MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

The antique cabinet, from this post: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5886, with slides arrived this week. The seller packed the cabinet really well but did not do anything to the slides or trays to keep them from flying around during shipment. Surprisingly they came through in very good shape with some slides in the trays shifting around but no breakage. The cabinet, with its 36 trays of 12 can hold up to 432 slides. It came with 413 slides, so just missing 19. I was able to fill the gaps with some antique slides I already had. Of the 413 specimen slides, there were 12 trays of diatoms (of which I was most intereseted in), three tray of foramins, radiolaria, shells and sand. The rest were insects, botanicals, animal and human sections, bacteria and diseases and chemical/fiber slides for polarization.

Here is the cabinet and trays after a bit of cleaning and sorting:

And here are some of the diatoms slides taken on the B&L SZ7 and Canon T3i. A few did not have any information of who the mounters were but some really nice arrangements: And a Foramin slide:

Looking forward to see more of them. The cabinet is so elegant! And the diatom slides- takes a lot of patience and motivation and talent to create them!

Fantastic microscopy master technique housed in that fantastic wood case, thanks for sharing, Charles. I have to ask: did you do local pick up, or did the postal system work out with no heart breaks?

Any sense of time frame of the slides fabrication? Is there a sense of this being US, or craftwork from other side of the pond? Is that elegant wooden case a 'one of a kind crafted cabinet, or was this quite a standard cabinet for these microtechnique gems?

The images you show us here...fantastic master crafts work...again any sense of the vintage of these slides..or is it a variety of time frames of their fabrication?

thanks, Charles..wonderful collection of such quality..it would be great to learn the history of it all! Charlie guevara

Hi Charles,
it is nice to see that this wonderful slide collection has come into good hands.
I'm sure that you will spend a lot of time enjoying these slides.
Apart from the slides themselves this is master class woodwork.
I'm no beginner in woodworking, but I would think twice before starting such a project - there are so many parts and so many joints and there is not much room for seasonal movement of the wood.

Was it possible to get some information about the previous owner?

Bob

Beautiful find!

Congratulations, Charles! That looks like a great deal for those beautiful slides.

What kind of micro shell do you have on slides, Charles? Would it be difficult to show a few photos?

Do they look like those in Pensacola sand: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3697&p=33430&hilit= ... ell#p33430

Kurt and I are both seashell collectors.

Not only a beautiful cabinet but a treasure trove as well. Excellent find!

I'm greeeeeeeeeen with envy!!

I'd say that was a steal! Were you wearing a mask at the time?

Really wonderful purchase and the arranged diatoms/forams slides could very well be sold for much more than you paid for the whole thing! Am I jealous? Not really...

Looking forward to your continued reporting on what you find in that treasure chest. I have one Eberbach slide cabinet that can hold 500 slides and is a very nice piece of furniture, but yours, at that price, with those slides, is truly a find. Congratulations!

Thank you all for your comments. I am very pleased with this cabinet and slides. I have two other slide cabinets. One is an all steel cabinet with steel trays made by Spencer, and the other has the wood cabinet with tin trays. But this all wood one is my new favorite!

To answer some of the questions:

Yes, this cabinet with slides were shipped UPS with no noticeable damage. Even the slides, which were let in their trays came through fine even though some of the slides shifted around during shipment.

I don't think this was a one-of-a-kind cabinet and was probably produced for schools. But the craftsmanship seem to be excellent with tongue and grove fittings, made with two different types of wood for a nice contrast. Some slides are labelled as coming from UK and Germany.

Date-wise, the slides mostly range in date from 1876 to early 1930's. A lot are not dated but judging from the condition and color or the labels, they probably all date in that range.

I'll post some of the other slides as well as the mini-shells for Fan.

Hi Charles,

You could spend months viewing your wonderful collection!... Great find!...

BillT

Here is a link to a decent looking slide file system on Ebay.. It is made from cardboard it looks like.. I don't see why a person could not make one by folding cardboard??.. looks simple enough...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Microscope-Sli ... SwQfpZtlLc

BillT

Hi Bill,

I also use these cardboard slide holders as temporary slide holders: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Microscope-Sli ... 1438.l2649, and one could just put these in a box. I only use them as temporary...as in slides I'm currently working with, because they lose a lot of paper fiber which finds its say onto the slides.

