| 1. A fine c. 1860 antique amputation set by H.G. Kern, Philadelphia. This is a classic Civil War surgical set as commonly used by regimental surgeons on both sides of the American Civil War. The antique surgical instruments are in excellent condition. $4,500 |
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| 2. An important plaster antique phrenology bust with paper label signed in ink by the noted phrenologist Frederick E. Bridges (c. 1810-c. 1880), Liverpool, and dated by him May 24th 1865. A publication by Bridges, found in the Wellcome Library, London, illustrates the bust (on the left, third down). While Bridges is well-known for his phrenology inkwells, no other Bridges large phrenology bust is recorded. To have an example of a newly identified type of antique phrenology head, let alone one autographed by a leading 19th century phrenologist, is a rare event. 12.5" tall. $4,250 |
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| 3. A c. 1860 oil on canvas portrait d'apparat of Dr. George P. Cammann (1804-1863), a prominent New York City physician and the inventor of the first practical and commercially viable binaural stethoscope. An eponymous Dr. Cammann's Stethoscope is shown in the right hand of Dr. Cammann. The stethoscope depicted in the painting is Cammann's initial model of the 1850s. The books on the table are titled: LAENNEC; STOKES; and ALLISON...all giants in the fields of auscultation and stethoscopy. The Memoir of George P. Cammann, M.D., may be read online. This remarkable painting is attributed to the artist Thomas Hicks (1823-1890), one of New York City's leading portrait painters and a member of the National Academy of Design. Abraham Lincoln (twice), Charles Dickens, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Edwin Booth, and Harriet Beecher Stowe are a few of the luminaries who posed for the masterful portrait painter Thomas Hicks. Ex New York Academy of Medicine. SOLD |
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4. An English c. 1730 antique trephine set with fine gull wing trephine. The distinctive shape of the trephine's handle was known at least as early as John Woodall's The Surgeon's Mate, published in 1639, where it is illustrated. The bone disk forceps elevator is that of Dr. Samuel Sharp (1709-1778), FRS, who was an accomplished surgeon at Guy's Hospital, London. This rare antique neurosurgical kit is thought to have been made by the surgical instrument maker Edward Stanton, At the Saw and Crown, in Lombard Street, London, who was active in the 1730s-40s. $8,500
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| 5. An important c. 1819 first model antique Laennec monaural stethoscope that is ~32 cm / ~12.5" long. The tube was turned from a single piece of wood and the threads work perfectly. The plug fits both fully and snugly into the throat of the female-threaded section. This iconic Laennec stethoscope is by all measures a remarkable example. SOLD |
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| 6. An outstanding twelve-bladed antique bloodletting scarificator with its original clear lacquer finish to the brass body, blued-steel screws, and original case. The high quality antique bloodletting instrument is artfully hand-engraved: M.L. Dunsford, / Surgeons' Mechanist, / 164. Fore Street, / EXETER. Matthew Lichigaray Dunsford (1815-1894) is listed as a surgical instrument maker in White's Devonshire Directory of 1850. This superlative antique bloodletting instrument is of exhibition standard, the best 19th century grade. $775 |
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7. An antique Dr. Butcher's amputation and excision saw by Arnold & Sons, London. An unusual feature of the antique Butcher's amputation saw, aside from the name, is a blade that can be rotated to cut at any angle and beneath a flap. Dr. Richard George Herbert Butcher (1816-1891), a Dublin surgeon of note, invented the instrument in 1851. This is one of the more interesting and attractive nineteenth century surgical saws. See Weiss 1863, pl. III, fig. 8. $750
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| 8. A resplendent antique dental instrument set made for the care of His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony (1819-1861), the husband of Queen Victoria. The set was crafted in England and dates to the 1840s. The 6 steel scalers have mother-of-pearl handles with gold ajouré and chased mounts. The mouth mirror is on a swing frame and has an agate handle. The Saxon crown, a major element in Prince Albert's coat-of-arms and regalia, is featured as a gold finial on each scaler. Though unmarked, the skillful workmanship of the Victorian Age goldsmiths Charles Rawlings and William Summers, London, fl. 1829-ca. 1860, is discernible. Prince Albert's senior dentists, from his marriage to Queen Victoria in 1840 to his death in 1861, were Alexander Nasmyth (1840-1846), Edwin Saunders (1846-1861), and James Robinson (1849-1861). Nasmyth became Surgeon-Dentist to Prince Albert in 1840. He and Saunders were later successive appointees to the post of Surgeon-Dentist-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Robinson was gazetted Surgeon-Dentist to His Royal Highness Prince Albert in 1849. Robinson, who on 19 December 1846 was the first to use anesthesia in a medical procedure in Britain, shared a common interest with the future Prince Consort in the then new field of anesthetics. Two similar dental sets, believed to have been used by Saunders, are linked to Queen Victoria and to the young Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. Queen Victoria's set, bearing Rawlings and Summers hallmarks and dated 1846, is on display at the National Museum of Dentistry, Baltimore, while the British Dental Association Museum, London, holds the set of the Prince of Wales. These three royal scaling sets are at the apogee of 19th century opulent dental instruments. SOLD |
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