late 18th / early 19th century

An English optician established in Paris, Sykes was a retail merchant having the status of 'Marchand miroitier suivant la Cour'. He acted as an import agent for English makers in France. In 1789 his stock was described as 'Bijouterie, clincaillerie, les instrumens de physique, d'optique, les curiosités, &c ... pour la physique & l'optique particulièrement les objets de fabrique anglaise'.1 In 1782 Jean Paul Marat stated that the adaptation of the solar microscope for examining heated objects, which he called his 'helioscope', could be obtained from 'Sikes'.2 In 1784 Cassini purchased a Dollond reflecting telescope with 6 eyepieces for magnifications from 700 to 3000. On a receipt delivered to Cassini in the following year Sykes described himself as 'Opticien du Roy', and at the same period he sold to the observatory a pair of globes of 3.5 foot diameter by Coronelli for the price of 1764 livres.3 These he had obtained at the sale of the effects of the Marquis de Marigny. Two instruments carrying his trade label define his activity: 'Sykes opticien, privilégié du Roi, place du Palais Royal à Paris, maison du Caffé de la Régence au premier, où il tient magasin anglais de toute sorte d'instruments d'optique, de mathématique et de physique, ainsi que de lunettes et crayons d'Angleterre et vues optiques des plus enluminées. Le tout à prix fixe'.4 In 1779 Benjamin Franklin ordered a pair of bi-focal lens, presumably of his own invention, from him. Between 1783 and 1785 Cassini negotiated with him for a parallactic mounted Gregorian telescope with 9 eye-pieces having powers from 150 to 3000. The initial price of 8000 livres with two years to pay was finally negotiated down to 6000 livres.5 Another of Sykes' customers was J.H. de Magellan with whom he had problems when a chest of instruments intended for Bochart de Saron went astray, perhaps in Dollond's warehouse.6 A remarkable monocular spyglass was supplied by him to Marie-Antoinette. the body tube is made of Sèvres porcelain with polychrome decoration of birds in foliage, the lens mounts are of blackened ivory while the body tube of silver is engraved with the combined Habsburg and Bourbon arms.6 A Withering botanical microscope (first form) carrying Sykes' name is also known.8 According to the inscription on a protractor,9 Sykes also had a branch or a depot in Bordeaux.







7 Louwman colection.

1 Tablettes 1789.
2 Jean Paul Marat, Recherches physique sur l'électricité, Paris 1782, cited from Heering 9.
3 M. AdS 1784, 334, cited from Daumas 228; Augarde 56.
4 Label in tthe box of a solart microscope, Musée du CNAM N° 1833. Another label in the box of a sextant by Dollond, CNAM 4.217. Daumas 317.
5 Daumas 318 citing ms Obs D-5.40.
6 Letter from Bochard de Saron to Magellan, Bodleian Library, Ms Rigaud 38 ff167r-168r, no date but probably early August 1792, certainly no later. For a sector carrying Sykes name see Sotheby's 25.2 86 lot 156.
8 Lentz collection.
9 Tesseract 98 N° 18.

Bordeaux Protractor: Tesseract 98 N° 19

1595

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