Stereoscopes by Quirolo

Updated October 2007

Stereoscopes by Quirolo, Ardito & Paglinghi

Antonio Quirolo was the principle in a firm that manufactured stereoscopes in New York City and later Hoboken, New Jersey. He was born in 1837 and died February 3rd, 1914. For many years he lived at 114 Bloomfield Street in Hoboken. In a 1870 city directory the business was listed as Quirolo & Rousseau at 337 Broadway. He is listed in the 1874 city directory at 337 Broadway. At some point he was joined by John Ardito and John Paglinghi. In a 1870 city directory Ardito was listed as Ardito & Forza at 337 Broadway. In the 1874 city directory there is a separate listing for Quirolo / Ardito & Co. at the same address. They were issued several patents between the years 1866 and 1880. They were very inventive having designed several unique and interesting versions of the stereoscope. Paul Wing in his book “Stereoscopes, The First One Hundred Years” shows several patents and examples of their products. I will attempt to further identify their stereoscopes.

It has been noted by other collectors that Quirolo may have been in business before the Holmes/Bates design created a new demand for the stereoscope. Some similarities between Holmes/Bates viewers and Brewster viewer have been seen which might support this theory. Early designs were not patented by anyone including Oliver Wendell Holmes or Joseph L. Bates.

The first Quirolo viewers were made with rectangular shaped hoods starting in about 1866 with their first patent. This is the first patent issued for the now familiar hand held style. The first viewer design was patent #52,744 issued February 20, 1866, and had a hinged hood and folding metal nose piece for compact storage. Note that the card holder is an unusual design and found only on the earliest viewers. The end of the slide will have one of two different designs as shown below, a nice additional detail along with the wood molding trim around the hood. Paul Wing and others have speculated that this viewer was never produced but I personally have one in hand. I believe this one to be very rare.

First Patent, First Model

The folding viewer shown above likely proved to be impractical. The variant shown below has the non folding nose piece and may be found with or without a hinge for the hood which was no longer needed. Although rare, it is the more common style viewer and will be found with some slight variation in slide, handle and crossbar configurations. These viewers with metal nose pieces are seldom found.

First Patent, Second Model

This first model is later modified to a wood nose piece and will be found with round hoods and a variety of handles, crossbars and slide arrangements. It was produced in different grades from plain unfinished mahogany to highly finished rosewood veneers. The cheaper models had no fancy trim work. The brass strip on the nose is a nice feature and on these first models is a flat strip. Many of these will be found with the H. Ropes blindstamp and the first patent date on the end of the slide.

H. Ropes & Company

Henry Ropes was born in 1817 in Massachusetts, was married and had two daughters. He was listed as a “Stationer” in New York City and was in business from 1861 to 1883. Stereographs are found with his imprint; most likely he was a reseller and not a producer. Ropes had a trade list of over 4,000 views. Stereoscopes were sold with and without his imprint and bear an exact likeness to those by Quirolo. From an advertisement, “Publisher of American and Foreign Stereoscopic views (At Wholesale Only)”, “Manufacturers of Stereoscopes with recent improvements” and from a cabinet mount stereoview, “ H. Ropes Publishers, Manufacturers of Patent Combination Stereoscopes and Graphoscopes.” Despite these claims, all viewers seen to date have been made by Quirolo. The business had four locations: 1861 at 117 Fulton, 1864 at 78 Nassau, 1874 at 32 Reade, 1880 at 40 Maiden Lane.

A Ropes stereoview showing a Quirolo square hood viewer. The young lady is seated in a special photographers chair.

First Patent, Third Model, marked H. Ropes

A special feature on these models is the crossbar clip which was likely purchased from Alexander Beckers and looks like this.

About this time Quirolo produced an unusual viewer with some of the same features in the patent but with a folding pantograph design made of brass. It had a removable nose piece held in place by a thumb screw. With the nose piece removed the slide can be folded up for compact storage. The viewer had no handle forcing the user to hold it by the hood. This model was short lived likely due to cost and a patent filed in 1870 by E. K. Page and sold to Anthony which would have prohibited any other maker from producing a viewer with this type of slide.

A second patent #132,981 was issued to Quirolo on November 12, 1872. The main feature on this patent was the folding handle. Quirolo used three designs at various times and they all reference the same patent. The earliest is shown below on the left. It was a simple design made of a cast metal, painted gold, had a pivot pin and relied on a bend in the two halves of the handle for tension. The second design (middle) is made of stamped brass with a nice rope edge and has no patent information. It used a single piece round pin that presses into the handle and tension was provided by an elaborate brass cup / spring inside. The third design (right) has the same patent information but is actually marked J. A. & Co and its design is described in the company’s sixth patent #174,457, issued March 7, 1876 to John Paglinghi and John Ardito. This design used a piece of cork for tension.

A variety of viewers in both rectangle hood and round hood versions were produced. Some handles had a hole at the end to accept a base specially made with a split-metal pin to mate. The second patent shows a common round base stand.

The third patent #138,930 was issued to Quirolo on May 13, 1873. The features on this patent were tubes that slide from the shortened slide and adjustable mounts for horizontal and vertical positioning of the view. It can be found in different grades from mahogany to rosewood veneers and on stands. It was produced from 1873 to 1874. This model is the first appearance of the rounded brass nose trim as shown here. The face plate was made of one piece of wood dating it prior to 1874. Some of this model may also be stamped H. Ropes & Co. These viewers are extremely rare and made for only a few months.

The fourth patent #154,614 September 1, 1874 is issued to John Pagliughi and included a new handle hinge arrangement and a unique stand which is shown above. The base has a brass insert with a patent stamp on it. The post slid into the brass insert and was twisted to lock it in place.

