Antique Reichert Lens Case. Austria, Circa 1900

Antique set of microscope lenses original from the early 20th century, made in Austria circa 1900 by the prestigious optic material manufacturer C. Reichert (Wien).The set is composed of three lenses in working order with the following numbers engraved on them: Nº 3, Nº 5 y Nº 8ª. Each lens is composed of a brass casing that fits in the microscopes nosepiece and a chromed-metal part (which contains the lens itself). Both metals look really good thought the brass shows some slight signs of wear that provide it with a singular attractive feature. The storing case is a rectangular leather-covered box with the manufacturers name engraved on top in fine golden letters: C. Reichert Wien. Inside, a drilled wooden piece makes it possible to immobilize the lenses in order to prevent them from moving when transported. Every lover of optic antiques and turn-of-the-century microscope will appreciate this antique lens set signed by C. Reichert. 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.