Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

    

Microscope 212 (F Koristka; c. 1920)

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Francesco Koristka, Italian of Polish descent, was a maker of microscopes, cameras and other medical and scientific instruments that traded at Via S. Vittore 47 (1880 - 1895), Via Guiseppe Revere 2 (1896 - c1920), Corso Vittorio Emanuele 30 (1930s), and Via Ampere (1970s), Milan, Italy. The firm was founded in the early 1880s and the full name was Fratelli Koristka SA. Thanks to his relationships with Ernst Abbe, Koristka had the opportunity to build microscopes and photographic objectives using the Zeiss’s patents but he also built lenses of original design. Soon, the firm became one of the most important Italian makers of microscopes and one of the few Italian precision industries of the period. In 1928, two sons of Francesco Koristka, Gianfranco and Italo, continued the activity of their father with the company ‘Compagnia Generale d'ottica F.lli Gian Franco & Italo Koristka’, with headquarters in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, 30 Milano. In 1929, the firm was acquired by the Officine Galileo of Florence but continued to produce instruments under its own brand until the late 1960s. Microscope 212 is signed ‘F. Koristka, Milano’ and has the serial number 32315. The instrument should be dated to c. 1920 and came with its original wooden box. This microscope is a series D model, as described in a 1914 catalogue from the company (Figure 1). The tube is also engraved with ‘Sole British Agents, The City Sale & Exchange, London’. This company was founded in 1881 and was based at 81 Aldersgate Street, London, from about 1898 to 1931, with various other outlets and workshops around London. The company marketed optical instruments, including cameras. The company was taken over by Wallace Heaton in 1929 but continued to trade under their own name into the 1950s.

 

 

Figure 1. Series D microscope model from F. Koristka, as engraved in the firm’s 1914 catalogue.

 

 

References

Monocular microscope no.30686 by F. Koristka, Milano (https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8680/monocular-microscope-no-30686-by-f-koristka-mila), last accessed on 02.09.2021

F. Koristka (https://www.utmb.edu/ar/moody-medical-library/blocker/artifacts/microscope-collection/italian), last accessed on 02.09.2021

 

 

LAST EDITED: 02.09.2021