What?  Does anyone remember that there once was a range of NHS glasses frames which the spectacle wearing public could have, as of right, for a fixed and very modest price?

The range consisted of  nickel, gold filled and plastic spectacles.

The nickel frames were of a very basic design, circa 1920’s or maybe even earlier.  They were available with a “W” bridge, which was a piece of bent metal which appeared to be designed with the object of cutting  a furrow in the top of the nose and inflicting excruciating pain on the wearer, or alternatively one could have the more luxurious  “Pad Bridge” which inflicted considerably less pain on the sides of the nose (present day silicone pads not yet having been invented).  A further luxury was available in the form of the “Windsor” version which was the same frame with a covering of plastic, “Zyl”, basically cellulose nitrate. The nickel frames were the “1” series, Nos 111, 121 and the Windsor frames the “2” Series, 211, 221..

The gold filled frames were exactly the same but in 1/20^th of 10K gold filled instead of nickel.  The series was frames Nos. 311,321,312, 322,313,323, and the Windsor versions, 411,412,413,421,422,and 423.  Congratulations to those readers who observed that an unexplained 2 and 3 have appeared  as the final digits in these series.  The ”3” indicates that the sides are comfort cable curl sides as opposed to mere cable curl sides of yore.  The”2” shows the availability of the new high tech hockey end sides.

The height of fashion, of course, was the plastic frame, the first being frame no. 514 (cellulose acetate, ordinary bridge, hockey end sides),  but one could opt for the more advanced frame no. 524 (cellulose acetate, pad bridge,  hockey end sides).  There was however in 1948, a price to be paid for such indulgence, namely, one shilling and sixpence (about seven and a half pence in today’s money).

The 524  was soon overtaken by a more advanced design,  the 524H/J  (high joint).  This is by far the best known and most widely used frame of the NHS and remained the customers’  no.1 choice until NHS glasses were privatised in 1984.

Even in this world,  where nostalgia is not what it used to be, could there still be a market for the 524H/J ?  Follow the websites. Look out for “WE supply Prada, Gucci, Armani, Diesel and of course, the 524H/J”.  

Tags: cellulose nitrate, Glasses, gold filled frame, NHS Glasses, plastic spectacles, spectacle

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 11:53 am and is filed under Eye Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.