The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A new museum display charts spectacular spectacles from down the ages.
Spalding Gentlemen’s Society (SGS) has dipped into its vast collection of eye glasses for its latest educational offerings at Ayscoughfee Hall Museum.
Heather Violett from SGS said the collection on display dated back to the early 18th century.
There’s also a modern touch, with modern day famous glasses wearer, Harry Potter incorporated.
“We have found that schoolchildren visiting the museum appear to be particularly interested in this part of the collection,” said Heather, who then set about helping to assemble the display.
“The display includes opera glasses, spectacles with the Ayscough arms; adjustable arms, pince-nez; monocles, spectacles with arms and loops for ribbon attachment to enable them to be worn over a wig, and Martins margins – a novel style of ‘visual glasses’ with inserts surrounding a small round lens invented around 1760 which were meant to restrict the amount of light reaching the eyes to protect from light overload,” said Heather.
Lorgnettes are also on display.
Heather explains: “Lorgnettes were popular at masquerade parties or the opera and theatre, they were ostensibly worn by women to improve their vision but in reality, were more of a fashion statement than visual aid.”
The most recent artefact is a pair of glasses designed during World War II to be worn under a gas mask.
Heather said: “Optical instruments in the display show how eye testing was remarkably similar to today but the size and complexity of the instruments varies greatly.”
Visit the display in Ayscoughfee Hall Museum.
