Troughton telescope: 3 draw, brass and mahogany
Stock Number: 126
£160
For sale is a 3-draw brass telescope with a mahogany barrel, made by Edward Troughton, of Fleet Street, London, around 1820.
Dimensions
29 inches extended, 9.5 inches closed
Circa
1820
Country of manufacture
UK and Ireland
Description
This telescope is labelled with an engraving “Troughton, London” on the first of the three brass draws. These are all contained within the mahogany barrel, which has brass fittings at either end, retained by very small screws, the original screws. It has a flat eyepiece with a winking cover, and a detachable objective cap. Overall length is 29” extended, and 9.5” closed: the diameter is 1.875”. Edward Troughton worked at “The Orrery”, 136 Fleet Street, from 1804-26: the design suggests that this telescope was from the latter part of this period. In 1926 he went into partnership with William Simms, and the company name changed to Troughton and Simms, but continued at 136 Fleet Street. (An Orrery is a mechanical model of the Solar System).
The telescope gives an excellent image, but shows some signs of wear to the barrel and the draws. The screw threads holding the draws in place are fine and tight.
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]