Another feature of this patent is the card holders that in a previous patent Quirolo called a "Clasp." It was made of stamped brass sheet and in the patent he says that allowed him to store the stereoscope in a smaller storage box.

Quirolo’s fifth patent #156,311 issued October 27, 1874 covers a new round brass rod slide and a few small design changes in card holder adjustments. Folding wires are included here and this will become another Quirolo feature. Included in this patent is a new handle socket for a new design three legged stand. See Wing page 94. Also it should be noted that Quirolo, Paglinghi and Ardito are all working together at this date.

On the viewer shown below, note the brass tubes on the short slide. Folding wires and the metal nose trim are included and the handle hinge is now made of stamped brass. This viewer is still marked A.R.Q. for Quirolo. This viewer model is rare and with the inlay is extremely rare.

The sixth patent is #USRE6557 issued July 27, 1875. This number indicates a reissue of a previous patent, #156,311 dated October 27, 1874. It is however a different patent and sites the adjustable holder shown above from the 4th patent and a three legged stand.

The company’s seventh patent #174,457, issued March 7, 1876, is issued to John Paglinghi and John Ardito. The patent filing recorded Paglinghi's name as Pagliughi. Paglinghi was 36 years old and listed his occupation on the census as a telescope maker. Most viewers seen now will be noted as J. A. & Company. This unusual viewer uses a slightly different handle hinge (shown above right) that is marked J. A. & Co. and variants in handle and handle/stand arrangements will be found. The viewer slide used brass rails on a shortened slide. The viewers are again sold in grades in different woods and with brass or nickel plated brass trim. At least three different fancy wood trim designs were used. Some examples had a metal window trim plate behind the lenses. There are many variations of markings for patent and dates including one with no markings. A few models again had the rectangular hood. This patent also sites the same three legged stand that Quirolo sited in the sixth patent. Quirolo viewers are not common but if you find one it will most likely be this model.

On April 24, 1877 Quirolo’s first patent is reissued and assigned to Ardito. The term "mesne assignment" is used which means it was an intermediate assignment between an original grant and the last assignment. From researching the term it sounds like Quriolo may have sold his patent to someone else and Ardito then acquired it indirectly making the reissue the last assignment. In the 1880 city directory Quirolo is listed as a flower seller so it is likely that he has left the company. There may have been some bad blood between the partners as Quirolo sued Ardito in January of 1880 over the patent rights to a stereoscope stand sited in the sixth patent listed above. The Superior Court dismissed the case saying " the patent is void, on their face, for want of novelty" or in other words that a patent could not be valid for an item, in this case the legs of the stand, when stands were in common use before the patent was applied for. The decision also stated that making minor changes to an item did not make it novel enough to secure a new patent. This landmark case is still sited today in patent law. This is the stand that caused all the controversy. There were three different versions of this stand, this one used two wood screws to hold each leg to the stand.

The eighth and last patent #232,649, issued September 28, 1880 is issued to John Paglinghi & John Ardito. This viewer may have never been produced. This drawing is from the patent files.

I believe this alternate viewer shown in Wing’s book (pg 102) is identified in error and was made by Pattberg. It bears no resemblance to the viewer shown in the patent and has several features in common with other Pattberg viewers.

A Pattberg Viewer

More common viewers.

The company did produce some plain viewers like the ones shown here. The first viewer was produced about 1874. Note the wide banjo and lack of curves below the face plate. It has the plain unmarked handle hinge and the usual brass nose piece. Also note the 1874 stamped folding card holders noted above. The face plate is made of one piece of wood and it has a Beckers clip.

The next viewer has a paper hood with gold foil trim, a cast handle hinge and a flat brass nose trim. The hood is made of one piece of wood so I believe these were produced before 1875. Note the lack of folding card holder wires and the banjo shape.

The last viewer has a stamped brass handle hinge with patent information. It has no brass nose trim and non folding wires. Note the banjo shape is different and resembles later Anthony viewers. A patent date is stamped on the end of the banjo and it has a multi piece hood. I believe these were made after 1880 for or by Anthony. This particular viewer came on a unmarked Quirolo stand that had the pin at the top that went into a hole in the handle. By making the hinge this way the handle could be eliminated by simply putting the pin in a stand. It was found in Belguim.

Identifying your Quirolo viewer.

There are readily identifiable features of Quirolo viewers. The folding handle hinges shown above are a positive identifier. The metal nose trim is a feature. It may be a flat strip or partly rounded. Note the rounded trim on the third patent shown above. Lewis used a similar trim on viewers made for Anthony. This trim is rounded all the way to the viewer face where Quirolo viewers had a flat spot just before the face. To compound identification even further, Lewis also had a folding wire design of his own and also used a single screw or nail in the nose end.

Rectangular style hoods will be found on a number of early Quirolo viewers but other makers also made this style hood. I believe a number of these were imported from England in the early years. Early hoods before 1880 were made with two ply veneer whereas most other makers used three layers. Early face plates before 1875 were made of one piece of wood.

Folding wires are found on many Quirolo viewers but beware that not all folding wire viewers are Quirolo’s. Quirolo used this style of mount for folding wires. A second design is shown above on the third model viewer and still another design is shown on the fourth model viewer.

Markings: A.R.Q. sometimes the “Q” is mistaken for an “O” also found “Quirolo”, Ardito and J. A. & Co. Several have multiple patent date marks with variations to no marks at all. At least three different styles of fancy molding were used.

I believe that Anthony purchased the remains of the company or at least the patents. I have an Anthony viewer made by Lewis. It has the classic “Lilly” stamp on the crossbar common to some Anthony viewers and a Lewis patent date. Also stamped is the original February 20, 1866 patent date of the Quirolo patent.