A rare and highly collectible antique Haab ophthalmoscope dating to 1889, presented in its original fitted case with distinctive pink silk lining. This beautifully conceived instrument represents one of the most thoughtfully designed ophthalmoscopes of the late 19th century, reflecting the exacting standards and practical vision of its creator Otto Haab — one of the leading Swiss ophthalmologists of his generation.
Haab’s ophthalmoscope features a disc with 14 lenses: six positive and eight negative, plus an empty opening. The positive lenses are +1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 diopters; the negative lenses are -1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 diopters. Haab had very specific requirements for his correcting lenses — he wanted them to be large enough to be practical yet compact enough to keep the instrument handleable. He settled on a lens of 16 diopters with a diameter of 36mm, and used the Loring style of tilt mirror, which allowed the examiner to direct light into the eye with precision and ease.
The instrument was manufactured by R. Dörffel in Berlin, who offered it for sale at a price of 25 marks — equivalent to approximately $211 USD in 2026 — making it an accessible yet high-quality instrument for the clinical ophthalmologist of the era. The complete set of components presented in the original pink-lined fitted case makes this a remarkably intact and display-worthy example of late Victorian ophthalmic instrument design.
