A Spencer Optical Butterfly

This die-cut trade card was produced in the 1870s or 1880s by the Spencer Optical Manufacturing Company to advertise its celluloid eyeglasses. At the time, the Spencer brothers (James Edwin and John Stowe Spencer) held the patent on optical goods made of celluloid, a light-weight and durable thermoplastic. You can see at the center of the back of the butterfly, there is an illustration of "Turtles rejoicing over the discovery of Celluloid Tortoise Shell. Their occupation gone."

Spencer Optical Works also made eyeglasses out of steel, gold, and silver, but their celluloid eyeglasses were their star products. From 1874 to 1888, all of Spencer's eyeglasses were produced in their factory at Kirbyville, down the street from the St. George's/St. Mark's Cemetery. After 1888, and the draining of Kirby Pond, the Optical Works was located in Newark, New Jersey.