18th century sunglasses and spectacles

[Scrappy]

My dig-out of a collapsed chimney continued, and certainly put a new twist on the site. Meticulously moving the pile brick by brick with soil mixed throughout has been challenging, but I’m certainly glad I’ve been careful. I’ve dug three frames, and multiple arms.







I always assumed the glass would be clear, but after a little investigation these are in fact, early sunglasses!


A view from the 1700’s...



...and back again. Lol







All but one of the frames was silver, and they are all broken (surprisingly none from my digging). Today I reached the brick hearth, and with that ended my hopes of finding anything intact, or all the pieces to one. I have about 1000lbs of dirt to sift so maybe there’s more in there.

Other finds include





I ended the hunt because of rain, but the site will have a lot more. The house burned sometime in the 1830’s and it must have been a total loss and utterly devastating to the homes owner.

More to come after cleaning.

Steve

 

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[Jeff H]

Intact or not, great finds !

 

[Red-Coat]

Cool finds. Tinted lenses first appeared around 1752 but they weren’t intended as sunglasses. An English optician called James Ayscough developed them in the (largely mistaken) belief that blue or green tinted lenses could help correct certain vision defects.

By the 19th Century, brown tinted lenses were in common use, but largely by people who had medical conditions that created over-sensitivity to bright light, and they had no UV protection. The first sunglasses with UV filtration were introduced in 1913, using cerium glass developed by Sir William Crookes.

 

[ARC]

The green ones are for the Absinthe bar, :P

Hey Scraps... coolio digs.

 

[Tuberale]

Congrats oin the frames. Hope you find gold in the dirt to be sifted.

 

[Gene Mean]

Awesome shades. That's a different kind of find for sure.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Those tinted glasses got me thinking of National Treasure, Dr. Benjamin Gates ready to find secret codes on the back of the Declaration!

 

[joeyfresh]

Scrap dog! Nice shades

 

[Silvermonkey]

"HD" from the 18th century...Cool!

 

[Scrappy]

Cool finds. Tinted lenses first appeared around 1752 but they weren’t intended as sunglasses. An English optician called James Ayscough developed them in the (largely mistaken) belief that blue or green tinted lenses could help correct certain vision defects.

By the 19th Century, brown tinted lenses were in common use, but largely by people who had medical conditions that created over-sensitivity to bright light, and they had no UV protection. The first sunglasses with UV filtration were introduced in 1913, using cerium glass developed by Sir William Crookes.

Thanks RC. An initial google search kicks back the info you posted first. However a bit more research indicates that green lenses were used to reduce glare for most of the 18th century. Octants and sextants of that time (used for sea navigation), right up to the 20th century had green lenses used to reduce glare. I did come across the Ayscough info as well, which I would consider additional info on the subject. The later part of the 18th century saw many green lenses utilized for relief from the sun. Honestly it’s amazing they wore those glasses at all. So cool!

 

[Scrappy]

The green ones are for the Absinthe bar, :P

Hey Scraps... coolio digs.

Hilarious! Good to hear from you AARC

 

[johnnyblaze]

Nice digs Scrapster!
Ebay has similar ones saying they are Civil war Era but i believe they are 18TH century..I have Civil war goggles and they have the same green lenses.They were used for field Artillery.Some have blue also.Sweeet rare find!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-CI...=333230430533bdcc45f5c9fa4be4a54e1d268357f511
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Civil-War-...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

~Blaze~

 

[Red-Coat]

… a bit more research indicates that green lenses were used to reduce glare for most of the 18th century.

Yes. but not commercially in spectacles for ordinary folk until 1752 (and a little later in America).

Going back further, it was reported in contemporary accounts that the Roman Emperor Nero sometimes watched gladiator matches through an emerald. The reason isn't given, but the speculation is that this may have been an ostentatious way of reducing the glare of the sun.

 

[islamoradamark]

I used to read stories about people that found gold in chimneys nice finds

 

[Scrappy]

Congrats oin the frames. Hope you find gold in the dirt to be sifted.

Thanks. The best way to find gold is to dig a whole lot of silver. I have that feeling...

 

[Scrappy]

Awesome shades. That's a different kind of find for sure.

I’m thrilled about the frame with a complete lens. I’ve dug countless colonial artifacts and this is a stand-out.

 

[djackson7348]

A dig like that is a lot of work but you prove it can pay off. Keep digging and keep finding. Thanks for sharing.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Interesting finds. I have found a handful of sunglasses at cellar holes, but they were all modern hunter drops. Cool stuff, congrats!

 

[xcopperstax]

wow I had no idea they had sunglasses back then! Very cool and unique find!!!

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!