Charles wrote:Hi Bill,

I also use these cardboard slide holders as temporary slide holders: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Microscope-Sli ... 1438.l2649, and one could just put these in a box. I only use them as temporary...as in slides I'm currently working with, because they lose a lot of paper fiber which finds its say onto the slides.

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the tip!...

BillT

zzffnn wrote:What kind of micro shell do you have on slides, Charles? Would it be difficult to show a few photos?

Do they look like those in Pensacola sand: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3697&p=33430&hilit= ... ell#p33430

Kurt and I are both seashell collectors.

For Fan, some micro-shells and sand.

Micro-shells from the Philippines: Sand and Radiolaria from Bermuda: Oyster embryo: Sand from Barbados:

billbillt wrote:

Charles wrote:Hi Bill,

I also use these cardboard slide holders as temporary slide holders: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Microscope-Sli ... 1438.l2649, and one could just put these in a box. I only use them as temporary...as in slides I'm currently working with, because they lose a lot of paper fiber which finds its say onto the slides.

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the tip!...

BillT

Here are a couple of my inexpensive slide storage options. The top one is the 20 slide holders in it's own storage box with the front flips open when the top is off, just like the one you pointed out. The bottom is some 20 slide holders just in a cardboard box. Both inexpensive options.

The three slide storage cabinets:

The left I think is the oldest one with wood cabinet with tin slide trays.
The middle is an all metal cabinet made by Spencer Buffalo.
The one one right is my latest all wood addition.

Thanks Charles for posting this.... I see it as a viable way for slide storage...

The Best,
BillT

I have never seen the Spencer type... A good find....

Thank you very much, Charles.

Re: Micro-shells from the Philippines
These are common shells from Philippines (you can still find them nowadays), the round one is a nerita. The rest may be dove shells.

Re: sand and Radiolaria from Bermuda:
Very beautiful!

Re: Oyster embryo:
Very interesting! I wonder how mounter preserved those fragile subjects so well.

Re: Sand from Barbados:
The shells at 12, 2, 5 and 7 o'clock positions were found in Pensacola sand as well.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3697&p=33430&hilit= ... ell#p33430

Fan, Most of these slides with the shells and foramin are mounted on slides with a ringed top to hold the coverglass off the specimen so as not to crush delicate specimens..

Charles,

Sorry to dig up an old thread but it's a thread worth looking at again! Very nice cabinets and slide collection!

I think I have the larger version of your cabinet. Mine has 210 drawers and holds 2520 slides. Unfortunately I'm missing a few of the drawers but I am going to make replacements. Not looking forward to making 130 of them but I may farm out the center section to speed up the process or I might simply make them as needed according to how my collection grows. Anyway the cabinet was sold by Arthur H Thomas Co in Philadelphia. I haven't found a catalog with this exact model but I think it was made early in 1900. I know at least some.lab suppliers were already selling wood cabinets with aluminum drawers in the early 30's. Regards,
Kirby

Hi Kirby,

That's a great looking slide cabinet! I would love to find something like that.

Thanks Charles.
It was a lucky find. In spite of the missing drawers it currently holds just under 1000 slides and of course serves as a curio cabinet or book shelf. I think I paid about $200 which was well worth it to me.

I also have a cabinet that I've been building out of walnut. It was supposed to have 30 drawers but halfway through building them I found out I was allergic to walnut dust! Rebuilding my shop with better dust control now! Hopefully I can get back to it soon!

Anyone here build their own specimen cabinet? It would be neat to see what others have come up with.

Kirby

What a beauty!.
The experience and the knowledge could one day bring us closer to an experience of this quality, a true beauty.

Thank you

I have two of those slide cabinets, inherited from my Grandfather. Pretty sure they are from the first quarter of the twentieth century. I have one key that fits both and it is marked Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. The wooden slide cabinet shown in my 1922 B&L catalog has metal drawers.

Wow those a great cabinets and it looks like their full! Very good of your Grandfather to those for you!

It's possible the cabinets were made buy a third party and branded with various manufactures names.

You have what looks like a great collection! Thanks for sharing!

Kirby

mckay3d, Very nice. They look identical to mine...look at the first photo in this post.