Every so often we like to do a post about some new vintage frames that arrived at our shop. Today we will go through some vintage eyeglass frames that arrived in the mail today. Some 1960's era cat eye glasses and some older antique eyeglass frames dating back to World War 1.
One of the largest manufacturers of antique eyeglasses in US history was American Optical Corporation, also known as AO. During WWI American Optical had a contract with the US military to provide eyeglasses for the troops. They supplied over 2 million vintage eyeglass frames to the military, including 2 original models produced for the war effort called Victory and Liberty, symbolizing their hope for victory and the liberty it would bring.
Today we got a bunch of American Optical Victory frames, still unused in their original packaging with the Tags on them. As you can see below the tags say Victory alumnico US Gov't specification American Optical Company. These are cable temple / Windsor style frames , oval / round vintage eyeglass frames. We have listed them here.
Also came in with this shipment was a similar style silver Windsor frame from Shuron Optical. This frame was preserved with its original tag as well as the original paper sleeve they came in. All this after 100 years! Those are listed here.
The second shipment consists of later frames dating to the 1960's. 15 vintage cat eye frames, mostly from Sherman Optical but some from other companies as well as you will see below.
Many of these are Plyoplex frames by Sherman optical corp of Yonkers NY. The material is a strong plastic that is very different than the plastic typically used on cat eye frames. Most cat eye frames are softer slightly flexible even without heat. These plyoplex vintage frames are very strong and sturdy and need to be warmed for the slightest adjustment. Once placed in a warmer they need to monitored carefully since if placed in there for too long they can almost melt and bend out of shape. Most frames don't bend out of shape like these can if left in for a minute too long.
We can see why this material is not the ideal one for vintage eyeglasses. But as the original sleeve says "excellent working properties when properly heated" so if you are careful with these they am be great and offer a unique style and material that have what to offer.
Next we have some vintage cat eye frames from Tart Optical. Tart Optical was famous for its quality and design. It's most popular frames were likely Tart Arnel and FDR. Some of those are highly sought after and can go for over $1000 today. Next some frames from Style Rite optical, also known as SRO.
That's about all for now. It is always exciting to open new packages, we don't always know what which frames will surprise us!