librarycompany:

Are you in the market for a new pair of specs? These blue-tinted horseshoe spectacles would make quite the fashion statement! Likely produced between 1830 and 1835, this pair is marked with the brand name “McAllister” on one arm, and a flower on the other.

The McAllister family was important in Philadelphia for over a century as businessmen, manufacturers, and collectors. 

John McAllister Sr. (1753-1830), emigrated from Scotland in 1775 and became a successful whip and cane manufacturer in the city. In 1796 he bought a stock of spectacles. What began as an unusual sideline became the McAllister family’s future as manufacturers and proprietors of optical equipment. By 1830, spectacles had totally eclipsed their earlier specialty. 

In 1807 his son John McAllister Jr. (1786-1877), a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, joined the business, and became a named partner in 1811. The McAllister company remained prominent on Chestnut Street for decades as it expanded to become nationally known manufacturers and retailers of optical equipment, mathematical instruments, and commercial photographs.

John McAllister Jr. & Co. D-horseshoe spectacles. Philadelphia. ca. 1826-1837, probably 1830-1835

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