I would like some prepared slides.

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DWSmith
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2022 12:07 pm

I would like some prepared slides.

#1 Post by DWSmith » Sun Dec 04, 2022 7:51 pm

I'm just getting started and would like to buy some prepared slides. Can you suggest a source? I'm not looking for anything particularly exotic or expensive. Just some slides to get practice with my microscopes, i.e., beginner to intermediate set(s).

Thanks,
Daniel

Phill Brown
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Joined: Mon May 24, 2021 1:19 pm
Location: Devon UK.

Re: I would like some prepared slides.

#2 Post by Phill Brown » Sun Dec 04, 2022 9:57 pm

eBay is good, prices fluctuate so don't pay over the odds.

PeteM
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Location: N. California

Re: I would like some prepared slides.

#3 Post by PeteM » Mon Dec 05, 2022 12:11 am

The AmScope quickly-prepared-in-China sets are incredibly cheap at under $1 a slide. Available on Amazon and sometimes even cheaper used on Ebay. You should have low expectations. They won't be prepared particularly well and a majority of the slides will likely have mounting medium defects that show up under polarization or darkfield.

That said, they're a cheap way to get a sense of what things look like at magnification, to get used to quickly dealing with oil immersion, to find what fascinates you, and so on. They come in sets of 25, 50, or 100 and by sheer luck you'll probably find a few that are thinly cut, properly mounted, and a delight. There are some classics I've bought in lots of 50 and like to hand out - for example onion root tip slides showing chromosomes lining up for mitosis.

Another source are slide sets meant for teaching biology in home schools. Indeed, there's a tiny industry devoted to "proving" intelligent design is behind our 6000+ year old world via home schooling texts, slide selections, etc. These slides, if not the accompanying texts, are sometimes of a bit better quality.

Some of the scientific distributors (Wards, Triarch, Fisher, etc.) have extensive libraries of education-oriented slides more in the $10-$18 range each. These usually pretty well prepared. Used ones, as suggested earlier, can often be more affordable on Ebay.

Particularly in the UK, there is a near-cult following for antique slides prepared by various masters. These slides, even a century or more old, often image better than mass-produced ones in cheap sets; but also cost $20 to $100 or more. Some will reflect an entirely different culture of that time - hours spent painstakingly and fantastically arranging diatoms, human foetal sections, microphotographs, micro mementos from exotic trips and so on. Let you budget be your guide to these - these often attract several well-heeled bidders but some amazing slides sometimes slip through without much interest.

Other sets, particularly for human pathology, will show up on Ebay. Some are teaching sets out of colleges and others might be from a retired doctor's patients. I ended up with a couple hundred cancer diagnosis slides from a US Air Force doctor stationed in Germany after WWII.

Then again, you'll find specialties. The lifetime collection of a petroleum geologist went up on Ebay a year or so ago. Here we see the progression of buried organic material turning to fossil fuels.

FWIW, I'm looking for a sliced section of meteorite that looks cool under polarized light for our Micronaut program. Hoping it's a way to think about the universe and a sort of bridge from Micro(nauts) to Astro(nauts). If anyone has a cabinet full of these and one to spare, I'm up for a trade or a reasonable buy.
Last edited by PeteM on Mon Dec 05, 2022 12:26 am, edited 2 times in total.

BramHuntingNematodes
Posts: 1538
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:29 am
Location: Georgia, USA

Re: I would like some prepared slides.

#4 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Mon Dec 05, 2022 12:24 am

I have an extensive set of a few hundred slides from the everglades and Okefenokee from the estate of an palynologist this way . Fascinating, but make sure what you're getting is labeled!
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

apochronaut
Posts: 6272
Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 12:15 am

Re: I would like some prepared slides.

#5 Post by apochronaut » Mon Dec 05, 2022 1:53 am

India retained a considerable amount of formerly British obsessions after Britain separated the country and vamoosed. They still repair Morris Minors to immaculate condition as routine, excel in Cricket and serve Cream Teas.
A better place to obtain better prepared slides at an acceptable cost, than China by far.

DWSmith
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2022 12:07 pm

Re: I would like some prepared slides.

#6 Post by DWSmith » Mon Dec 05, 2022 10:23 am

Thanks for the great replies!

Daniel

mikemarotta
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2022 1:27 am
Location: Texas
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Re: I would like some prepared slides.

#7 Post by mikemarotta » Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:24 am

Yes, thanks, especially to Pete M.
I bought several different sets of slides from AmScope and I was dismayed at the mounting. I understood immediately the what and why. As PeteM said, these are mass-produced on the cheap with little regard for quality control. So, I went shopping at the scientific supply companies.

Thomas Scientific 19 Histology Slides $53.50
Thomas Scientific General Biology 6 slides $34.35
Carolina Scientific Beginner's Human Tissue Set of 15 (and manual booklet) $152
Carolina Scientific Malignant Tissues Set of 11 $101
IHCWorld Human Cerebellum 5 slides $145

McKesson does not want anything to do with consumers.

I also looked for slides on the websites other hobby retailers, New York Microscope and Microscope Central.

I have not made any new purchases, however.

Best Regards,
Mike M.
-----------------------------
Michael E. Marotta
Technical Writer

dtsh
Posts: 977
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 6:06 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: I would like some prepared slides.

#8 Post by dtsh » Fri Jan 06, 2023 4:17 am

I have some slides from Triarch, both from the past and some recent ones of arthropods which are of good quality if perhaps a bit thick (the arthropods).
Unless you're looking for specific examples it's probably cheaper to get a collection off ebay.

Tom Jones
Posts: 336
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 3:47 pm

Re: I would like some prepared slides.

#9 Post by Tom Jones » Sun Jan 08, 2023 3:54 am

Triarch are nice, US made teaching slides that are still being made. Generally hard to beat for quality and range of subjects. Pretty pricey new though: https://www.triarchincorporated.com/

apochronaut
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Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 12:15 am

Re: I would like some prepared slides.

#10 Post by apochronaut » Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:27 am

One major defect of modern cheap prepared slides is the uniformity of staining. Stains are supposed to highlight inclusions and certain cellu!ar functional organelles. Cheap staining does neither. Look for older quality prepared slides. I agree that Triarch are very good. Indian made as new too. You have to look carefully into what you are offered.

mikemarotta
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Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2022 1:27 am
Location: Texas
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Re: I would like some prepared slides.

#11 Post by mikemarotta » Thu Jan 12, 2023 2:51 am

dtsh wrote:
Fri Jan 06, 2023 4:17 am
I have some slides from Triarch, both from the past and some recent ones of arthropods which are of good quality if perhaps a bit thick (the arthropods).
Unless you're looking for specific examples it's probably cheaper to get a collection off ebay.
Thanks for the recommendation to Triarch. I went to their website and was impressed.

I also have been to McKesson, Carolina Scientific, and others. Triarch seems to be what I am looking for.

Mike M.
-----------------------------
Michael E. Marotta
Technical Writer

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