Stanhopes
"Bijous Photographica" (Photographic Jewels)
By: Raymond H. Kirlin

STANHOPES - the name for the elusive little souvenir items with the peep hole found in many small novelty charms and advertising items. They can be found inside letter openers, pipes, knives, thimbles, cigarette lighters, scissors, beer steins, perfume bottles, cachets, a miniature Eiffel Tower, hat pins, rings, charms, sewing items , nail files, canes, cigarette holders and almost every souvenir "trinket" you can think of.

A peek through the peep hole reveals a picture unnoticeable from the exterior. This can be a drawing, a print or a photograph of anything from a castle, a tiny print of the Lords Prayer or the Ten Commandments, places like Niagara Falls, a political figure or a shapely nude. There have been reports of pornographic ones supposedly made around the 1870's but I have never seen one of these.

The Stanhope named after Lord Charles Stanhope, an English scientist (1753-1816), who invented the tiny glass-rod lens (about 1/10" in diameter and 1/4" long) on which the image or picture is cemented and this you will note was nearly a century before the invention of photography by Daguerre. As a scientist, Lord Stanhope was credited with inventing two calculating machines, a form of a printing press, a stereotyping machine, a steam carriage and many other things. He was also an early experimenteer in the methods of raising and lowering canal barges. Regarding the lens used in the stanhopes there is some controversy as the lens commonly used in these items has also been called a "Coddington Magnifier" and probably invented by Sir David Brewster. At the present the lens and micro-photograph combined is commonly known as a "Stanhope" and will probably always be.

Actually the stanhope is the beginning of micro-photography or the microfilm of today. The first microscopic photograph being made shortly after the invention of photography by a Manchester Optician, John Benjamin Dancer, who attached a microscope lens to a daguerreotype camera and made the worlds first micro-photograph. He considered these to be novelties and made them as gifts for his friends. Later in 1854 he applied the process to dry plates and shortly thereafter a number of manufacturers were selling miniature views of famous people or scenes of London mounted on microscope slides. In l856 John Dancer gave David Brewster a sample of his work and since Brewster had 40 some years earlier invented the "Coddington Magnifier" this combination proved the perfect way to view the tiny photographs. Brewster's use of the pictures and the lens he developed spread the fame of Dancer's photographs and he is known to have suggested the use of the process to make photographic records of valuable papers and secret plans thereby foreseeing the microfilm industry of today,

In 1859 the first microfilm patent was issued to Rene Dagron, a French photographer, and it was about this time that Dagron saw a stanhope lens, probably at the Paris Exposition and conceived the idea of affixing a micro-image to the lens. Since the stanhope lens is a glass cylinder with a refracting surface at one end and the length of the cylinder the focal length, then in use the end of the stanhope must be in contact with the surface being viewed. The micro image was cut out of a collidion plate and cemented to the flat end of the lens with Canada balsam, Thus a small self contained viewing device was formed that could be mounted in a variety of objects and he is credited with creating a new industry as a manufacturer of jewelry containing microscopic scenes of French life. His microfilm business at one time employed a staff of 150 workers. The tiny photograph miniatures or novelties were called "Bijoux Photographiques " (photographic jewels) which he publicized, according to an often repeated story with a simple con game similar to the purse drop of today. A man would appear at a local police station in Paris claiming to have found a most unusual ring on the street. The police would inspect it carefully and discover the tiny peep hole and the incredibly tiny picture inside. The news would spread quickly and then the next day who should drop in to the police station to claim his ring but the owner and inventor Gene Dagron. The newspapers would get wind of the story and the readers would soon learn that Monsieur Dagron would make his unusual novelties available at his studio at 66 Rue des Petits Champs. However in my efforts to locate history and information on stanhopes I searched for this address in Paris and it no longer exists. Just a large brick building at that location and no longer an address of 66 Rue des Petits Champs. As a result of his success Dagron's name was firmly established as the leading micro-photographer in France , During the Franco-Prussi an war in 1870 when Paris was under siege by the Germans Dagron packed his micro-photography equipment into a hot air balloon named the Niepce and made his way to Tours where he used his expertise to micro-photograph dispatches along with other messages and information that was then returned to the besieged city of Paris by courier pigeons and balloons, The camera he used is said to have been modified from the one which he used to make stanhopes. As a result of his success his name became firmly established as the leading micro-photographer and the world's first use of micro-photography in wartime espionage.

