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Chrome-plated brass and leather telescope signed W. OTTWAY from the first war 1915

About the Item

Chrome-plated brass and leather telescope signed W. OTTWAY & Co Ltd Ealing London A49 in use by British Army officers during World War I. Single-length focus, focal diameter cm 3 - inches 1.2, maximum length cm 62.5 - inches 24.6, minimum cm 43.5 - inches 17.2. Good condition fully functional, complete with custom-made wood and brass stand base. Probably founded in the late 19th century in Ealing, London, the firm traded under the name W. Ottway & Company Ltd. until 1968; after 1948 the firm was taken over by Hilger & Watts while retaining its original name. Curiosity Secondo la leggenda, un giorno imprecisato del 1608 i figli di Hans Lipperhey, che era un occhialaio di Middelburg , stavano giocando nel laboratorio del padre con delle lenti. When one of the sons put a concave lens next to his own eye, holding a convex lens in his other hand, and reaching out his arm in the direction of the tip of the cathedral bell tower he looked through it, he saw the wind-marking rooster at the top grow larger and closer. Immediately showing the phenomenon to his father, he fixed the lenses on a plank to make observation easier, thus creating the first rudimentary telescope. Galilei never claimed the invention of the telescope, but della Porta, feeling defrauded of the invention, wrote in a letter to Federico Cesi in 1609: "...of the secret of the telescope I have seen it et it is a coglioneria, et it is taken from my book IX De Refractione..." Indirectly disproving della Porta, when Galilei showed the telescope to some senators of the Venetian Republic, the astonishment it aroused was enormous. The last photo is the gift box.
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 24.6 in (62.49 cm)Diameter: 1.2 in (3.05 cm)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Period:
    1910-1919
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1915
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Milan, IT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1020238877682
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