless; others gold rimmed.

a) Rimless Octagonal Shaped bifocial lenses: Celluloid attachment across the nose bridge for a more secure fitting. gold coloured wire curl sides.
Similar style shown in Gothic Clingswell Bausch & Lomb Catalogue 1929 p. 35.

b) Spectacles: gold coloured frames, oval lenses, curl sides and a high, adjustable bridge. Features the swinging cork placquets usally seen on pice nez. Domestic repair (soldering) to one of the temples.
Identical style as CH89.548, which were purchased between 1897 and 1914.

c) Rimless spectacles: small oval lenses, fixed brass nosepads and wire curl sides.
Further information: 'By the end of the nineteenth century spectacles were seriously competing with both the steel and tortoiseshell spectacles of the London craftsmen. Most people were ashamed of being seen to need spectacles and ladies in particular were glad to avail themselves of the new and comparatively inconspicuous, rimless spectacles, provided they could pay the high cost of repairs'. (Davidson p. 24).
Similar model shown in Sear/Roebuck 1897 Catalogue, p.462.

d) Bifocal spectacles: Brass frames with small oval lenses and curl sides. Bifocals have concave lenses for distant vision at the top of the lens and convex lenses for close vision (eg. reading) at the bottom. These spectacles have fused bifocal lenses, using technology developed at the end of the nineteenth century.
Further information: Experiments with bifocal lenses started in the late 1700s. By the mid 1850s many improvements had been made, mainly in America. 'BM Hanna in 1884 patented a bifocal which became world famous, the two lenses being cemented together. They did not have a good appearance and later towards the end of the 19th century the fused bifocal was made.' (Orr 22).

e) Brass spectacles with oval lenses and springy coiled wire ends.

f) Maroon leather frogmouth spectacles case. Similar model shown in Harrods 1895 Catalogue p.656.

g) Brass spectacles. Standard model with oval lenses and curl sides.
Further information: Identical spectacles shown in Sears, Roebuck 1897 Catalogue, p. 462 & Hoods Ltd 1909 Catalogue, p.365.

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