Featured Early 20th 18k Yellow Gold Lorgnette Opera Glasses - Stamped

Good morning. Yes I know these are tortoiseshell and it will be a problem with selling but I need to know if anyone recognizes the hallmark? I though originally it was French then saw the stamp and thought Edinburgh. Tested as 18k strongly!
Thank you so much!

 

Small expansion of the mark.

 

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That is not Edinburgh. I'm back to French, plated.

 

Agreed.

 

Agree, plated, and oh so pretty!
Laura, just out of curiosity, how long is this?

 

https://vatican.com/Optical-Lorgnette-Opera-Glasses/

 

Approx. length 4.25 inches closed. (Cited from: https://www.antiquers.com/threads/e...tte-opera-glasses-stamped.67662/#post-4372695)

 

I agree that some areas look plated with copper coming through. The jewelers document stated 18k yellow gold. I only tested a small piece and didn't do a deep scratch on the stone because these are so fragile. There is a word about the hallmark - ends in an 's' or '3'. Might have to remain a mystery.

 

Thanks, that's a substantial size!
Nope, don't damage the surface. I think the scratches on the inside make it look plated, no idea if it is or not. Often it's gold plating when the gold is "too yellow" but then it's usually easier to see a portion that's obviously plated. It's a beautiful pair of opera glasses!

 

Lorgnette spectacles. Not opera glasses. Just really, really fancy spectacles. Likely gold-filled.

 

Thanks, Shangas

 

In the 1700s and 1800s, being seen wearing spectacles was HIGHLY unfashionable. For that reason, most corrective lenses were small and unobtrusive.

That's why you had stuff like monocles, quizzers, and lorgnettes, or pince-nez. Little things that could be whipped out, used, and then hidden away again.

Spectacles with folding arms as we know them today DID exist as far back as the early 1800s, but they weren't common. It wasn't until the later Victorian era that people started wearing spectacles openly, as they do nowadays, when the stigma about needing corrective lenses started to die away.

 

Interesting info.