Microscopium – The Microscopists’ Fair
Saturday 8th August 2026
NOT FINISHED
This was our fifth Microscopium at the Letchworth Settlement. As always, Microscopium provided members and visitors with a good opportunity to dispose of surplus items and to acquire new kit, and also provided an excellent opportunity to meet old friends, make new friends, and gossip over tea and coffee and over lunch. We had a good crowd of buyers. As usual, there were bargains ranging from leaflets, filters and bulbs for £1 to slide cabinets, a French Nachet compound with DIC, an extensive Reichert Zetopan outfit, and an antique brass microscope with its box of accessories.
As usual, many used microscopes, lenses, accessories, slides, books, etcetera were offered at reasonable prices for the benefit of amateur microscopists. These items, and any items that are given away, must NOT be subsequently sold on eBay at great profit, and anyone found doing so will not be welcome at future meetings.
We filled the main room (Kincaid Hall) with tables, and overflowed into the Spinks Room across the yard.
Kincaid Hall
Lisa Ashby was selling some slides for the Club, many of which were un-named, but there were some nice single diatom slides among them. Lisa was also selling books, prints and slides that belonged to David Linstead.
Nigel Ashby, Peter Wyn-Jones and Lisa Ashby
Some of Lisa Ashby’s slides
Gordon Brown was selling a trinocular Olympus IMT inverted microscope, a dual-observer kit for an Olympus BH-2, a monocular brass microscope, and an assortment of condensers, heads, lamps, etcetera.
Gordon Brown’s sales table
Richard Courtiour (richieathome on eBay) and his son George were offering thousands of slides, lots of objectives (some with their cases) and eyepieces, condensers, books, a slide cabinet and lots of other items.
Richard Courtiour
Richard Courtiour’s sales table
Douglas Downer-Smith was selling a small Russian monocular microscope with its metal case and a few other items.
Jonathan Crowther and Douglas Downer-Smith (centre)
James Firth has only been interested in microscopy for a few years, but he has already accumulated so many microscopes that he needs to sell some of them. They included a trinocular Olympus CK40 inverted microscope with a U-PMTVC C-mount adapter, a trinocular Watson System 70 with a projection prism, and a Wild M8 with transmitted-light base.
James Firth’s sales table
Steve Gill was selling a few microscopes with their wooden cases, and some accessories.
Steve Gill’s sales table
Phil Greaves filled two tables with lots of interesting microscopes and accessories at bargain prices, and filled the space underneath with free microscopes in their wooden boxes.
Phil Greaves’ sales table
Some of Phil Greaves’ accessories
Some of Phil Greaves’ microscopes
Phil Greaves and Gordon Brown
Tom Hartman was selling a trinocular Reichert Zetopan with boxes of accessories, and a few other microscopes and accessories.
Tom Hartman’s sales table
Kelvin Law has a 3D printer that he uses to make items for microscopy, including black and white microfossil slides, racks for coverslips, slide trays and rings for phase contrast and dark-ground. He also brought models of forams and pen holders.
Claudi Soler and Kelvin Law (right)
Frank Leaver had a variety of items for sale.
Frank Leaver
Brian Norman was selling a large assortment of bits and pieces, including a small microtome that clamps to a table top, and two complete microscopes, a trinocular compound Reichert and an antique brass microscope with its box of accessories.
Brian Norman (left) and Stephen Durr
Brian Norman’s sales table
Brian Norman’s microscopes
Stephen Parker was offering a binocular Nachet 300 with DIC and the proper objectives for a bargain price. He was also selling a portable Lomo in its fitted metal case, and some other microscopes and accessories.
Stephen Parker’s sales table
Nachet 300 binocular compound with DIC [by Stephen Parker]
Robert Ratford
Mike Samworth was selling Nikon E400 and E200 stands, an ergonomic binocular head, a trinocular head, condensers, objectives, etcetera. He also had some brochures, books, slides and various pieces of equipment.
Chris Kennedy and Mike Samworth (right)
Some of Mike Samworth’s slides
Mike Samworth’s sales table [by Thanya Nirantasook]
(Chris Kennedy, Jonathan Crowther, Alan Wood, Grenham Ireland and Chris Ramon)
Mark Shephard was selling several sets of slides, some accessories, and an unusual Meopta stereo microscope that allows the head to be tilted.
Mark Shephard
Some of Mark Shephard’s slides
Mark Shephard’s microscopes
Chris Thomas sold an Olympus BH compound microscope very quickly. It needed a pair of eyepieces, which the buyer then purchased from Alan Wood.
Olympus BH binocular compound microscope [by Chris Thomas]
Alan Wood was selling a few Olympus, Leitz and Zeiss eyepieces, and some Olympus items (PM-ADF, CH-2 condenser and BH-2 binocular head).
Alan Wood’s sales table [by Thanya Nirantasook]
Peter Wyn-Jones was selling a trinocular Leitz Ortholux II fitted for incident and transmitted light, complete with EF objectives, eyepieces, condenser, Ploemopak incident light unit, lamp houses for halogen and mercury vapour, and power packs.
Peter was also showing and selling the new Quekett promotional mugs.
Peter Wyn-Jones
It was a Quekett meeting, so there was lots of gossip and interesting people to talk to.
Gossip
(Chris Ramon, Stephen Durr, Peter Sunderland and John Gregory)
Alan Wood photographing the event [by Thanya Nirantasook]
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to Mark Shephard, Stephen Parker and Lisa Ashby for successfully organising Microscopium again, with some very happy buyers and sellers, and to those who put out and packed away the tables and chairs.
Report and most photographs by Alan Wood