Can anyone identify this Leica item?

Karl K · Oct 16, 2019

Can anyone identify this Leica item?
I think it's an empty bottle for lubrication in the factory or for use with Leica Microscopes in the lab. There are three pieces: the glass bottle, the glass stopper, and the glass pipette.

Kino · Oct 16, 2019

Just venturing a guess: an immersion oil container for microscopes.

voceumana · Oct 16, 2019

Could just be a chemical solution storage bottle with dispenser. I doubt it is particularly specific to Leitz, just something they had branded.

railwayman3 · Oct 16, 2019

I'm guessing that it's to do with microscopes or microscopy. Perhaps something like a slide mountant which was within the inner container and warmed for use in hot water in the outer
bottle ? IIRC correctly from many years ago, there was a mountant called "glycerine jelly" used in this way, e.g. https://webpath.med.utah.edu/HISTHTML/MANUALS/GLYCERIN.PDF

AgX · Oct 16, 2019

The application stick housed in the stopper. That is interesting.

AgX · Oct 16, 2019

This is how that looks today:
https://www.thorlabs.com/images/GuideImages/5376_MOIL-30_MOIL-10LF_SGL.jpg

Arklatexian · Oct 16, 2019

Karl K said:
Can anyone identify this Leica item?
I think it's an empty bottle for lubrication in the factory or for use with Leica Microscopes in the lab. There are three pieces: the glass bottle, the glass stopper, and the glass pipette.

Not everything labeled "Leitz" is "Leica". Us Leica "buffs" have learned that before there were any "Leica" cameras, there were and are "Leitz" microscopes for which these were probably made. They too, are well regarded by people who use such things........Regards!

Dan Pavel · Oct 17, 2019

Leica magic potion bottle?

Karl K · Oct 17, 2019

A similar item (without the rubber top) was sold at auction several years ago in Vienna.
The hammer price was approximately $400.
It was described as: Leitz Laboratory Flask w/ glass stopper and pipette, 1930

There are actually four separate pieces:

glass flask
glass stopper
glass pipette
rubber top.

The shape consists of four trapezium shapes, each one embossed with "Leitz", on a base, approximately 2" in diameter.
The height is approximately 4".
Circa 1930, Wetzlar, Germany.

AgX · Oct 17, 2019

Dan Pavel said:
Leica magic potion bottle?

Leica magic price bottle

AgX · Oct 17, 2019

Karl, I do not want to spoil your business. But I hope you understand my remark. If that bottle was as we think it was, it unlikely is rare. Unless the others all haven been discarded or it was a very low production run.
On the other hand I could not find it a short glance on the net. But rare not necessarily means valuable.

Focomatter · Oct 17, 2019

This is a balsam bottle and they cost far less than $400!!! Balsam is used as a microscope slide mounting medium. The bottle can be used for other types as well so railwayman3 in post #4 is correct. BTW one needs to use very little immersion oil when using oil immersion objectives so this would be too crude a device for this use.
Tom

AgX · Oct 17, 2019

But balsom would leave a mess, thus residues on the old bottle. And I do not think that spade applicator is that much more crude than what I linked to as modern versions.
But anyway whatever it contained, it just seems a bottle/applicator in microscopy. I know there are people interested in historic microscope but I doubt the guys are as extreme as ours. And even on our field some Leica products are offerd for just a few Euros.
But Karl showed me wrong in this very case...

Focomatter · Oct 17, 2019

AgX said:
But balsom would leave a mess, thus residues on the old bottle. And I do not think that spade applicator is that much more crude than what I linked to as modern versions.
But anyway whatever it contained, it just seems a bottle/applicator in microscopy. I know there are people interested in historic microscope but I doubt the guys are as extreme as ours. And even on our field some Leica products are offerd for just a few Euros.
But Karl showed me wrong in this very case...

