1870s Folding Tabletop Stereo Photo Viewer / Stereoviewer / Graphoscope For Sale

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This beautiful, large size, dual-purpose, Stereo/ CDV Photograph Viewer is made of high quality fruitwood with all external surfaces featuring elaborately grained and highly French Polished wood veneer. It was made to use as a tabletop viewer and it folds down to form a somewhat shallow box for storage. The base measures 14” long by 8 3/4” wide and when folded for storage the viewer measures 3 1/2” thick.

The top surface / frame that holds the viewing lenses features elaborate cast brass, reticulated and engraved corner decorations similar to escutcheons. There is also a blank “plaque” similar in design to the corner decorations that is mounted above the pair of stereoview viewing lenses that could be engraved with an owner’s monogram. This panel features both a large, circular magnifying lens for viewing card mount photographs that measures 6 1/2” in diameter as well as a pair of 2 1/4 inch diameter lenses for viewing Stereoviews.

The top panel can be locked in an upright position for use or laid down for storage and the stage on which both the lens panel and the card holder are mounted can be secured at various angles using the hinged prop in the base of the Viewer. There are 4, somewhat elaborate cast brass feet - one on each corner of the base of the viewer and a pair of elaborate cast brass escutcheons that surround the locks that secure the top panel to the central stage and that stage to the base when the Viewer is closed for storage. Please see the numerous scans below for a good representation of the design and the beautiful details of this outstanding Tabletop Photograph Viewer.

The Viewer is an elaborately decorated variation of the Roswell Patent Stereographoscope that was patented by Charles J. Roswell on February 1, 1864. The example offered here is unsigned by the manufacturer but is similar in design to those produced in the 1870’s and early 1880’s.

This rare and beautiful, Stereo-Graphoscope, Tabletop Viewer is in very good condition overall. All parts and all of the optics are original and the Viewer functions as manufactured. The Viewer retains its original, adjustable photograph holder, its original lenses and all of the original props used to hold the elements in place. The highly decorative and finely crafted, cast brass detail elements of the Viewer are all present and in very good condition. There is a small piece of the quarter round, wood molding that frames the large viewing lens that is lacking and there is a split in this molding directly across from the area of the missing piece (see the scans below). There are also cracks in the wooden eyepieces surrounding the lenses used to view stereoviews again, as can be seen in the scans below. The bottom of the base of the viewer features 2 wooden panels (original) which have experienced some shrinkage resulting in a space between these two pieces of wood. The Viewer retains its original, highly polished finish and this finish is well preserved on all of the upper surfaces. There is some water damage to the finish in the area of one of the brass feet and some light wear to the finish on the side panels of the base section of the Viewer. There is also a chip at the right hand rear corner of the base near the brass foot. These are all minor flaws which are surely restorable by a quality woodworker adept at the restoration of antique furniture and accessories. The Viewer displays beautifully is is certainly the largest and most elaborately detailed example of this type of Tabletop Viewer we have ever come across..

We have made no attempt to clean or polish the Viewer and offer it here, "as found".

A very rare and very beautiful, 19th century Tabletop Stereoviewer / Stereo-Graphoscope and a fantastic addition to any collection!!!

Be sure to check out this seller’s other sales for a number of 19th and early 20th century Stereoscopes / Stereoviewers and Views which are also being offered for sale this week on !!

Overseasshippping is extra and cost will be quoted at buyers request. Massachusetts residents must add 6.25% sales tax.

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Important Notes about Shipping Charges:

The amount quoted for Shipping & Handling is calculated by and is equal to the EXACT amount charged by the Post Office plus a $1.00 "packing fee" - the $1.00 fee is our only compensation for the virgin packing materials we use on all of our professionally packaged boxes as well as our cost for the salaried help that does most of our packing - as I am sure you can see, we make NO profit on the Shipping charges and, in fact, our costs are usually greater than the $1.00 fee. Please contact us if there are any issues regarding the cost of shipping.

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This item has been shown 317 times. 1870s Folding Tabletop Stereo Photo Viewer / Stereoviewer / Graphoscope: $372