Emerald/Bottle Green Lenses

[Browman]

In addition to Optiboard I'm also a member of a vintage clothing forum, and, of course, have particular interest in the vintage frames that users buy/display. Something I've noticed is the prevalence of emerald/bottle green lenses in frames dating from the first half of the 20th century. Some users who actually use the plano lenses even voice a preference for them over gray or brown. So my question is, why/when did the color fall out of popularity? Was it simply a factor of G-15 cornering the market on "green" lenses?

[uncut]

The fall in popularity was noticed about 1955 sustained by the strength of Rayban and Calobar brands of green, of which there were usually 3 available intensities. The rise in popularity of grey lenses occurred at that time.

The persuasive "natural perception of colors" was the advantage created by the color offerings of the time.

[Chris Ryser]

Just after the 2nd World War when Zeiss came back on the scene in Europe they dominated the optical sunglass market with the Zeiss Umbral lenses that were brown but absorbed the full range of UV.

Then in the 1950 the B&L Ray Bans with their gold filled (GF) aviator frames that sold for the equivalent of $ 100.00+ became the favourite of the wealthy.