MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hello, I was walking around my local outdoor market and found of all things two vintage Leitz microscopes. One is from around 1930 and the other is from around 1960. The newer one has Leitz objectives while the older one has a different brand that I cannot identify. They simply have a company logo and are German made. If anyone can help identify the lenses or provide any information or sources on these microscopes would be greatly appreciated. I'm new to collecting microscopes and these are actually the first ones I've purchased for my own collection and use at home.

Hello,

Here is a link to a page that might be of help to you...

http://earth2geologists.net/Microscopes/LeitzScopes.htm

The Best,
BillT

billbillt wrote:Hello,

Here is a link to a page that might be of help to you...

http://earth2geologists.net/Microscopes/LeitzScopes.htm

The Best,
BillT

Thank you very much that was a great read.

I think the objectives have been swapped . The black Leitz microscope would originally have had somewhat different objectives than the ones you have branded Leitz but the tube length and the parfocal length of the objectives you do have are perfectly in keeping with that stand. They may have been replacement objectives.

I do not think the hammered silver stand to be a Leitz. It has some similarities to some other stands, also made in the area of Leitz : Hacker, Hertel & Reuss, Will and others. The objectives with the S on them are Seibert, who apparently made the objectives for a number of companies, including those above. The S objectives, belong on the hammered silver stand, which might be a Hertel & Reuss.

Changed my mind on that. I did a little research and the hammered silver stand, is a Leitz student microscope. On the top of the focus block there should be Leitz written. Couldn't find the model out , though.

apochronaut wrote:I think the objectives have been swapped . The black Leitz microscope would originally have had somewhat different objectives than the ones you have branded Leitz but the tube length and the parfocal length of the objectives you do have are perfectly in keeping with that stand. They may have been replacement objectives.

I do not think the hammered silver stand to be a Leitz. It has some similarities to some other stands, also made in the area of Leitz : Hacker, Hertel & Reuss, Will and others. The objectives with the S on them are Seibert, who apparently made the objectives for a number of companies, including those above. The S objectives, belong on the hammered silver stand, which might be a Hertel & Reuss.

Changed my mind on that. I did a little research and the hammered silver stand, is a Leitz student microscope. On the top of the focus block there should be Leitz written. Couldn't find the model out , though.

Yes the silver stand does say Leitz right where you said it would and thank you very much for the informtion on the lenses. I could not figure out who made them. I figured the black microscope had replacement objectives on them as they seem much newer than the stand itself. I'm not sure if that's the case but it looks like it. I've been cleaning them up today as they where dirty and everything seems to be in great shape at least functionally. I made up some slides and got nice clean images out of both microscopes with all of the objectives. It's very different using these old simple ones compared to the fancy new microscopes I'm used to using but I'm having a lot of fun doing it. Again thank you for the help identifying the objectives and the stand.