Bill i collect kaleidoscopes-- and have some beautiful ones-- I have one that is not a kaleidoscope proper, but is a karascope-- instead of having a set of mirrors to create 3/6/12/etc symetey, it has a number of peices of polorized lenses...
as the polorized lenses over lap, only certain band widths of color pass-- it really help you "see" the difference between "white" light, florecent light, incandecient light, and halogen light-- (which is very "white") since light that doesn't have full spectrum to begin with loks very different with polorizing lenses. The kara scope is sold by MOMA-- (NY Met. Mus. of Modern Art)
most kaleidoscopes don't have proper prisms (but rather have mirrors to refect images) But i do have a kaleidoscope that doesn't have any "little beads" or bits of colored glass, but rather has a cut crystal at the end, this sometimes acts like a prism--
