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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Shangas, post: 476999, member: 360&quot;]For much of their history (and one might argue, even now) telescopes were very expensive items. If you couldn&#039;t afford to buy one yourself, then they were most commonly issued as rewards or gifts or presentation-pieces. I have seen a number of telescopes (and own one or two) which have dedications (however brief) engraved on them. </p><p><br /></p><p>There is a story I heard about an officer from the RMS Titanic. When the survivors reached New York, a wealthy female passenger attempted to give a gigantic cash-reward to one of the junior surviving officers as a token of their gratitude for his bravery. He refused - several times, I believe - outright - to accept the money, claiming that he was only carrying out his duties as an officer in the Merchant Navy. </p><p><br /></p><p>In the end, the lady took back the money, and she used it to buy him a beautiful naval telescope, which she had specially engraved, and she gave that to him, instead. The officer, I believe, was Harold Lowe.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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