Victorian 44 inch tapered wooden barrel single draw naval telescope C19
Stock Number: 64
£220
A single draw telescope for sale, with a tapered wooden barrel and a single draw, 2.5 inch objective, engraved D Davis of Glasgow.
Dimensions
44 inches long, 2.5 inch diam.
Circa
1880
Country of manufacture
UK and Ireland
Description
A Victorian naval telescope with a long tapered wooden barrel – the visible wood is over 32 inches long, the telescope is 44 inches long with the single brass draw fully extended. Despite the length it is easy to hand hold, the barrel being relatively light. The objective lens is excellent, 2.25 inches diameter, overall the magnification is high, and the focussing is very easy. The single draw is engraved D Davis in Glasgow, reported to have worked in the late C19th This scope was undoubtedly built for the Master of a sailing ship, of the type that travelled to Australia, or a tea clipper bound for China in the late 1800s.
Everything works, and unscrews where it should. The wooden barrel has some cracks, with one straight one along the full length which is likely to be a glued joint, rather than a crack. The most significant marks can be seen in the photos. The internal lenses look perfect, the objective has one small chip on the edge, as seen in the photographs, altho it is very small. The single draw has a couple of slight dents, and there is a dent on the brass mount at the inner end of the barrel, which can be seen on the photos.
Ask the Dealer
Dealer information
Telescope Collector
I first started using a telescope in the 60s, to identify aeroplanes arriving at Yeadon airport, in Yorkshire. Then I started to collect and restore vintage brass scopes in the 1990s. The collection boomed later, in the early days of the internet, rising to around 300 in number. Since then I have made a lot of friends via the internet, advising them on how to identify, date or repair their scopes. At the age of 74 I need to disperse these wonderful bits of engineering history, because they still work today as well as they did 200+ years ago! That is the fascination....Some of my collection have already been sold to collectors spread around, in the UK, USA, Ireland, Israel, France and Germany. Several have been returned to the UK descendants of the people who made them, or relatives of their previous owners, because they found the stories on my website. Now the collection needs to be dispersed more systematically. If you are looking for a specific telescope, just ask, maybe I have one! If you want better pictures of the telescopes shown here, these can be emailed. Nick Denbow, based in Alresford, Hampshire: contact via email on [email protected]
