Vintage Frames Give A-Boss Optical a Unique Look

Linda Boss has about 3,000 modern-style eyeglasses frames to choose from in her Brookline Boulevard store, .

But that’s only about half of what she has to offer.

She also has somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 antique and vintage frames, and now, she’s decided to sell her extensive collection.

“I sort of wanted to simplify my life,” Boss said, laughing. “I started to sell the collection and would sell one at a time as people asked. I’ve never put them out publically before.”

A sample of the collection is displayed down the street at , and more are available at Boss’s store.

Boss’s collection started when her father opened the first branch of A-Boss Optical in Braddock more than 40 years ago. He bought the businesses as-is, she said, and the former optician had left several frames behind.

“He had no interest in keeping them, so I took them to keep in a safe place,” Boss said.

She continued to collect frames through antique shows, and her collection quickly grew to include classic cat-eye frames, pinc-nez, gold-filled frames and other unique styles from the 1800s through the 1970s.

The vintage and antique frames are on sale for between $50 and $150, plus the cost of lenses. Although most of her collection is for the collector—not to be worn—Boss said she could put prescription lenses in most frames, unless the material has become too brittle.

She can make sunglasses or readers out of almost any frame, and also can repair most modern or vintage frames.

Boss said she’s hoping for a good response to the vintage and antique frames, especially since the bolder styles of the 1950s have come back into style.

“A lot of that is coming back into style. You see the younger people wearing them and people are asking for those bolder frames,” she said. “It would be nice to get a good response.”