What is it? Really?

[JPD]

Look at this wooden thingy, with a magnifying glass, on eBay: 280245546036 (The auction has ended, so you must log in).

The seller claims that it is a viewer for plates, but is it really? If you put a plate in it and close the lid, I suspect you can't see much...

 

[Ian Grant]

There's a grooved bit that holds the plate up-right, see top left photo, and a simple viewing lens. It's probably a cheap viewer for lantern slides.

Ian

 

[Akki14]

Why would you want to close the lid? It has a slot to hold a plate parallel to the magnifying glass as far as i can see.

ah Ian beat me to the punch there

 

[Ian Grant]

I'm 2 hrs ahead of you Heather, it's not so early in the morning

Ian

 

[JPD]

Ah! I didn't notice the slot.

 

[athanasius80]

I bet its a graphoscope. See the following link.
http://www.eyeantiques.com/ViewingInstruments/Graphoscope.htm
Chris

 

[rwbill]

It is indeed a graphoscope. I have one, a more sophisticated model which in addition to the large magnifying glass has below it two viewing lenses. Its purpose was to view stereo photographs in a collection of medical textbook plates. The plate holder moves back and forth for focusing; the magnifying glass enlarges the accompanying text.