In the l930's the Johnson-Smith catalogs listed stick pins and rings with beautiful women inside and the prices were only 25 cents and in the 1930's pocket scissors for $1.50, Sears, Roebuck and Company advertised in the era 1905-1910 a knife that was three inches long and had miniature pictures of actresses, it sold for 44 cents plus 2 cents postage In the 1930's there was a flakes coffee knife with a image of an English hunter mounted on a horse. Also an Anheuser Busch knife with the photograph of Adolphus Rusch mounted on a stanhope in the handle. Todays prices on stanhopes vary from $17 to $25 for a cross with the Lords Prayer to $150 or more for a carved ivory fish containing a photograph of Buffalo Bill Cody. One of the rarest stanhopes is the French Eisque Doll with a necklace containing stanhopes molded in the porcelain and viewed by the light coming through an opening at the back of the neck . The only known ones, I understand , are in a French museum. Many stanhopes are found that relate to World's Fairs or Expositions and like many of the others these have a dual collectors interest. The prices can vary greatly depending an the material used, the degree and skill of carving, the item the stanhope is mounted in and all important the quality subject matter the micro-photograph. Caution, be warned on crosses, carved pens, etc, that most are carved bone not ivory as they are often represented. Many are fairly common, all are collectible and there are some that are as rare as an occupational daguerreotype. Favorites in my collection, is a little blue crystal French perfume bottle with a stanhope of a girl in the metal lid, an early knife in the shape of the Eiffel tower with a stanhope, of course of the Eiffel Tower, an ivory fish holding a stanhope in its mouth, a black face charm with eyes that move and a tongue that sticks out and one ring that is very special apparently purchased in 1919 during World War II by a soldier who scratched the name "Brest" & "1919" on the top of the ring, inside a nice French girl to remind a lonesome American soldier of home, A meerschaum pipe containing a stanhope of three French girls. And there is the tiny Leica camera which has a stanhope showing the Ernst Lietz factory. I am also partial to the ones that feature the bathing girl beauties and the French Actresses.

Again let me remind you that these are very tiny photos mounted on a little glass rod about 1/1Oth inch in diameter and 1/4 inch long. The image is about 1/3 of the diameter of the glass rod and very fragile. I have no reports of them being made today, however, there is a plastic variation made in England currently and referred to as a "Peep ". This is a Larger image and may 50 to 100 years from now become perhaps as collectible as the true stanhope but not as desirable for the photographic enthusiast, don't forget to watch for these illusive and unusual photographic novelties.

Copyright 1998 Raymond H. Kirlin

The author of this article is a collector of photographic memorabilia and is specially interested in receiving any information relating to stanhopes and their manufacture and of the old time manufacturers or distributors stanhopes, catalogs or brochures showing advertising material. Also if you have any questions, need additional information or know of stanhopes for sale you may write to Raymod H. Kirlin, 6981 Seaview Terrace SW, Seattle, WA 98136. Please send a self-addressed and stamped envelope and all inquiries will be answered.

Reference Materials:
Gilbert, Collecting Photography
Northlight, Journal of the PHSA
Cross, Antique & Classic Cameras
Lothrop, A Century of: Cameras
Howorth-Loomes, Victorian Photography
Nailer, Collecting Old Photographs
Gilbert, The Photographica Price Guide
Johnson & Smith Company catalog
New England Journal of Photographic History


This enlarged photo shows a ivory fish with a Stanhope in its mouth containing a photo of Wm F. Cody, Buffalo Bill a very excellent piece. Also a carved ivory hand holding a ball used as a letter seal which contains 6 tiny scenic French pictures in the Stanhope.
This enlargement made to show the relative size of a straight pin and a common paper match as against the size of the Stanhope lens and the little micro-dot of a photo shown in the center of the white square.
Enlarged photos of two umbrella needle cases one includes a pencil on the end, is bone and contains a picture of "Saltburn". The other is ivory and contains a "risque" picture. The bone pencil shows a photo of the St. Louis exposition.




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