American Optical Company

American Optical One of the largest Manufacturers of antique eyeglasses worldwide was the American Optical Company. The history of americna optical eyeglasses is fascinating. Being that we sell many american optical Eye glasses it would be appropriate to delve a little into the history of this maker of vintage eyeglass frames. The founding father of American Optical was a man named William Beecher. Originally an apprentice to a Rhode Island optician, he came to believe that the US was capable of produing vintage eyeglasses just as well if not better than any other country. At first he started producing silver and blue steel antique eyeglasses and selling them himself to some local opticians in the big city of Boston. The early beginings were tough. His vintage eyeglasses were more expensive to produce than what it cost the overseas manufacturers and most opticians lacked interest in his product. Hard work and perseverance paid off. Sales slowly gre until he hit the close to $10,00 by 1950’s, a large sum at the time. Things continued growing by leaps and bounds. By the time 1869 came around American Optical had over 10000 employees and millions in sales. At the time end of the 1800’s American Optical was manufacturing over half a million frames pairs of antique eyeglasses every year.