Jenny Benjamin

Binoculars, of course, those were invented in the 1600s.

So it was really common opera glasses and then little mini telescopes.

They're about the size of a binocular, but just one.

So you just look through one eye when you needed it.

That's what they're for.

Or also spying on each other.

There's a lot of books of decorum.

from the 1800s about stop staring at fellow theater goers, keep your binoculars and your monoculars on the stage where they belong.

I am so sure that that must have been happening.

These miniature telescopes actually are often hidden in other objects.

You wouldn't necessarily see them.

Some of them were obviously ostentatious and meant to dazzle, but a lot of them were hidden in small objects so that they could be carried easily.

That made sense.

And also so that you wouldn't be making, pardon the pun, but you wouldn't be making a spectacle of yourself by staring at everybody.

It was cool.

What kind of things were they hidden in, like a powder compact, or how did that work?

So there were opera purses where you could have your smelling salts with your small spyglass and a fan.

Hello, you needed your fan in case things got a little heated.

And I have in the collection two beautiful examples of monoculars hidden inside perfume bottles.

The perfume bottle may also have held smelling salts.