What a spectacle

I was going through an old box of bits and bobs (or bits and bats if you prefer) and I came across this

The firm of Dollond and Aitchison is a well-known chain of opticians, although it has now been absorbed by Boots. Dollonds started in 1750, but the Aitchison side of the partnership was much younger, it was started in 1889… so I know that this case was made between then and 1927 when the two firms merged. The firm of Aitchison, started by James Aitchison,  traded at Poultry, London which can just be made out on the case. There is still an opticians there, Boots, 5, Poultry, London.

Open the case:

This slightly damaged pair of pince-nez may have had a chain or lorgnette attached to the loop you can see in the bottom right of the lens. This pair has lost one of its nose supports but the other still has its cushion.

I don’t know where they came from, I know they have been in the family since I was a child and I suspect they came from my mother’s side… maybe they belonged to the original Lois, my great-grandmother.