Modern Sunglasses and NCOWS

[Major 2]

Could be Del ...they seem light in the photo, But I suppose for Torch your probably right.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I'm not an NCOWS member at this time, but I thought this would help some of you. These are the safety glasses I wear at matches. They are approved safety glasses with the little mark on them. The side shields are also included. I paid a couple hundred bucks for them, but they're the closest I could find to authentic looking ones. I figure the safety factor outweighs the cost many times over.

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Marshal......

Where did you get your glasses? Oh, by the way, NCOWS is always looking for new members.

Bill....

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Where did you get your glasses? Oh, by the way, NCOWS is always looking for new members.

I got them at the optical shop in the local Sears store. I asked them to show me safety glasses and those were one of the pairs avaialble at the time. The frames were about $50 but the zero prescription lenses brought the total way up. They cost as much as prescription ones, which they really are, but with no correction at all.

I keep thinking of joining NCOWS. I like the living history aspect of shooting although I'm a complete novice. Of course, that changes as I pick up more information. I think I can put together a fairly historically correct outfit but there's much more to know than just what to wear. The closest NCOWS club is some 3 or 4 hours away. I don't have the time to devote to starting one myself so I guess I'll need to wait for now.

[Deadeye Don]

I was bidding on these last night, but somebody wanted them more than I did. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vintage-Motorcycle-Safety-Glasses-Goggles-Leather-Sides_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ50424QQihZ009QQitemZ190234519166QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

[Deadeye Don]

Here is a pretty cool website for those interested in period correct safety glasses.

http://www.eyeglasseswarehouse.com/goggles1.html

[Dan Topper]

Sun glasses are alright but do not offer true protection.  Use safety glasses if you want protection.  We mandate side shields at our range after a shooter almost lost his vision when splater came from the side and hit his eye (his back was turned to the firing line).  Freak things happen and I don't want to risk my eyesight.  I have worn glasses since I was 5 so I am used to having them on.  Because of the strong correction I have the lightest lenses possible.  They are polycarbonate lenses  which is what safety glasses are made of.  My glasses are from "Eye Think" and the model is "Millenunum 2002."  These have an old time style to them.  They are brass wireframes with no nose pads.  They sit on the bridge of my nose like the old glasses.  I add side shileds to them when I shoot.  A quick internet search for side shileds should show you some.  My style is the B26.  It is a hard plastic that very securly mounts to the glasses.  I believe that I have the closest thing to safe period looking glasses I can get.

Dan Topper
Wisconsin Old West Shootists

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Dan....
Is there any way you can post a photo of your glasses on cas city under the current topic. If you don't have the means to post photos, you can email one to me and I'll post it for you.

Thanks for the input.

Bill

[Deadeye Don]

Dan,   Do you have a website link for those?

[Major 2]

Here is a pretty cool website for those interested in period correct safety glasses.

http://www.eyeglasseswarehouse.com/goggles1.html

Don ...that is a cool website, not only some good choice examples but some great glasses history
even a photo of TR and James Joyce at circa turn of the century.

To bad you missed the safety glasses on ebay but your shared site has some as well....

[Deadeye Don]

Major,  I priced out some of the glasses on the website I provided.  They run in the range of 85 bucks.   The pair on Ebay that I bid on were probably a good deal. 

[Fox Creek Kid]

Many people over age forty use variable lens bifocals that are exhorbitant in cost and cannot be utilized in a small lens. I already asked my eye Dr. about this. Variable lens bifocals "saved" my close shooting game after age forty.

[Major 2]

Major,  I priced out some of the glasses on the website I provided.  They run in the range of 85 bucks.   The pair on Ebay that I bid on were probably a good deal. 

Oh well  ...

[Ima Sure Shot]

I found an intersting web page "spectatcles of well known persons" with photos.  There are photographs of spectacles that exist in museums and photographs or paintings of the persons.  The author of the page notes the glasses are dated by the known death date of these persons. Check out the Bronte sisters' father's dark colored glasses. Large round frames pre-date the civil war. They look like the ones Jeff Farmer was wearing to the National Shoot.  Also Robert E. Lees colored glasses. Ima

[Deadeye Don]

Ima,  Do you have the link to the website you referenced?

[Ima Sure Shot]

http://www.antiquespectacles.com/      These are in "The On-Line Museum and Encyclopedia of Vision Aids."  The famous people are divided into birthdates. You can determine what period you want to look at or do all like me. Thay are found under the heading near the top of the page entitled,"Interesting Topics". Bronte died in 1861 according to this museum, so his glasses were certainly around during the Civil War. I especially like the photos of the glasses of Andrew Jackson.  They had four lenses.  Two lenses folded out of the way to the sides.  Inside the legs.  Looks just like side shields.  Also several examples of tinted lenses. I had read on another web page the  amber tinted lenses were for person that had syphillis. I found this museum debunks that. I found this Museum to be very Informative and Educational . Ima

[Deadeye Don]

Very cool website Ima.  Thank you for sharing it with us.

[Major 2]

EYE opening     great site Ima ,thanks

The cool thing about this thread is,  it was started as a "what if" and with the help of Ima is becoming an eductation of what "can BE"

I think , I'm going to be looking for a pair of Vintage Driving glasses with the leather sides in Amber or perhaps Blue

[Ima Sure Shot]

You are very welcome.  I wear Tri-focals, with a severe astimgatism. One has to have a large lense to get all that inside the frame and placed where I can look thru them. I cannot get safety glasses made except at very few places. I had to wear them at the job I just retired from. They are costly(at least for me).  Therefore I have one pair of glasses. They are safety glasses with side shields that are removeable.  They are the ones I wear for everything, including shooting. Ima

[River City John]

http://www.eyeglasseswarehouse.com/19th-century-spectacles.html


One of the little tidbits on this site states that the 19th cent.theory for eyeglass lens sizing was that they be about the same size as the eye they cover, so it was usual to even see large men and women wearing these seemingly small eyeglasses.

Best solution may be to have period eyewear that you can put modern clear wrap-around shooting glasses over.