This is probably the cheapest microscope stand I ever bought. If memory serves me right, I paid some 30 -35 Euros for it.
It's from the Belgian former microscope manufacturer O.I.P. de Gand.
The stand was part of a lot made to special custom order for a university bacteriology lab.
It was equipped with an original O.I.P. 11x achromat, an unusable WILL Wetzlar 40x achromat, and a very good Olympus 100x oil achromat. No name eyepiece, a regular Abbé-condenser.
It has a tube length of 170mm, which is rather unusual for a non-Leitz microscope.
I contacted O.I.P. at the time (the company went broke in the 1980's, was taken over by Dutch Old Delft. It still exists, but they're no longer in the microscopy business).
A very friendly receptionist, gave my phone number to one of the former teamleaders, responsible at that time for the project.
He called me some time later and he remembered that particular project very well. "It was a rather difficult customer, you know. We had to rework this, rework that... But in the end it was worth it: it turned out to be a very good microscope, at par with the best, say Zeiss, Leitz, Hensoldt".
He also told me that the 170mm tube length was chosen for one reason only: the lab had a lot of Leitz optics and, being on a thight budget, they wanted to reuse as much as possible...
The microscope had been stored on an attic for years and it was in a dreadfull condition. One of my first experiments in restoring an old microscope stand and it turned out rather well.
I still have it, but my daughter (11) is increasing to pressure to donate this particular stand to her school... And in the end she always gets what she wants.
Edited by Microscopy, 23 January 2018 - 02:40 AM.