Antique Reichert Microscope Lens Case. Austria, Circa 1900

Antique microscopes lens set made in Austria circa 1900. The set is composed of three original turn-of-the-century lenses, in fine condition and in working order. The lenses bear the following engraved numbers, respectively: Nº 3, Nº 5 and Nº 8a. The lenses casings are made of brass and chrome-plated metal; the brass shows some signs of the trace of time but otherwise it is quite well preserved. The case where the lenses can be stored contains a wooden base with drilled holes to put the lenses in order to keep them stable. It is covered by purple fabric inside and by dark-red leather outside. The golden fastener is original from the time and is in working order. At the top of the case we can see the engraved manufacturers name in visible golden letters: C. Reichert Wien. Perfect to be used with a turn-of-the-century microscope, this antique set of microscope lenses by Reichert can still have a long life to run.C. Reichter History The microscope company Reichter was founded by Carl Reichter, son-in-law of Ernst Leitz, in 1876. After learning the business with Leitz, he moved to Vienna, Austria and started his own company. By 1930 they had already manufactured their 100000th microscope. The firm carved a niche in the microscope-manufacturing field and kept on in business for some decades, but in 1962 the family sold the company to the American Optical Company. Six years after, this firm was acquired in turn by the pharmaceutical company Warner Lambert. After some mergings, in 1999 Reichter gave up making instruments and started preparing samples for transmission electron microscopes.