WITH MAKER’S MARK OF EDWARD STANTON OF LONDON, ENGLAND
ACTIVE c. 1738 – 1744 (?)
This is an extremely rare set. There are several other extant examples, most of which are in museums, with a few others held in private collections. Among the instruments in the set are two particularly rare examples.
The instruments are set in a shagreen leather covered case with decorative brass fittings including bail style handle, and (three out of four) domed brass mounts on the bottom. The interior is covered in green velvet which is largely missing from the upper lid, and torn in a several other places, revealing what appears to be horsehair stuffing for padding. It contains the gull-wing handle (marked “STAN/TON” ), Sharp’s bone disc elevator forceps, two trephines of different sizes (one for pediatric patients, and one for adult patients), a key, brush with ivory handle, a lenticular, and two different-sized perforators – the larger one is a combination perforator/elevator and appears to be a period replacement for the raspatory.
Two of the instruments are exceptionally rare. One is the “gull-wing” trephine handle, which can be operated with one hand and fitted with interchangeable bits, and has two elevators – a pointed one and a square-ended one – built into the handle. It was claimed to haven been invented by John Woodall (1556 – 1643). In his book ‘The surgeon’s mate’ (1639), he outlines the improvements he has made to the older trepan instrument, which included the multi-purpose handle design. The second rare instrument is a special type of forceps known as a bone disc forceps elevator. After the trephine (a circular saw) cut out the disc of bone, this instrument was placed around it to lift it off the brain. It was invented by Dr. Samuel Sharp (1709 – 1778), who was an accomplished surgeon at Guy’s Hospital, London.
