What makes a microscope collectible?

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Scoper
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What makes a microscope collectible?

#1 Post by Scoper » Tue Feb 14, 2023 5:54 am

I have always had a strong interest in science with microscopy being one of the areas of interest.

On occasion I come across instruments that seem to priced rather high.. field scopes and brass/black scopes come to mind.

In the past I found that scopes followed me home..but for their capabilities rather than for uniqueness or investment potential.

So a question for the group… what makes a microscope collectible?

Looking forward to your comments.

Thanks

PeteM
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Location: N. California

Re: What makes a microscope collectible?

#2 Post by PeteM » Tue Feb 14, 2023 7:40 am

Collectors.

Scarodactyl
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Re: What makes a microscope collectible?

#3 Post by Scarodactyl » Tue Feb 14, 2023 8:55 am

I like old gem microscopes. I like them because they are functional pieces of gemological history, a tangible connection with a past ge eration and an older era, and they are nifty.

apochronaut
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Re: What makes a microscope collectible?

#4 Post by apochronaut » Tue Feb 14, 2023 9:56 am

PeteM wrote:
Tue Feb 14, 2023 7:40 am
Collectors.
Maybe someday there will be Functional MRI booths at pharmacies, similar to those photobooths they used to have.

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zzffnn
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Re: What makes a microscope collectible?

#5 Post by zzffnn » Tue Feb 14, 2023 1:44 pm

Hahaha, apo……

I oftentimes have use for rare vintage microscopy parts, though I hate paying collector prices or bid against real collectors. I also don’t have easy access to 3D printing and don’t have much resources for extensive DIY. Buying vintage parts at reasonable prices is my best bet.

So for me, it is oftentimes about how to avoid paying collector prices for the rare vintage microscopy parts that I want.

I am fortunate in that apochronaut and a few other microscopists have kindly helped me many times in my searches.

I would still want a reverse condenser iris and an objective nose (Davis) shutter, if anyone wants to offload them at good prices :mrgreen: together they can produce poor man’s DIC effect for cheap.

lorez2
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Re: What makes a microscope collectible?

#6 Post by lorez2 » Tue Feb 14, 2023 9:32 pm

In my case the microscopes i collected were those I encountered along the way. I will admit to purchasing a couple that would have never crossed my day-to-day path, but were interesting in one way or another. I have a couple from the colleges I attended (I did not steal them) and the one I used at my first real job. Each one holds a small memory of something or someone.

lorez
Nikon 80i

BramHuntingNematodes
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Location: Georgia, USA

Re: What makes a microscope collectible?

#7 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Tue Feb 14, 2023 10:43 pm

If it's in good shape and has all its original parts, so none in my collection
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

Sure Squintsalot
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Re: What makes a microscope collectible?

#8 Post by Sure Squintsalot » Wed Feb 15, 2023 12:01 am

I can't get my hands on anything "collectible". There always seems to be a security guard nearby eyeing me suspiciously.

AntoniScott
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Re: What makes a microscope collectible?

#9 Post by AntoniScott » Thu Feb 16, 2023 3:42 pm

The short answer is "whatever you want it to be"
I have a small collection of vintage microscopes. My best microscope is a Seibert (the precursor to Leitz) probably manufactured around 1900 or before. It is a superb example of Victorian/Edwardian period precision. The brass fitiings, etc are all made to a level of precision that is surprising to me, even today. The scope has three objectives and two different eyepieces. Although the optics hace deteriorated over the last 120+ years, one of the objectives seems to have survided the ravages of time. Optically the image quality is superb although at that time I guess flat field objectives were not yet produced. One of the objectives is an oil immersion so the limits of light transmission must have been known.
The other microscopes in my collection are the entry level low to high end amateur microscopes from Lafayette Radio and Electronics from the late 1950's. The microscopes were all manufactured in Japan by a few microscope makers and rebranded. Image quality is decent considering the cost and were superior to many onf the toy microscopes that were being made available. Although not of the precison and quality of the vintage microscope, I consider them to be collectable because of the high impact they had when introduced. Literally thousand of them were available.

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