Excellent, mid-19^th century souvenir commemorates the famous Battle of Antietam using an original Civil War bullet drilled to fit a small glass lens showing views of the battlefield. This particular specimen is made using an actual .54 caliber, Confederate Gardner bullet for rifle muskets. The embedded “Stanhope” lens (an extremely small glass bead with black and white photographic images) shows the Soldiers National Monument in the cemetery and the Maryland monument. Images are slightly cloudy. A very fine, eye-catching little souvenir of the Battle of Antietam. Lenses were made in France.

Stanhopes or Stanho-scopes are optical devices that enable the viewing of microphotographs. A Stanhope lens is a simple, one-piece microscope invented by Charles, the third Earl of Stanhope. It is a cylinder of glass with each end curved outwards, one being more convex than the other. Because its construction is simple and economical, it was popular in the 19th century. In 1857, René Dagron modified the lens by keeping one curved end to refract light while sectioning the other end flat and locating it at the focal plane of the curved side. Dagron used the modified Stanhope lens to mount microscopic pictures.   [jet]

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