ALEX PECK

ANTIQUE AMPUTATION AND TREPHINE SETS

Page 6

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A MATCHING SET OF WOCHER AMPUTATION AND TREPHINE SETS THAT WERE ORIGINALLY OWNED BY SAMUEL WARREN VANCE, M.D.

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amputation set, SW Vance, Wocher, 1855, out of box.wbs.JPG (35252 bytes)

amputation set, SW Vance, Wocher, 1855, cartouche.jpg (164585 bytes)

Here are two antique surgical sets that have their respective lid brass cartouches  jeweler engraved in the same hand: S.W. Vance, M.D.  Samuel Warren Vance (d. 1910) practiced in Connersville, Indiana.  He has an entry in the Medical & Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion as a pension examiner.

The superb and all original c. 1855 amputation set by Max Wocher, Cincinnati, is in a rosewood case. The surgical instruments are in pristine condition, with the steel retaining its original polish and the ebony handles their original workshop fresh finish. This cased set has some quirky aspects, such as very thin amputation knives, an unusual capital amputation saw, and a type of Petit tourniquet not known to this dealer. The address 6th bet[ween]. Vine and Race on the trade label pasted to the interior lid indicates, according to Edmonson, that the set was made in 1855.  See Edmonson, p. 249.  This pre-Civil War set was apparently never used. 

The original buyer of such amputation sets had the option of purchasing a matching trephine set.  As it so happens, the mate trephine kit to the Vance amputation set survives and, after who  knows how many years of separation, the two have been reunited.  The trade label with address is identical to that found in the amputation set.

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