The Darwin Family microscope achieves $791,816 - A world auction record for a 19th century microscope
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, November 22, 2024


The Darwin Family microscope achieves $791,816 - A world auction record for a 19th century microscope
The Darwin Family Microscope: A Gould-type microscope by Cary, with accessories in original mahogany box. Estimate: £250,000-£350,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.



LONDON.- The only Darwin Microscope to have ever been offered at auction was sold in Christie’s Valuable Books & Manuscripts auction on 15 December 2021, achieving £598,500 / $791,816 / €702,041. The Gould-type microscope by Cary (estimate: £250,000 – 350,000) was gifted by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) to his son Leonard Darwin (1850-1943) in 1864. It had since passed by descent through the family for nearly 200 years.

James Hyslop, Head of Department, Scientific Instruments, Globes & Natural History, Christie’s: “The Charles Darwin Family microscope achieved a record price for a 19th century microscope at auction, and we would like to thank the Darwin Family for entrusting Christie’s with this hugely important piece of scientific history. The microscope was acquired for the successful collector through Gurr Johns advisory, who hopes many more Darwin enthusiasts will be able to enjoy the microscope on display in a public institution in the future.”

Charles Darwin’s research career began with his investigation into the sea creatures being dredged up from Scotland’s Firth of Forth while trying to avoid his medical studies at the University of Edinburgh. Darwin’s studies of these strange ‘zoophytes’ began in 1826 and reached a successful conclusion in the spring of 1827, when he presented his first scientific paper to the University’s Plinian Society. These dates coincide with the appearance of the present microscope on the market, which was designed by Charles Gould for the firm Cary around 1825. Of the six surviving microscopes associated with Charles Darwin, four are known to have been acquired later (two in 1831, one each in 1847 and around 1848), and the other cannot be used for studying marine invertebrates. In this early research Darwin was contributing to Robert Grant’s radical reinterpretation of the animal kingdom, in which apparently simple creatures – like the ‘zoophytes’ – were understood to be at the beginning of a natural order that led up to Homo sapiens. This preoccupation with the ‘first’ creatures was picked up again by Darwin in the crucial period during and immediately following the Beagle Voyage.

On the Beagle Voyage Darwin is known to have used one of the microscopes now preserved at Down House. The other early microscopes at Down are a small botanical microscope, and another instrument by Cary. Darwin’s barnacle researches were largely carried out with the large Smith and Beck compound microscope now held at the Whipple Museum. The final known microscope is the ‘prototype’ of Darwin’s own modified aquatic microscope, which went into production by Smith and Beck in the 1840s.










Today's News

December 17, 2021

Minyades: Richard Höglund's Breakthrough Exhibition at The Bonnier Gallery

Construction begins on a new home for the Princeton University Art Museum designed by Sir David Adjaye

Andrew Jones Auctions announces results of "Part 2 of the John Nelson Collection"

Brooklyn Museum announces nearly 500 recent acquisitions and gifts

Lidewij de Koekkoek appointed new Director of Frans Hals Museum

The Bodleian Libraries and Jane Austen's House acquire prized Jane Austen letters

The Renaissance women who painted against the odds

The Darwin Family microscope achieves $791,816 - A world auction record for a 19th century microscope

'Vivian Maier Developed,' an intimate biography of a very private photographer

Bruce Springsteen sells music catalog in massive deal

Largest private mineral collection finds a new home at Queensland Museum

Nile Rodgers Collection sold to benefit We Are Family Foundation totals $1,640,500 and 100% sold by lot

Phillips announces new headquarters in Hong Kong's West Kowloon

Art Fund Museum of the Year 2022 open for application

When the show doesn't go on: Broadway is rattled by COVID cancellations

NGV International opens "Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala in Northeast Arnhem Land"

BRAFA opens a new chapter in its history

Paul Holberton publishes "A History of Arcadia in Art and Literature"

That viral Harry Styles cardigan just got auctioned as an NFT

New Caillebotte acquisition Young Man at His Window now on view at Getty

Met Opera to mandate booster shot for staff and audiences

Vintage Spider-Man comic books, even ones in poor condition, sell for $36,562

North Carolina Museum of Art receives grant from the Mandell Foundation

Etsy Fees and Determine Your Profit Margin

Residential Appraisal To Close The Buying Or Selling Deals Correctly!

How Therapeutic Art Encourages Positivity in Texas Prisons




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful