Pince-nez is a style of glasses, popular in the 19th century, that are supported
without earpieces, by pinching the bridge of the nose. The name comes from
French pincer, "to pinch", and nez, "nose".
Although pince-nez were used in Europe in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries,
modern ones appeared in the 1840s and reached their peak popularity around
1880 to 1900. Varieties
Hard bridge – Also known as the fingerpiece, these have a solid bridge
piece which is molded to fit the curvature of the bridge of the nose.
They are anchored onto the bridge of the nose via two small spring-loaded clips
terminating in special nose-pads made from bone or tortoise shell on metal
called plaquettes, which are tweezered apart for placement on the face through
applying pressure to two small lever-like finger-pieces located on the
front of the bridge. Plaquettes could be either hinged and flexible, like modern
spectacle nose-pads, permitting a better fit, or static as in the older examples
of this type. This variety was manufactured as either a frame or as a
two-piece mount for rimless. They were popular from the 1890s through to the
1950s, and were probably the most commonly seen variety during that time.
Their popularity stemmed from the fact that they could be set and removed at
will using only two fingers of one hand to operate the finger-pieces, which made
them practical compared to other varieties which often required two hands
to place the spectacles on the nose. Additionally they could sit comfortably
on most nose bridges without having to be set at an angle to compensate for
bone structure. However, because of the inflexibility of the bridge piece they
had to be manufactured in a range of sizes for different width nose-bridges.
C-bridge – These, as their name would suggest, possess a C-shaped bridge,
which was composed of a curved, flexible piece of metal which would provide the
tension needed to stay on the nose. This variety is the earliest style of true
pince-nez. They existed from the 1820s through to the 1940s, and were available
in a tremendous variety of styles – ranging from the early nose-padless type
of the 19th century to the gutta-percha variety of the American Civil War era,
and then on to the plaquette variety of the 20th century. Like the Hard bridge
variety, this type was available either as a frame or as a two-piece mount for
frameless glasses. Some of the earlier frames had cork nose-pads, as did some
of the cheaper later ones, instead of plaquettes. The frames or bridge pieces
could be gold or silver plated or made from stainless steel. The bridges were
subject to constant wear and tear as they required repeated flexing when
being set and removed from the face, so would frequently break or lose their
tension. The advantage of this variety was that one size could fit a variety of
nose bridges; however, often they had to be worn at an angle, especially if the
wearer had a low forehead. Spring bridge – Also known as Astig,
this variety consists of a sliding bar connecting the lenses which can be
separated through a gentle pull. The bar is telescopic, consisting of two sliders
within a tube-like spring, which provides the tension. The nose pads are
usually cork and are attached directly to the frames. They can either be hinged
or static. This variety was popular from the 1890s to the 1930s, after which they
were seldom seen. They were created and marketed as 'sporting pince-nez', which
were purportedly more difficult to jar from the face than the other varieties
as well as being more comfortable to wear for longer periods. A major
advantage was that one size could often fit a wide variety of nose shapes and
sizes. This style was usually available only as a frame, with rimless examples
being very difficult to find. Others
In this category are placed frames that should not be referred to as pince-nez,
but resemble them in form and function. Oxford spectacles – The distinction
between this style and pince-nez is not frequently drawn; often they are listed
as a pince-nez when they are in fact a distinct style of spectacle. The style
was developed in the 19th century when a professor at Oxford University
accidentally broke off the handle from a pair of lorgnette spectacles. He
reputedly affixed two small nose-pads to the frame and found that he could use
the tension in the folding spring to perch them on his nose. Whether or not
this story is apocryphal is unknown. Oxfords are undoubtedly descended from
the lorgnette, as early examples of them often had handles in addition to
nose-pads. In style Oxfords are much like the C-bridge as the tension is
provided by a flexible, sprung piece of metal; however, they also resemble the
spring bridge, as the spring connects the two lenses and is distinct from the
nose-pieces. Oxfords were popular up until the 1930s, and were manufactured
as both frames and as 4 piece mounts for frameless, although the latter are hard
to find. Nose spectacles – These were developed
in the 15th century as amongst the first practical vision correction aids, and
could be seen up until the 18th century. They consisted of simple frames made of
wood or metal; they could not be flexed or adjusted, instead having to be
'slotted' onto the bridge of the nose. They were designed for long sightedness,
as reading lenses were the only ones that could be manufactured at that time.
Original examples of nose spectacles are exceedingly hard to find in good
condition today, and command large sums as collectors' pieces whenever they come
onto the market. Retention methods
Pince-nez spectacles were worn by both men and women. Since they can be
uncomfortable to wear for extended periods if the wrong bridge size is
chosen, and also because the constant wearing of glasses was out of fashion at
the time, pince-nez were often suspended from a ribbon or chain worn round the
neck, tied to the buttonhole of a lapel, or attached to a special ear-mount or to
a hair-pin. Women often used a special brooch-like device pinned to the
clothing, which would automatically retract the line to which the glasses
were attached when they were not in use. Use in early air combat
During the earliest era of air combat in World War I, a small number of frontline
German fighter pilots serving with what would become known as the
Luftstreitkräfte wore hard bridge pince-nez frames for their corrective
lenses, including the very first pilot to defeat an opposing aircraft using a
synchronized machine-gun armed aircraft, Leutnant Kurt Wintgens.
In popular culture Pince-nez is central to the murder
mystery in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.
Another murder mystery, Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers, features a victim
found dead in his bathtub wearing nothing but a pair of pince-nez.
Numerous fictional characters have been depicted as wearing pince-nez. These
include Hercule Poirot in the television series Agatha Christie's Poirot, who
wears pince-nez that is attached to a cord around his neck; Morpheus in the
Matrix film trilogy, who wears reflective-lensed pince-nez sunglasses
when he appears in The Matrix; Walt Disney's cartoon character Scrooge
McDuck; Professor Frost in the C. S. Lewis novel That Hideous Strength, who
is identified multiple times by his wearing a pair of pince-nez; and
Koroviev/Fagott, a member of Satan's entourage in Mikhail Bulgakov's The
Master and Margarita. See also
Lorgnette Monocle
References Notes
External links Media related to Pince-nez at Wikimedia
Commons