118x brass

Magnification 118x | Aperture in plates 0.55 mm
Body plates 41 mm x 17 mm | Pitch of main positioning screw 0.87 mm

This microscope was #1 in van Zuylen and Bracegirdle and #61 in Harting's catalogue of the exhibition of 1875.

One of the Haaxman microscopes bought at the 1747 auction, the provenance of this microscope is certain. It has been displayed in the Boerhaave Museum since 1929, when it was purchased from the Haaxman family.

When a market for scientific instruments arose in the late 1800's, there was a problem with Leeuwenhoek's microscopes. Only a handful were considered authentic. That created a market for replicas, the first of which were made by John Mayall. This 118x brass was the one that he used as a model for his replicas and was the one used for the replicas currently on sale in the Boerhaave Museum's shop.

Brian Ford discussed this mircoscope in The Leeuwenhoek Legacy, pp. 146–8.

In 2018, this microscope was subjected to neutron tomography as TU Delft. The photo on the left above (click to enlarge) is from the press kit.