Antique Reichert Stand III Microscope. British Museum. Germany, 1920

Antique Reichert Stand III microscope from the Natural History Department of the British Museum, in good condition and with the museums registration number engraved in all its parts and accessories. It comes with a set of two Reichert lenses and one by Carl Zeiss. The microscope is in perfect working order and preserves the great charm and attractive look of early-20th-century scientific instruments, together with the remarkable prestige of the institution it once belonged to. The turret, the accessories and the cases door bear the engraved inscription Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) 1920. Z.D. 173 which guarantees its origin. The microscope is composed of a black metal horseshoe foot and several brass component parts. The brass preserves the original protecting lacquer which provides it with a fine patina, typical of antique scientific instruments. The rack-and-pinion system is also finely preserved and moves fluidly, just like the rest of the mobile parts. The storing case is also the original one and is made of solid mahogany wood. It bears the engraved serial number of the microscope and contains different compartments to organize the accessories, all of them in great condition. This antique Reichert Strand III microscope from the Natural History Department of the British Museum will shine in any collection of old-time scientific instruments. Dimensions: Width: 5.5 in / 14 cm. Height: 13.4 in / 34 cm. History of Reichert The Reichert company was founded by Carl Reichert in 1876 in Vienna. Carl Reichert was a son in law of Ernst Leitz. He learned microscopy business from Leitz in Wetzlar (Germany) and then moved to Vienna to establish his own company. His company was successful and by 1930 the 100000th microscope was produced. However in 1962, the family Reichert sold the business to the company American Optical (AO). American Optical, in turn, was taken over in 1968 by the worldwide pharmaceutical company Warner Lambert. Later, within Warner Lambert, Reichert company was merged with Jung, another microscopy company established by Rudolf Jung in Heidelberg in 1872. In 1986 Warner Lambert sold all non-pharmaceutical companies to Cambridge Instruments (the optical company established in 1881 by the son of Charles Darwin, Horace). And finally, in 1990 Cambridge Instruments merged with the Wild Leitz to form Leica group. In 1999 Reichert stopped microscope production, concentrating to instruments for sample preparations for transmission electron microscopy. (Source: http://cellbiology.science.uu.nl/facilities/biology-imaging-center-bic/bic-museum-of-microscopy-overview/bic-museum-of-microscopy-reichert/).