A microscope that belonged to Darwin has set a new sales record

A microscope that belonged to Charles Darwin sold for 598,500 UK pounds (nearly US$800,000) at Christie's, during its recent "Valuable Books & Manuscripts" sale. This is an unprecedented sum for a scientific object dating from the 19th century.

This instrument was designed by Charles Gould for the Cary Company around 1825. Its date of manufacture coincides with the period when Charles Darwin was studying zoophytes and organisms such as coral and sea anemones.

According to Christie's, it is one of six microscopes still in existence that was associated with the British naturalist. One of them is kept at Down House, Darwin's former family home where he worked on his famous theory of natural selection. This one, however, is the only microscope that belonged to the English naturalist and paleontologist that has ever appeared on the market.

The auction house had estimated it to fetch between 250,000 and 350,000 pounds (around $354,000 to $483,000). It surpassed that and went for 598,500 pounds (798,228 US dollars).

"The Charles Darwin Family microscope achieved a record price for a 19th century microscope at auction, and we would like to thank the Darwin Family for entrusting Christie's with this hugely important piece of scientific history," said James Hyslop, head of "Scientific Instruments, Globes & Natural History" at Christie's.

The microscope went under the hammer as part of the "Valuable Books & Manuscripts" sale. This event brought in almost 4 million pounds for the auction house (over 5.3 million US dollars).