Early 19th C German Neurosurgical Set

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A fine German fitted neurosurgical set dating to the late 18th or early 19th century. The velvet lined leather case is decorated with embossed surrounds.

It contain 17 compartments which accommodate a full set of instruments made from unplated polished steel, brass and horn. They are signed by Zitier, Heine and Sandill and it is likely that the boxed set was made specifically to accommodate these instruments. There are no empty spaces and the set is complete and original. Around the central trepanning brace there are two fixed hand held trephines, two detachable handles and trephines attachments, a scalpel, Hey saw, elevator, brush, scissor handled cranium forceps, a starter trephine and two raspatories. Just under the handle of the trepanning brace is a small instrument with detachable screws which connect to the handle by means of an oblong shaped loop. The small screw would have been turned into a section of cranium and then left in place, allowing it to be easily removed with the handle.

The unusually shaped pair of cranium forceps were invented in the early 18th century by Samuel Sharp (1700 – 1788). These were designed to grasp and lift out disks of bone from the skull after trepanning and the distal and ventral extensions of could secure rondelles of different sizes.

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