Dollond telescope, 3 draw mahogany, from circa 1795
Stock Number: 338
£320
Now for sale this is a 3 draw telescope of a classic design, engraved "Dollond, London", with a mahogany barrel and split first draw to hold the lenses. Probably dating from 1790-1800.
Dimensions
28 inches
Circa
1795
Country of manufacture
UK and Ireland
Description
For sale, this 3 draw telescope is 28″ long and nearly 2″ diameter, made to a classic design by Dollond in London. All lenses are perfect, and the first draw splits into three sections to hold the four lenses of the eyepiece section. Possibly used in the Armed Forces, but these units were also sold to estate owners. Closed, the length is 9.5″. The view is perfect, and the scope gives a high magnification. The eye lens has a sliding cover, which brings across a ruby filter – used to allow the user to look at the Sun for monitoring eclipses etc, so this could have been designed for use on a scientific expedition. The sliders between the draws are made according to the Dollond patent, with mounting shoulders separated from the mounting thread, making the extended scope very stable. From the design, the scope dates from the period 1790-1800.
Over 200 years old there is some external damage which does not affect the function of the scope: the wooden barrel has a crack, arising from an obvious impact point, where the damage has been filled and levelled off. Also the first draw has a couple of knocks to the brass. Some of the screws attaching the brass to the barrel are missing, but there is no movement in these joints.
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]
