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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope
29 (R Field
& Son; student microscope; c. 1860) Robert Field,
Senior, was born in about 1787, in Birmingham, England, and was recorded as
being an optician on all of his children’s christening records. Philip
Carpenter (1776-1833) opened an optical and scientific instrument shop in
about 1808 in Birmingham and his heirs sold it to Robert Field, Senior, in
1837. The business became Robert Field and Son in 1845. The firm
traded from 113 New Street, Birmingham, from 1845 until 1851, and then from
Suffolk Street until well after 1863. The 1851 census found the whole family
at the New Street location. Robert Field, Sr., died in 1851 and the business
was thereafter operated by Robert Field, Junior, as “R. Field and Son”.
Robert Field, Jr. probably sold the business in the early 1870s and died in
1883, at the age of only 54 years old. R. Field & Son is primarily known
for the prize they won from the Society of Arts in 1855. The Society of Arts,
in London, requested applications for two different microscope types and
Field was awarded the top prize for each (Figure 1). One prize was for a
compound student microscope to be provided for 3 Guineas or less. The
other award was for a mechanically and optically simple school
microscope, to be provided for 10 shillings, 6 pence, or less. R. Field and
Son also sold a compound version of the school microscope, which
presumably sold for a higher price. The pattern of Field’s student
prize-winning compound microscope became immensely popular and was widely
copied by other manufacturers, being known as the Society of Arts
pattern. In addition, the Field businesses produced more complex, expensive
microscopes, and a wide variety of other scientific and mathematical
instruments. Microscope 29 is a
version of the R Field & Son’s student microscope that won the Society of
Arts award in 1855. The microscope is signed on the base with ‘R Field
& Son, Opticians, New Street, Birmingham’ and can be dated to c.
1860. Figure 1. R Field & Son’s
microscopes that were awarded by the Society of Arts: compound student
microscope (left) and simple school microscope (right) as pictured on the W.B.
Carpenter’s 1868 edition of ‘The Microscope and Its Revelations’. References Robert Field (http://microscopist.net/FieldR.html),
last accessed on 13.08.2020 Bar Limb Microscope; Maker: Robert Field & Son;
Model: 'Society of Arts Prize' Microscope (https://www.microscope-antiques.com/soa.html),
last accessed on 13.08.2020 Microscopio Robert Field & Son Opticians (https://sites.google.com/site/coleccionguillermocrovetto/home/ingleses/r-field),
last accessed on 13.08.2020 R. Field & Son, "Society of Arts"
Microscope ~1850 (https://www.microscopehistory.com/field--son-society-of-arts),
last accessed on 13.08.2020 R. Field & Son compound microscope (https://www.bononiaemicroscope.com/en/the-microscopes/england/92-r-field-son-compound-microscope.html),
last accessed on 02.02.2021 LAST EDITED: 28.08.2020 |