About Wire Rim Glasses

One of the earliest styles of eyeglass frames was wire-rim glasses.

Long before the use of plastic, zyl, tortoiseshell or any other material in antique eyeglasses, there were silver or gold wire-rim glasses frames. Originally made of very thin stainless steel or gold-filled, wire-rimmed glasses didn’t have modern temple manufacturing methods, rather they stayed on the face with cable temples, wrapping all the way around the ears.

Wire rim eyeglass frames generally had a saddle bridge, as nose pads hadn’t yet been invented. This was a nose bridge style where the frames sat directly on the nose without any pads. This resulted in the wireframe glasses sitting close to the face and being very narrow overall. Later on, mother of pearl nose pads were invented, enabling these wire-rim glasses to sit further away from the face and having a wider frame width.

Wire Rim Glasses At EyeglassesWarehouse.com

At Eyeglasseswarehouse.com we have a large selection of all types of vintage wire rim eyeglasses including wire-rimmed reading glasses, gold wire rim glasses and round wire rim glasses frames. from 1880s glasses to 1940s glasses. We also have a selection of modern vintage inspired wire rimmed frames.