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Robert Bancks (II) Improved Pocket Microscope (No. 345) |
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Age: c1800 Made by: Robert Bancks Made in: London |
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Bancks
No 440 Strand London |
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| This is a small pocket microscope made by Robert Bancks II of London. The microscope body is mounted on a fruit wood carrying case. The support pillar doubles as the rack for the R&P focus. There is only one objective with this instrument, and it is screwed into a threaded cantilevered support. The stage is attached to the focus block. The glass stage insert is missing. The gimbal mirror is pined to the support pillar near the base. The support pillar is signed "Bancks No 440 Strand London", which puts the manufacture of this instrument sometime between 1795 and 1804. Included with this instrument is an original Instruction Manual and two hand-written itemized lists of samples. The microscope is approximately 11cm tall.
Robert Bancks II (1765–1841) was an optician working on the Strand in London between 1792 and 1830. Bancks' shops were at 440 Strand (1795–1804) and 441 Strand (1805–1830). He was the son of Robert Bancks I, a joiner of London. Robert II probably worked with his brother Anthony Oldiss, but separated from him by the time he moved into his shop at 440 Strand. The Bancks firm sold telescopes, theodolites, and microscopes. Robert Bancks II was designated optical and philosophical instrument maker to the Prince of Wales (until 1811), then Prince Regent (1811–1820), then King George IV (1820–1830), as well as the successor King William IV. Among Bancks' many customers were Charles Darwin and Robert Brown. Darwin took a Bancks microscope on his voyage of the Beagle. For a thorough discussion of Bancks see this site. Bancks may also be spelled "Banks". Microscope featured 01/2024 |
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