What better to follow a jacket owned by Sir Elton John than an antique lot of eyeglasses?! Presented here is a lot of 20 to 25 pairs of antique eye glasses or spectacles, as shown, with some missing their lenses and some lenses missing their frames. This collection is straight from the decendants of the people who owned them in the 19th century and early 20th century. It is possible there may be some 18th century pairs in here but we aren't certain. One interesting pair of Victorian "steam punk" style sunglasses has side lenses. Another pair of amber or orange tinted lenses It has a scroll bridge on frames which are quite rusty. The lenses are frosted on the outside but have round clear amber tinted unfrosted centers. They are what some online dealers and even museums are claiming were used by snipers in the Civil War or by hunters trying to block the sun. We have no proof of the Civil War claims though. There is a pair quite similar to these on the Austin Texas Bullock Museum website in their artifact gallery for further reference. We have seen opposite claims online however, such as an excellent article on brettschulte.net regarding pairs just like this. A pair very similar to these were for sale in the 1897 Sears and Roebuck catalog and were described as follows "Scenery or Shooting Spectacles. While these spectacles are commonly known as shooting spectacles they are very largely used by tourists for looking at scenery, as it very much improves the view, and as they are amber tinted they are soothing to the eyes when in a bright light. The lenses are sanded so as to exclude the view except the small circle in the middle of each." At the time these were listed for 25 cents and 50 cents.

Many of the pairs of glasses or spectacles are fragile, one extremely so which is broken in pieces and appears to have been made from either bone or wood. Some are in good condition and a few have their original cases, with one case being from J.C. Taylor M.D., an eye, ear, nose and throat doctor from New London, Connecticut. There are fragments of other pairs. Being sold as is and shipped as shown - mixed together - but individually bagged, with a few of the more fragile pairs being shipped in separate boxes within a larger box.

NOTE: Invoices or combined invoices totaling $200 or more with a domestic US destination will receive free USPS Priority shipping.

Overall poor to good condition. Some frames and lenses are extremely fragile. Some broken and some frames or lenses may be chipped or broken. Others are in much nicer condition with some in original cases. Most lenses are soiled.