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Pince Nez - Victorian Steampunk eyeglasses

Item Description

Probably the oldest pair of glasses I\\\'ve seen and in impecable condition with the original case. This is a style of glasses, popular in the 19th century, that are supported without earpieces, by pinching the bridge of the nose. The name comes from French pincer, \\\"to pinch\\\", and nez, \\\"nose\\\".

Although pince-nez were used in Europe in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, modern ones appeared in the 1840s and reached their peak popularity around 1880 to 1900.
C-bridge -- These, as their name would suggest, possess a C-shaped bridge, which was composed of a curved, flexible piece of metal which would provide the tension needed to stay on the nose. This variety is the earliest style of true pince-nez. They existed from the 1820s through to the 1940s, and were available in a tremendous variety of styles -- ranging from the early nose-padless type of the 19th century to the gutta-percha variety of the American Civil War era, and then on to the plaquette variety of the 20th century. Like the Hard bridge variety, this type was available either as a frame or as a two-piece mount for frameless glasses. Some of the earlier frames had cork nose-pads, as did some of the cheaper later ones, instead of plaquettes. The frames or bridge pieces could be gold or silver plated or made from stainless steel. The bridges were subject to constant wear and tear as they required repeated flexing when being set and removed from the face, so would frequently break or lose their tension. The advantage of this variety was that one size could fit a variety of nose bridges; however, often they had to be worn at an angle, especially if the wearer had a low forehead. Pince-nez spectacles were worn by both men and women. Since they can be uncomfortable to wear for extended periods if the wrong bridge size is chosen, and also because the constant wearing of glasses was out of fashion at the time, pince-nez were often suspended from a ribbon or chain worn around the neck, tied to the buttonhole of a lapel, or attached to a special ear-mount or to a hair-pin. Women often used a special brooch-like device pinned to the clothing, which would automatically retract the line to which the glasses were attached when they were not in use. mjp2k-5562869097@sale.craigslist.org
Quantity 1
Condition New

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