Rivet spectacles
The first spectacles: two magnifying lenses with handles riveted together and clipped onto the nose.
Spectacles were invented in northern Italy at the end of the 13th century, probably in Pisa or Venice, where glass grinders could make clear lenses. A preacher in Florence said in 1306 that the art of making spectacles was less than twenty years old.
The first spectacles were magnifying glasses for reading and were sold to monks and scholars. Some examples have been found under the floor of the convent of Wienhausen in Germany.
Materials: Ground glass or rock crystal, frames of bone, wood, horn or metal
Manufacture: Made by hand by lens grinders in northern Italy from the late 13th century.
Two round lenses, each in its own frame with a handle.
The rivet where the handles meet.
No temples – the spectacles were held in the hand or clipped onto the nose.