Featured Any info on large old? brass & leather(?) telescope

Discussion in 'Antique Discussion' started by journeymagazine, May 25, 2022.

  1. journeymagazine

    journeymagazine Well-Known Member

    I found this at my regular thrift store today. And because there were no markings on it the manager told me I could buy it for $10!

    So I did - and now I'm hoping this is an old pirate's telescope, and knew if I wanted to find out exactly what I had - I needed to bring it here!

    Any thoughts?

    20.5" L closed
    36.25" L open
    2.25" w

    Thanks!

    TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 1AA.JPG TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 1AA_AA.JPG TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 1AAA.JPG TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 1AAAA.JPG TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 2AA.JPG TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 2AAA.JPG TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 3AAA.JPG TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 4AAA.JPG TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 6AA.JPG TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 7AA.JPG
     
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  2. journeymagazine

    journeymagazine Well-Known Member

    Here's a close up of front of lens

    TELESCOPE BRASS & LEATHER 1 DRAW 6AAAA.JPG
     
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  3. wlwhittier

    wlwhittier Well-Known Member

    No question about age...it's got plenty.

    As you extend it, a little at a time, it should retain a good deal of rigidity. There may be some looseness, but the optical axis should remain very nearly a straight line from eyepiece to objective lens, from fully closed to fully extended. They weren't made to 'telescope' for storage convenience: that's how focus was achieved. When that was built there probably weren't a lot of knock-offs or cheaply made telescopes...Pirates and other seafaring folks all needed a good glass, for the safety of ship & crew...a faulty telescope could cost everything!
     
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  4. Robert Ransom

    Robert Ransom Well-Known Member

    I suspect this is a surveyors scope?
     
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  5. wlwhittier

    wlwhittier Well-Known Member

    It's only 2-section. I don't know enough to say.
     
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  6. Firemandk

    Firemandk Well-Known Member

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  7. Firemandk

    Firemandk Well-Known Member

    Last edited: May 26, 2022
    judy likes this.
  8. Ce BCA

    Ce BCA Well-Known Member

    The sections will probably unscrew and there may be a makers stamp hidden underneath somewhere.
     
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  9. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

  10. Gus Tuason

    Gus Tuason Well-Known Member

    Great buy! Would have had a slide closure on the eyepiece and a cap to protect the lens on the other. Does the short, brass tube also slide into the leather encased portion? I suspect that the one draw was easier to work on a tripod (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir). I also think that the leather did not wear well at sea and many were twine wrapped after a time. While I believe this telescope to be 18th century, I also believe that it did not spend much time at sea. Are you sure that the covering is leather or is it wood?
     
  11. journeymagazine

    journeymagazine Well-Known Member

    Front part doesn't go into telescope.
    It may be wood - that was my first thought but I figured I was wrong because they wouldn't make one with wood - any way to be sure?
    Was it for the sea or a surveying telescope?
    Than you all!!
     
  12. journeymagazine

    journeymagazine Well-Known Member

    The front part was loose and I was able to screw it tight - if I unscrew it there may be the maker's name in there? Is it difficult to put back (will the lens come out?)
    Any idea where this was made?
    Thank you!
     
  13. journeymagazine

    journeymagazine Well-Known Member

    The ends of mine look like this one! Even the ridges around front lens! Is mine french circa 1800's?
     
  14. Ce BCA

    Ce BCA Well-Known Member

    They are usually meant to come apart for maintenance (you need to clean the lenses inside from time to time etc). Most are simple screw and drop in mounts for the glass so easy to do if you have any kind of diy skill. If there are lenses inside then the drawer should also unscrew to allow for maintenance. I don't think it is common for names to be hidden inside, but if it's easy to do so may as well check.

    Here's a Cary one I had recently, arrows are where is could be unscrewed:

    2808 cary london telescope (5 of 7) copy.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

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  15. Shangas

    Shangas Underage Antiques Collector and Historian

    Telescopes were extremely expensive in the 1700s, 1800s, and fake telescopes certainly existed back then (I know, because I have one in my collection. I bought it specifically because it was a fake, to prove to people that just because it's old doesn't mean it's real, but I'm deviating from the point here...)

    Anyway...

    Age? I'd say early 1800s, late 1700s. The way the eyepiece is put together suggests that sort of timeframe. Also, the sliding "guillotine" lens-shutter (missing) is a common feature on late 1700s and early 1800s telescopes, as is the "bell" shaped eyepiece.

    Because telescopes were so expensive, they had to be easy to look after - so yes, they were designed to be pulled apart. Unscrewed, so that you could clean the lenses and blow out dust, etc.

    A telescope has a BARREL (the main body) and then it has DRAW TUBES. The draw-tubes are the brass pipes that slide out. One tube = one draw.

    Really early telescopes like this usually only had one or two draw-tubes. Later Victorian ones usually had 3-4. I've got a couple which are five or even seven or eight.

    Where was it made? That I couldn't tell you. But I can tell you with pretty high certainty that this is at least 200-ish years old. It's Georgian. A Victorian telescope looks very different.

    As for materials, I can assure you - yes they would make a telescope out of wood. It's cheaper than brass, after all, and telescopes with wooden barrels were extremely common.
     
  16. Shangas

    Shangas Underage Antiques Collector and Historian

    Here's a telescope from the late 1700s - early 1800s.

    [​IMG]

    Here you can see the sliding lens-shutters at either end, designed to keep the lenses from damage, rain, dust, etc. Yours likely would've had similar ones. I'm not sure why they stopped making them like this - I think it's kinda cool - but it's a feature that disappeared on later Victorian-era telescopes.
     
  17. wlwhittier

    wlwhittier Well-Known Member

    Very Well Done! Thanks for quite a bit of first-class education!
     
  18. journeymagazine

    journeymagazine Well-Known Member

    Thank you - very, very much!
     
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