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3D vintage cards

5,00

3D vintage cards

Description

3D vintage cards.
Stereoscopic photography was born in the mid-1800s together with the first cameras and was immediately successful until the phenomenon of cinema exploded. It encountered a new interest in the 50s of the 20th century and we are proud to offer it back to our customers.
The original photos are taken with a stereoscopic camera with two lenses and mounted on a ticket with lenses, through which the three-dimensional image printed in sepia creates a real dive into another era.
The postcard format is at the same time very functional both as a container and as a means of communication with which it is possible to re-propose that “magic” that enchanted our great-great-grandparents.
3D Postcard with the real story
It was 1992 when I saw it first – a beautiful wooden box, like old binoculars. An elderly Indian woman presented it for sale on a blanket in a park in Montevideo, Uruguay. I pressed my eyes against the lenses and at that moment, I found myself as if under the hot sun at the pyramids of Giza. I could almost touch them! I was captivated!
I just looked, I didn’t buy. I knew there was no room, even for a handkerchief, in my suitcase and in front of me was a three-month theatre run in South and Central America.
At our next stop in Buenos Aires, in the antique district, I went to an old camera store. The owner, originally a Russian Jew, showed me several stereoscopes. He then presented me a very rare one, made specifically for the Titanic.
“Where are you from?” He asked. “From Prague,” I replied. “Please wait”, he said and then ran off and returned with a stereoscopic image of Charles Bridge and Prague Castle. I was fascinated.
After a while he told me, “You don’t need a viewer. Buy a stereo camera!” I couldn’t resist. And so, it began.
The idea was born at home, early in the morning, while I was half asleep. “Got it!” I blurted at my wife. For the next six months, I was completely consumed – I just drew, cut, folded, glued …” But what about the lenses? “Nothing is impossible!” I said to myself and went to my old friend for advice. And as it happens, he introduced me to his acquaintances. Zdenek was a collector – a collector of everything, he was small in stature, with his shoes a little worn and a jacket that had seen a lot. Instead of a tie, a child’s magnifying glass swayed around his neck. He kissed my wife politely. He sat down in his chair and began to talk about art, mathematics, astronomy, and optics. He was a man of unparalleled knowledge.
But since I am not really a physicist, the three of us went to the Prague Scientific Institute for advice and we were very lucky. Completely by chance, we met the founder of the Institute and the inventor of contact lenses, the Czech professor Otto Wichterle. We were introduced and although the professor was just leaving he sat back down and started to do calculations.
After a moment, Zdenek shyly leant over the professor’s shoulder and coughed quietly.
“Professor … Doctor … if you allow me …I think there is a mistake here…”
The professor raised his eyebrow for a moment and said, “Man, you’re right.”
Minutes later, Zdenek piped up again. “Doctor … Professor … excuse me, please … but you may have a little mistake there”.
“Who are you, man?” The professor thundered.
“Pensioner, former plasterer from Barrandov Film Studios”.
And now the professor laughed loudly, astonished.
Half an hour later, with our calculations in hand, we cheerfully marched out of the building
Then things moved fast. We took our old blender and dust from the streets of Prague, and made grounds and began to grind the mould. The first lenses were baked using a celluloid school ruler in the oven, in a house located in the beautiful Baroque Vrtbovská garden in Malá Strana. At the Research Institute of Optics, the lenses are kept as unique objects, to this day, even with those marked millimetres and digits from the ruler.
Then I just had to make a little paper jigsaw, make pictures of Prague and I could start production. It was in 1993.Thank you for your interest in my 3D postcard that comes with a real story.
Yours faithfully,
Jan Vít.

P.S.: Professor Wichterle made his first contact lenses using the Mercury children’s kit, also at home. His lenses are used by millions of people around the world today.

Additional information

Weight 27 g
Dimensions 10,5 × 14,9 × 0,4 cm

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