Microscope Slides - Antique Prepared Collectable | Archive

Microscopical Mounts and Mounters – Brian Bracegirdle

This is the Bible as far as the world of collectors of prepared microscope slides is concerned. For the uninitiated, this is a wonderful pursuit and Brian Bracegirdle (1933 – 2105) was a genius putting this book together. No similar reference exists and it is highly sought after by collectors of scientific historicals.

Dr Bracegirdle was responsible for receiving the transfer of the Welcome Medical Museum Exhibits to the Science Museum in South Kensington, a formidable achievement. He was a strong personality, a hard taskmaster and like port … his obituary on the Science Museum website is well worth the read.

This book published in 1998 with the support of the esteemed Quekett Club. By this time, Brian was retired and living in Cheltenham. 225 pages after preliminaries including 60 full page plates of photographs of slide examples by many of the distinguished makers listed and described at the front.

It should be the ambition of all slide collectors to have at least one good example of every slide mounter in Bracegirdle. Voyager has quite a few and still searching.

No better guide has been or will be produced.

Now very hard to find and … who will compile another one?

$140.00

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Antique Microscope Slide – Spines of Echinus (Sea Urchin) c1865

Mid 19th Century slide from a quality maker likely Wheeler given the stunning gold and blood red paper cover.

Good example of spines of echinus (sea urchin) in deep mount.

Click on the image to see the whole slide

$40.00

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Microscope Slide – Paris Exhibition 1867 – Fantail Fly

A prize winning whole insect microscope slide from the Paris Exhibition of 1867.

Very collectable and in pretty good condition for a mid-Victorian item. Came from a collection assembled in Australia, at Port Fairy, in that era.

Click on the image to see the while slide. Near to 150 years old.

$60.00

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Ten Early Microscope Slides – Diatoms (including one Australian slide)

A uniform group of ten prepared microscope slides all in very good condition. Unknown preparer although Voyager finds the handwriting familiar possibly Norman of London late 19thC. Nice to have an Australian sample in the mix.

Diatoma Grande
Nitzschia Sigma
Fossil Shetland
Primary Peat
Surirella Nobilis
Fossil Bilin Bohemia
Ichaboe [Island off Namibia] Guano
Primary Peat (2)
Surirella Ovata
Coscinodiscus Yarra [Australia]

All annotated in strong cursive writing

Nice varied Diatom Collection

$150.00

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Collectable Marine Microscope Slides – From the 1860’s – Prepared by Edmund Wheeler – From a 19th Century Australian Collectionn

Edmund Wheeler was a leading mid Victorian microscope slide preparer now highly collectable – one of this group is dated 1866 and the others of identical preparation must be from around that time. Ernest Wheeler sold his business to Watson & Sons in 1884 and died the following year. So all EW slides must be over 130 years old

This group of five slides are in good condition and carry Wheeler’s distinctive yellow paper covering with burgundy and gold paper front cover with his “EW” monogram. Their condition is near perfect. They are from the collection of John Owen Evans a serious microscopist who lived in Port Fairy, Victoria and prepared slides of local subjects as well as purchasing top class London prepared slides through T Gaunt, Optician, who operated out of the Royal Arcade Melbourne.

The samples comprise:

Shells etc. from Chalk, Strood Hill Kent.
North Atlantic Soundings from 2 Miles deep 1866
Foramenifera from the Adriatic Sea
Foramenifera from the River Suir (Ireland)
Group of Heliopelta for Binocular

All annotated in Wheelers tidy cursive hand and carry the circular Wheeler address label – 48 Tollington Road, Holloway, London

Click on the image to see them all!

A very good Ernest Wheeler Group from an early Australian Collection

$160.00

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Thin Geological Section Microscope Slides -1913 – Set of Five

A group of five thin section slides from the UK, India and Iceland all nice samples, well labelled and in nice condition

Obsidian with spherulites from Iceland
(Spherulites are small rounded bodies that occur in vitreous igneous rocks such as obsidian)

Chert – Blue Limestone – Somerset
(This unusual blue coloured limestone is from a Lias Quarry in Shepton Mallet)

Chloritic Marl – Compton Abbas – Dorset
(Fossil containing bedrock to the chalk of southern England)

Anorthite from Salem South India
(A Gneiss rock structure from the Sittampundi Complex at Salem near Madras)

Augen Gneiss from Strahnaver, Sutherland, Scotland
(A Metamorphic rock which is clotted with flesh coloured feldspar “augen”)

A very good selection

$90.00

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Microscope Slides – Antique Prepared Collectable

Microscopical Mounts and Mounters – Brian Bracegirdle

Antique Microscope Slide – Spines of Echinus (Sea Urchin) c1865

Microscope Slide – Paris Exhibition 1867 – Fantail Fly

Ten Early Microscope Slides – Diatoms (including one Australian slide)

Collectable Marine Microscope Slides – From the 1860’s – Prepared by Edmund Wheeler – From a 19th Century Australian Collectionn

Thin Geological Section Microscope Slides -1913 – Set of Five

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