Rare "Grimatiscope" Binocular Viewer, c. 1870

Jules Duboscq, Paris. Patented French binocular viewer for creating distorted images from photographs, with spring motor (working well) and aspherical lens, ht. 5 in., with signed fixed image, two screws on reverse without caps, key present, in working order. - Note: Named after the Greek word "grimatsa" (French "grimace" or English "grin"), this extremely rare viewer is a precursor of the so-called "Photographic Transformists" described by Louis Ducos du Hauron in 1889. A carte-de-visite (with a head as large as possible) is inserted into the back while a rotating aspherical lens transforms the photo of approx. 64 x 64 mm into an amusing distortion. The effect can be heightened by moving the overlapping part of the photograph by hand. The viewer, one of only three examples we know of, was a reaction to the enormous success of the development of the carte-de-visite format by Disdéri. - Literature: Aaron Scharf, "Art and Photography", 1975, p. 233 ff.; Paul Wing, "Stereoscopes", 1996. - The C.d.V. shown here is for demonstration purposes only.

布雷克拍品等级是为了方便竞买人判断拍卖品的成色而设置的。布雷克等级用1到6级来标注外观和功能的成色，(从非常好到非常差)。 在目录图册里用括号里的2个数字来表示，前一个数字表示外观成色的级别，后一个数字表示功能成色的级别。如(3/2)表示外观成色是3(满意的)，功能成色2(好)。 成色 定义参照下列标准： 1 - 非常好 (未使用过，没有使用痕迹) 2 - 好 (新，极少的使用痕迹) 3 - 满意的 (普通的使用痕迹) 4 - 及格的 (明显的使用痕迹，某个非主要部件是后配的) 5 - 有缺陷的 (极明显的使用痕迹, 某个主要部件是后配的，功能上有缺陷，需要修理) 6 - 非常差 (严重破损, 缺少重要部件)