ANTIQUE
TELESCOPES
for sale
(click on thumbnail for larger picture)
NAUTICAL or MARINE type TELESCOPES
A
Georgian MARINE or
COASTGUARD telescope signed on the draw
tube by Dollond, London,
with brown leather covered, tapered body tube on a lightweight floor standing
tripod. This late 18th or early 19th century telescope has
a single draw, lens cap to the objective and dust
slide to the eyepiece. This instrument is about 41
inches long when focussed on the distance and stands some 5 ft 5 in high. It has
a 2 1/2 inch diameter objective and is in very good overall condition with
original optics and (unusually) original leather barrel covering and even has
some traces of the original lacquer left after the past 200 years or so of
it’s life. The tripod which folds and
dis-assembles for carriage or storage was probably made in Victorian times but
makes a great portable stand on which to display the telescope or on which to
use the telescope inside or out of the house - £495
TELESCOPES on STANDS
A
WWI three draw telescope engraved on the first draw
tube TEL.SIG. (Mk IV) ALSO G.S., R & J. BECK Ltd.,
LONDON, 1915 No. 10974, and with the military arrow, on a lightweight
floor standing tripod. This telescope has brown
leather covered, tapered body tube and ray shade, leather lens cap to the
objective and to the eyepiece and comes with both high and low power eyepieces,
one fitted to the telescope and the other in a leather pouch and the stand comes
in a canvass bag. The stand has a set of extension
legs and is engraved 0 to 360 degrees around the horizontal joint, has a clamp
screw to the horizontal and a wing not to tighten the vertical joint. The
telescope is about 34 inches long when fully open,
11 inches long when closed and stands some 5 ft high. It has a 2 inch diameter
objective and is in very good overall condition with original optics and
original leather barrel covering although the leather straps have seen better
days. - £350
A
fine antique refracting telescope on a cabriole tabletop
stand by E.G.WOOD. LONDON, in its original
fitted case with all accessories.
This 19th century brass refracting telescope has original blue/black and
gold lacquered finishes, draw tube main focus and thumbwheel rack & pinion fine
focus and is engraved around the shoulder E.G.
Wood, London. It also has a clamped, thumbwheel
controlled rack & pinion steady bar and an attached sighting ‘scope focused
by a brass lever. The inside of the case lid has a trade
label for Wood, listing the address as 74 Cheapside, London. Edward George
Wood is listed as working at this address from 1852to 1893. The 39 in. long
telescope with rack & pinion and drawtube focusing extends to over 50 inches
when using the erecting terrestrial tube and focuses at about 42 inches with the
erecting set replaced with the high power astronomical eyepiece. There is also a
Newtonian eyepiece for astronomical use and a sun
filter, in the fitted case. The telescope has a
three-inch diameter objective with lacquered brass dust cap and a sliding
shutter to the eyepiece. The cabriole tripod stand folds for storage and can be
removed to fit a floor standing tripod. The optics are in excellent condition,
with no significant chips, scratches or marks and the whole instrument is in
fine condition. -£1950
HAND HELD TELESCOPES
GEORGIAN (18th - 19th century)
A
long antique decagonal tapered barrel telescope
from the late 1700’s, signed on the draw tube by Watkins,
London (1747 – 1784). This
very rare single draw “transitional” telescope has a decagonal
tapered mahogany barrel, the barrel
itself is 36 inches long and tapers from about 2 inches
diameter at the objective to 1 3/4 inches diameter at the eyepiece end. Overall
the telescope is 37 ½ inches long when the eyetube is pushed fully home and
draws out to 44 inches long to focus on objects a few yards away. The 1 ½ inch
diameter objective lens looks to me to be the original achromatic doublet in a
sealed cell developed by Dollond and Watkins in the mid 18th century
and the telescope has dust slides to both the objective
and the eyepiece. The non-retained 5 lens eye tube
unscrews into sections,
for cleaning. The telescope is complete and in fine condition for a 250 year old
instrument, focuses clearly, has all original optics (as far as I can tell) and
is complete. The only damage I can find is to one of the eye tube lens retaining
rings which appears to have been caused whilst some
previous owner was trying to remove one of the lenses for cleaning. This is a
very fine example of the 18th century decagonal, transitional
telescope which gives a good depth of field and wide field of view compared with
its contemporaries. - £995
A large antique
hand held telescope engraved on the draw tube, by Dollond,
London. A 2 inch diameter green achromatic objective lens is set
into the taper barrelled mahogany body tube, and has a sliding ray shade and
removable dust cap. The draw tube is engraved
in script, adjacent to the eyepiece, with the makers name. There is a single
draw tube, comprising 3 sections to make up the
erecting set and the eyepiece set of optics and dust slide
to the eyepiece. The telescope extends to 48 in. long
in total, from just under 38 inches fully closed. It
has some minor scratches on the polished mahogany barrel and plenty of original
lacquer on the brass work, consistent with it’s 200 or so years of age and is
in fine working order. The lenses are free from any significant flaws and the
telescope focuses clearly and smoothly. - £475
VICTORIAN
An
antique 3 draw, mahogany telescope from the middle of the 1800’s. This mid 19th
century three draw telescope has a solid mahogany straight barrel, brass dust cap
to the objective and dust slide to the eyepiece. This
instrument extends from just under 6 inches closed,
to just under 16
inches long when fully opened and has a 1 inch diameter
objective. The telescope gives a good image despite a small amount of chipping
around the edge of the objective and the telescope draws out smoothly and is
complete and in good working order. A good example of a Victorian pocket
telescope - £135
A Victorian three draw leather-barreled brass telescope,
engraved on the first draw “Cary,
181.Strand, London.” This lightweight, “German silver”
telescope has a leather covered taper barrel and ray shade to the objective. It
has its original patterned leather sleeve,
which has shrunk back over the years. This
instrument extends from ten inches closed,
to thirty-two
inches long when fully opened and
has a 2 1/4-inch diameter objective with dust
slide to the eyepiece. The optics are in excellent condition and the
telescope draws out smoothly. -
£195
OTHERS
A
pair of Antique Brass Galilean field
glasses
or Binoculars, impressed around each eyepiece “THE
LIVERPOOL”. These type of field
glasses were made from the middle of the 1800’s until optical prism technology
overtook the simple Galilean optics in the early 20th century. These, all brass,
binoculars are in good condition with brown leather covered barrels, and sliding
ray shades. The optics are fine and free of any significant scratches, chips or
cracks and they focus smoothly giving a clear image. They measure just
under 6 inches in length with shades extended and compress down to 4 inches for
storage. The main lenses are 2 inches diameter, and
the general finish is very good for the age. A fine example of this mid 19th
century instrument.
- £35
An assortment of binoculars,
including w.w.1. military, nautical, etc
LINKS
Telescopes page last updated 29/08/2010