Material: steel wire needle, nickel plated brass collet, bone handle with Stanhope of Chepstow, Wales
Manufacturer: unknown, probably England or France
Length: handle 4 1/4″
A Stanhope is a short length of glass rod curved at one end to form a lens and flat on the other end where a microfilm image is glued. Tourist souvenir items with Stanhopes (aka Peeps, Peepers) were produced from about 1860 to 1968. Their height of popularity was from about 1880-1920. Although the Stanhope was made in France, it is possible the Stanhope was inserted into it’s handle in Wales or England. Good discussions of Stanhopes are in Taunton, Nerylla, Antique Needlework Tools and Embroideries, Antique Collectors’ Club, Ltd., Woodbridge, England, 1997, p. 160-161 and Jull, Douglas, Collecting Stanhopes, D. S. Publications, Worthing, England, 2nd edition, 1997.
