Artifact: Spectacles
Materials: Steel, tortoise shell, and glass
Dimensions: W: 4 3/4"; Diam. of lens: 1"; OH: 1 3/8"
Date: 1750-1775
Origin: England
Collection: Image Courtesy of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
License: All rights reserved
Ledger Entry: Spectacles
Department: Personal
Customer: Elizabeth Wright
Ledger Page: 104
Imported From:
Product Description
Spectacles were corrective eyewear used to aid vision. Spectacles sold in a shop such as Ramsay's would not be tuned to the eyesight of a specific user but generically use either convex lenses to aid farsightedness or concave lenses to aid nearsightedness. The addition of legs (now called arms) that rested on the ears was a fairly new invention introduced in 1727 by Edward Scarlett.
Citation: "Spectacles." In The Oxford Companion to the Book. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2010.;
Historical Price: 6 pence; Modern USD: $5.6
Product Variations
The databases record four pairs of spectacles purchased. Three pair sold for six pence, while the last was purchased for four pence.