It is very clean - could have been cleaned with solvent or never used. One only should use one drop of immersion oil put exactly where you want to look on a microscope slide - immersion oil is messy and if too much is used can lead to leakage into an objective or so I have been told. One needs to add a drop as well to the top of the condenser lens in order to get the maximum resolution (numerical aperture) - this is a bit trickier to do, assuming a vertical microscope.

railwayman3 · Oct 18, 2019

It's a nice little thing, but I doubt it's worth a fortune. Leitz microscopes have always been of high quality, but. maybe because they are almost always spend their life as "standard workhorses" in research and medical laboratories , the microscopes and accessories don't seem to have the interest of the cameras, which can appeal to both collectors and users.

Karl K · Nov 13, 2019

railwayman3 said:
It's a nice little thing, but I doubt it's worth a fortune. Leitz microscopes have always been of high quality, but. maybe because they are almost always spend their life as "standard workhorses" in research and medical laboratories , the microscopes and accessories don't seem to have the interest of the cameras, which can appeal to both collectors and users.

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.
I just sold this item on eBay for $595 plus $43.50 shipping to a collector in Japan.
I guess anything with the name Leitz or Leica has value to a collector.

Kino · Nov 13, 2019

Wow! That's great! Guess everyone will be on the lookout for Leitz glass bottles!

AgX · Nov 13, 2019

Karl K said:
I guess anything with the name Leitz or Leica has value to a collector.

Luckily this is not the case. I got my Leitz projectors and resp. lenses for a few Euros each. Even my most expensive projector was only 20€.

Congratulations to your sale nontheless!

JensH · Nov 13, 2019

Karl K said:
Can anyone identify this Leica item?
I think it's an empty bottle for lubrication in the factory or for use with Leica Microscopes in the lab. There are three pieces: the glass bottle, the glass stopper, and the glass pipette.

Hi Karl,

nice find! Microscope - yes, but not for canada balsam or lubricates. This is a double bottle for immersion oil (inner flask with pipette) and a cleaning fluid for that (outer flask). So you have both at hand when using the usual oil immersion optics.
I have the same type of bottle as it was sold by Zeiss for their microscopes.

Best
Jens

AgX · Nov 13, 2019

Jens Hallfeldt said:
This is a double bottle for immersion oil (inner flask with pipette) and a cleaning fluid for that (outer flask).

I thought the hollow stem is just a container for the spade, to keep it safe of too much liquid (balsam).
I do not see any pipette, but just a spade.
If there were two fluids, two applicators would be needed. One applicator, for both an oil and a solvent does not make sense, as in no time the solvent would be contaminated by the oil.
I am puzzled.

BAC1967 · Nov 13, 2019

This is a bottle of Immersion Oil from around 1958. It doesn't have an applicator but any common eyedropper would work. This one came in the case with my 1958 Leitz SM Microscope, I have a fresh bottle that I actually use. I doubt it's worth anything near what the OP got for his which looks much older, probably 1800's.

Immersions-Oel by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

JensH · Nov 13, 2019

AgX said:
I thought the hollow stem is just a container for the spade, to keep it safe of too much liquid (balsam).
I do not see any pipette, but just a spade.
If there were two fluids, two applicators would be needed. One applicator, for both an oil and a solvent does not make sense, as in no time the solvent would be contaminated by the oil.
I am puzzled.

Hi AgX,

oops, I called the spade (in my case even a glas pin) a pipette - my mistake.

Here is a describtion of my bottle on p. 18:
www.mikroskop-online.de/Mikroskop%20BDA/30-400b-1.T%20%20Objektive%20und%20Okulare%20LG.pdf

To use the cleaning fluid it was given onto a piece of tissue to wipe the oil off the optics.

Best
Jens

guangong · Nov 14, 2019

$400 doesn’t sound outlandish for a collector. I live in an area with many antique auto restorers. I am not impressed by ancient upscale cars, but rather by old vehicles that would normally be junked. I was fascinated by a 1904 tow truck. A late good friend collected cars and, what I found more interesting, steam powered farm tractors. Dangerous to operate, most went to the junk yard when replaced by gasoline or diesel tractors. It’s the little throwaway items that are hard to find decades later.

Can anyone identify this Leica item?

Attachments

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency