A tiny gentleman

[nid_dabeille]

I have come to realize that I love the word "tiny."  If something is described as tiny, I can't help but be attracted.  Just now I found this on ebay in the medical and scientific antiques category.

RARE, TINY, UNSIGNED, COMPLETE SCREW BARREL MICROSCOPE
A very rare and early screw barrel microscope with ivori (sic) simple lens on ornate brass arm and 4 numbered and capped objectives. Although unsigned, it is most assuredly from a fine 18th century maker. The flared simple magnifier eyepiece, the roping of the brasswork, the capped objectives, the shaped forceps, etc. would indicate that this was a tiny gentleman's pocket/field microscope of the highest quality. The bone sliders are numbered, the caps and objectives match, there is no damage to any part of this set including the forcep tines and black/ white disc. The threads and spring of the barrel (5/8 " or 20 mm. in diameter) are flawless, as are the optics. All beads of the objectives are intact. The case too, is flawless and is composed of black sharkskin with push button closure. It measures only 118 x 58 x 26 mm. (4 5/8 x 2 3/8 x 1" high) and every space is filled! An asset to any serious collection.

Heehee, tiny gentleman.  Misplaced modifier.  But still, TINY!  (Like Stephen's tiny sneeze!)  I also like the word "little."  And doesn't that description just sound so loving? 

And speaking of ebay scientific antique instruments, look at this, nautical people:
AN 18TH CENTURY KIT OF NAVIGATIONAL INSTRUMENTS TOOLS.

Pretty pretty.  And I love the porte-crayon and the ruling pen.  I wonder if the ruling pen fits into the porte-crayon?  It looks like it must, and that would be handy.

ETA:  And don't miss out on your chance to own:
19 antique human glass eyes!!!!!!!
They're beautiful.  And creepy, I have to admit.

Comments

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Phoo, straight to the posh auctions, eh? And there I was, looking for a vaguely nice-looking pocketwatch in some shop stationed in Hong Kong.

Bloody hell, those ARE amazing! Fantastic. (lol, melting dress.) You can dress them as soon as I figure out how to carve wood into something vaguely human-like :P good lord, I should've just majored in Art and done with. I'll never figure out everything by myself at this rate. (ooh, look at the very last doll http://www.lotzdollpages.com/creche.html how charming. Reminds me of TEL for some reason.) BTW, I was unaware you made clothes! Examples?

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

"Should have" majored in art? You haven't even started college yet, silly. You can still major in art if you want to. (You can even change majors many many times, and don't let anyone tell you you can't.)

Well of course I CAN make clothes. I just choose not to, usually. I'm too apathetic (or antipathetic) about my own appearance to go to all that work just to clothe ME. But I used to make doll clothes. And I loved making costumes in plays.

Aww, that TEL doll is so sweet! I've never seen a sweeter boy doll.

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Hah, that's true. Bit of a problem though as I signed up for all these nice interesting history-focussed classes in my Wot Oi Want'er be Doing In First Year course forms. Oh well... post-grad, if I decide I like it. (Or conserving various things. That looks like fun.)

Ah. Le pouvoir de choix. I care too much, but I'm disorganized :D 's why most of my human-sized stuff comes out looking like a carefully researched pile o'. How do you handle 1:12 sized doll clothes? I can barely deal with 1:3 scale.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

I've mostly glued 1:12 clothes. I tried sewing, but they turned out too bulky and puffy, and it annoyed me because I wanted things to look realistic. I decided I'd rather have them look realistic than function realistically (with seams and hems and closures and the ability to take them off without ripping them up. Which I have done.) But in recent years I haven't bothered with the dolls at all, much, in my dollhouse and roomboxes.

I more made clothes for Samantha, my American Girl doll, you know? That was regular sewing and all.

So you've picked a college?

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and getting the cloth to fall correctly I imagine is a nightmare, too... can get away with regular cloth on a 1:3, at least. Eep. Ripping up clothes. I like wee buttons. What happened to your dolls? Still in your parents' house?

You have an American Girl? Those slightly frighten me. (I think it is their backstories. o______o)

Picked, applied, and booked airline tickets for. Hobart and William Smith Colleges. It's alright I suppose. (Liberal arts, with a sailing class. SAILING CLASS)I was planning on something else but that fell through at the last minute. *shrugs* SAILING CLASS!!!!!! oh god i'm excited

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Where is that college(s)?

Well, the background stories are cute, and they're meant to be educational for kids. Plus it's a marketing strategy. "And Samantha opened the present to find... a beautiful doll! [which you too can buy in our catalog! Your Samantha WANTS it.]" But when I got mine, when I was 10 (way back when you were... never mind), they were still really new and hardly anybody had them, and there only existed 3 dolls. There was nowhere near the amount of marketing and obsession that there is now. It was all very classy and felt unique and special.

Wow, my Samantha is older than you. o_o

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

In the middle of New York :D next to the wee finger lakey things. Which is handy. (SAILING CLASS) They used to be separate single-sex entities, but they're a zygote now. :D

Wow! That does sound spiffy. Did that ruin it for you, the marketing/obsessive people? I don't think I'd like BJDS as much if they were sucked into the trend market (not that they would be-- far too expensive) because what I like about them is their hand-made-ity.

o_o

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

New York! Far far from home. How did you pick it? So the sailing happens on the finger lakes? That sounds lovely. Will you like the cold winters? You can pretend you're on a polar expedition.

Well, the marketing/obsessive people didn't ruin it for me - I just got older. It really was made for 10-12 year olds. Though in high school I was still making her clothes. There's a doll in Les Miserables, and I made a dress for Samantha like the one described in the book. And did a painting of her as a scene from that book. But anyway, it did make me a little wistful and sad that the dolls got so popular. I kind of liked having them to myself, kind of like my own secret thing. But it didn't really matter much to me by then.

I have my Samantha here too, and her clothes, and the lovely antique doll bed and quilt that my mom got for me on ebay. She told me recently that on ebay the dolls from my generation are selling pretty high because they're much better quality than the ones they're making now, but I'm not interested in selling. I'm keeping my My Little Ponies, too. THEY'RE MY PRECIOUSES!

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

I found it out through the Googly. I wanted someplace on the east coast, near a body of water, strong in liberal arts, with a fencing and/or sailing class, spiffy architecture (cor, it's beautiful) and that was cold. It fit the bill. :D Are you kidding? I love the cold. It's fantastic :D lets me wear my Doctor Who scarf without looking too silly.

Ah. I was never into dolls, before-- always a book type person. So this is all very new to me XD

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Does it ever snow at home? Can you believe that some of Shackleton's men had never seen snow before? Actually, in college I had some classmates who had never seen snow OR leaves changing color. Of course, they weren't signing up for an Antarctic expedition, but it's also much easier to travel these days, and it's strange they'd never been far enough to see those things.

Are you still wanting to do maritime archaeology? Did you see my Mary Rose pics? You should come down in the summers and work on the Queen Anne's Revenge.

I was never really into dolls either - only Samantha. And mostly because of all the amazing accessories. And also because she reminded me of the doll in "A Little Princess," my favorite children's book.

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Nope! Hails occasionally. I have seen snow though :D in the mountains, and been skiing.

Heck yeah. I'm just doing history now under the general recommendation of me dad, since marine archaeology's a bit specific to start with. Ooh, that's a good idea, the Queen Anne's Revenge. (sounds like a DIsney ride.) I'd like that. I doubt they'd take me on though D:

Mmm, tiny accessories. A Little Princess? Is that like Le Petit Prince?

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Well the QAR (Queen Anne's Revenge) people regularly take on students from East Carolina U. studying marine... stuff. They don't have a marine archeology degree there, but it's something marine.

Oh, A Little Princess is an absolutely wonderful tale by the same author who wrote The Secret Garden. It's about a young wealthy Victorian girl who has come back to England from India to go to boarding school and get a proper young lady's education, but she misses her father and India. And then suddenly she becomes an orphan and loses all her fabulous wealth and has to become a servant at the school. It's all just written so beautifully and magically.

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Ooh Speaking of Queens I was just at me grandmum's and I saw in a National Geographic from 1980 pictures of Queen Mary's dollhouse! Have you seen that? It's so... so... mindblowing... ahhhh, the teeny books all have writing in them, and there's working taps with hot and cold water, and tiny cars with gas engines that work, and electricity, and a coal stove, and and a tiny tiny working kitchen scale, oh, oh, it is marvelous!

I'll google QAR. Do hope they have a place for me somewhere :D i'll swab the deckkkss D:

Aw, that story sounds lovely. And somehow familiar. Perhaps I've heard it on the Beeb.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

I have seen that - both the dollhouse and the magazine! I have a copy of that issue. I have two copies of National Geographic - that one, and the one from July 1989 for the bicentennial of Bastille day, and the entire issue is about France. I read that thing from cover to cover when I was in high school, and it was very formative. It opened such a world! I love France passionately, and its history and culture.

Hmm, I doubt they'll have much in the way of deck for you to swab - though I'm sure they'll appreciate your skills with a cotton swab. Q-tip rolled in saliva, that's the ticket.

It's a pretty famous book, and has been made into movies and probably radio plays too.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Sailing class sounds great! Are you taking it? What discipline does it fall under? PE?

My dollhouse dolls are in a box in my bedroom right now, along with all my other dollhouse contents. The house itself is on my kitchen table, and I don't want to move in with the contents because my cats keep jumping up and into the rooms. I need a piece of plexiglas or something.

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Oh definitely. When I get the chance to. Heck yeah. I had a sailing dream about a week ago... felt so brainlessly happy, it was wonderful. Probably PE, yeah. Not too sure.

Cool! So you did go back and get it. Haha, your cats can fit into the rooms? Cute. What d'you plan to do with it? (Ashgrove Cottage? :D :D )

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Yes, I went back and got it - my parents kept begging me to, but I also missed it.

Ashgrove, no - it's a Victorian house, and it's much too big to be a cottage. It has a 1930s family living in it, and eventually I'll reinstate them and their stuff.

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Ah, right. I've grown to appreciate the 1930s :D and the 20th century in general. Well, not the 80s or the 90s. Ewghhffff. Do you think you'll ever make a Georgian style dollhouse/room box? Or just sticking to shipboxes :D

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

I'd love to make a Georgian house/box! For my birthday esteven sent me a lovely book all about making Georgian dollhouses. But my next project after shipboxes (nice word!) is going to be an Antarctic hut. Yes. I also want to make a blackhouse, a kind of Hebridean crofter's cottage (like what they had in the Hanging Gale but even more primitive). I also want to make a roombox of a naturalist sort of Joseph-Blaine-Joseph-Banks-Stephen-Maturin-at-home-James-Caird kind of study, a comfortable and beautiful bachelor naturist abode. (As opposed to a cramped and dirty naturalist abode.) Stephen's Dream House. Rich furniture that won't tip over and break in a storm or get soaked in salt water. And after all that, then I'd like to make a sort of Williams' house at Mapes.

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

OOH I'M EXCITED yay! What a good choice. gguuh antarctic hut so cool! I read 'Antarctic tent' first and thought immediately what, with little dead Scott in it with Oates tottering off the table and Spencer-Smith on his sled? in a mildly serious and morbidly fascinated way. I might do that...

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

If you do that, I'll be jealous and spiteful. Unless you really do plan to do that, in which case I'll attempt to control my spite. Though it wouldn't really be infringing on my world - much - because it would be very doll-focused, and I'm more construction and artifact focused. (I've already been planning heavily and even bought a couple of things.)

Speaking of dead dolls, have you seen The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death?
http://grace-poppy.livejournal.com/169033.html

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

LOL your icon is scary. ee. I thought it was just Stephen looking spiteful and then it turned into scaryStephenarmedwithrhubarbStephen. Haha, I must admit I do have an urge to sculpt tiny dead frozen people. Might when I finish the big doll :D I rather suck at construction and artifacts. I probably won't even set up the teeny tent correctly.

Oh yeah! That's amazing o_______o love those. Tiny unexplained deaths are even more interesting than regular sized unexplained deaths.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

I just realized I said "naturist" when I meant to say "naturalist!" Though I suppose a bachelor acting like a naturist in his own home won't do anybody any harm.

Haha, when I was in England, walking next to hedges so much, I couldn't help thinking of our poor pwn britannia debacle. Srsly, I had never thought there would be so much nakedness. I THOUGHT SOMEONE WOULD GIVE ME A COAT.

And now I need to go to the grocery store. I'm out of dishwasher detergent and out of clean dishes too. Bye now.

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Pwn Britannia? I forget. Nakedness? .-.

Aww. Well g'bye then for now :D need to work on big doll's construction. It is weak and hateful. >:(

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Never mind. It's much better forgotten.