This compound microscope was donated to the University of Coimbra in 1731 by Jacob de Castro Sarmento, a Portuguese Jewish physician who was living in London at the time. The gift was intended for the medical professors of the University of Coimbra to aid their botanical and anatomical observations. It was later transferred to the Physics Cabinet, although the exact date is unknown. It first appeared in the 1788 Index Instrumentorum catalogue, which was probably compiled in 1782.
This remarkable instrument is on display in the former Chemical Laboratory building at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra.