A MAKER OF EYES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20886, 30 May 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MAKER OF EYES.

PEOPLE AND IDOLS FITTED.

STRANGE TASKS FOR EXPERT.

UNUSUAL LONDON WORKSHOP

The manufacture of .artificial eyes for people, mascots and idols is the unusual work carried on daily over a small shop in New Oxford Street, London.

This strange business has been in existence for 150 years. The present manager is the great-grandson of tho founder of the firm, and lie has a young son and daughter helping him.

Many famous people have come to this eye-maker in despair and gone away overjoyed. Mis visitors' book contains signatures of society leaders, a popular cricketer, war heroes and an American millionaire. Many women have been thankful to him for his artistic and realistic reproductions of their eyes. llis artificial eyes arc so convincing that even in a photograph no difference shows between the real eye and Iho artificial eye. America, curiously enough, has no maker of artificial eyes. Americans import from Europe all the artificial eyes they need. This eye-maker comes across many interesting peoplo in the course ot his

day's work. There was the man who could not leave off crying through .in unusual activity of tho tear gland. The eye expert perfected a most ingenious little arrangemont to enable the man to face the world dry-eyed. Onco a ship's steward came to him with a blind eye on which the surgeon had decided it would be dangerous to operate. The cunning eye-maker managed to fix a realistic artificial eye over the blind eye. Then there was a girl whose appearance was entirely spoiled by a crude imitation eye. The eye-maker soon put that right, for his eyes are an exact counterpart of the real thing, down to the tiniest veins. The pupils even contract and dilate as the natural eye would do. Rome of the orders which reach the maker of eyes are extremely amusing. One man came in for a pair of large, fiery red eyes for a silver dragon mascot, which was to protect his car. An even stranger request came from two Indians. They asked the eye-maker to devise a pair of sparkling eyes suitable for a 6tatue of Buddha in their native temple. These eyes werfc duly executed, and the god's precious jewelled eves stored in a safe place, to be brought out on holidays and high occasions.