Description

A large Huygens type ocular lens by Merz Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich, Germany, circa 1845.

Signed: Merz, Utzschneider und Fraunhofer in München

Length: 127 cm. Diameter: 83 mm. (Field lens: 60 mm, Eye lens: 28 mm).

Weight: 0.885 Kg.

Georg Merz (1793 – 1867) was a Bavarian optician and manufacturer of astronomical telescopes and other optical instruments. At the age of 15 he went to work in the glassworks recently set up by Joseph von Utzschneider in the nearby deconsecrated monastery of Benediktbeuern. There he became the assistant of Joseph Fraunhofer. From 1826, when Fraunhofer died, Merz was in charge of the optical division of the business. On the death of von Utzschneider in 1839 Merz, in partnership with Joseph Mahler, bought the firm. After Mahler’s death he ran the business in partnership with his sons Ludwig and Sigmund. When Ludwig died in 1858 the name was changed to G. & S. Merz.