Antique Brass Telescope 16 Inch Size 20X Zoom with Wooden Box, Vintage Look, Dollond London Handcrafted Pirate Telescope,Fully Calibrated High Magnification,Nautical Decor Spyglass

My dad loved it, it’s so awesome. Unfortunately though, it has some breakage on the outer lens. Other than that, it’s terrific

Lovely case and well functioning spy glass. Great bird watching tool. Easily focused and beautiful.

This telescope is not a replica. It is merely *inspired by* history...and sailing...and telescopes...and an actual real guy named James Francis Tennant.I got this for my dad, and I know he's going to love his new 'antique' telescope and stand. The model I ordered seems not to be available right now, but I hope it returns to Amazon soon because it's lovely. It looks very authentically old, and it comes with a nice wooden case with soft, protective molding to keep the two separate pieces safe and secure when they're stored inside. There are a lot of nice details, both inside and out, that can really inspire your imagination and make you feel you've been transported through time and space a little more than a hundred years ago, to a ship on the high seas, perhaps.There are few weird details I've noticed about this piece, though. The case has an engraved plaque honoring "Gentleman cadet, James F. Tennant by the. Honble.. Count of Directors of the East India company." Note the odd punctuation; it made me curious about whether or not it was historically accurate, so I did a bit of research. There really was a James Francis Tennant, and he really did attend a Military Seminary of Addiscombe. However, his public examination (which I am assuming is kind of like defending a thesis) was in 1847, not 1915 as the plaque on this telescope says. In fact, the plaque says it was presented in June of 1915...three months after the real Tennant had died, and his commemorative gift was actually a sextant, not a telescope. So I'd say this item may be *inspired by* a real historical person, but it certainly isn't true to history. Also, I found the original plaque from which this 'sort of replication' is derived. The punctuation on it is normal and as expected, which, at the risk of being too pedantic, makes me think the weird punctuation here must be accidental and unintended.None of that will matter to many people considering this telescope, but I think it's important to be clear that it isn't a replica. That said, it looks really cool! It is very antiquey, but it actually works. No instructions or any information of any kind come with this telescope, so you just have to figure it out for yourself. That's fine, but it requires a lot of handling of the piece, after which I noticed that my fingers were all dirty with some dark substance. I'm not sure, but I think the brass is oil-rubbed to give it its antiquey appearance, and that oil rubbed off on my hands. A heads up from the seller or manufacturer would have been appreciated.All in all, I'm pretty happy with this telescope, especially as a gift item. It's unique, it looks really cool, and it actually works! It isn't an historically accurate replica--but importantly, it doesn't claim to be. It also made my hands dirty. Still, I think it's going to be a hit with my dad, and it's well worth the current price of around $65, so I'm happy to give it four stars.

Well, I really did not expect much from this "vintage look" telescope but nevertheless decided to give it a try just because I'm a big fan of vintage and antique items and a sort of a collector, I like feel, smell and look of antique things and my home is filled with all sort of old trinkets. Taking into account that I'm working in the high-tech industry, this feels weird at times, but I guess it's a sort of psycho-therapeutic relief for me that helps me escape from the modern world into old times. Enough of escapades, let's get to the actual review.So, it was packaged in a plain brown box that did not promise much at all. But when I pulled out the wooden box this feeling changed to excitement. The wooden box is extremely well made, every detail is refined, it feels solid and of very high quality. Just look at the photos - such a beautiful wood grain, all sides have brass reinforcement insert just like boxes were made in old times, the locks are so intriguing. Every detail looks perfect.One important disclaimer, it's not full size large telescope like you can imagine from the title and from stock photos. It's a smaller size spyglass, 12 inch long. So if you expect something that you look at moon crater forget it :). Please check my photo with a ruler to get your expectations in check with reality :).The telescope itself and its tripod is very well made to look as close as possible to an authentic vintage item that was made 100 years ago or so. It's solid brass, polished to perfection and aged with some patina to give it this old, even ancient, look and feel. The telescope is very much functional too! So you have to extend its tube on both ends, the only complaint I have is that the eyepiece side is really hard to extend, you have to pull it out with force and rotate at the same time. I don't think it's how it's supposed to be, it is just too tight fit. But because this is a handmade product, I wasn't disappointed at all, this is just one side of authenticity - not all pieces are perfectly fit to each other.Once you fully extend the telescope tube, you can use it! That's right, it works pretty well. Don't expect anything like top notch image quality like from Vortex, Leopold or SigSauer optics, but it's pretty decent. Focus plane can be changed with a turn of a brass ring in the middle of the telescope and gives you a wide range of adjustment. The tripod is nice for table top usage, or you can put it on your windowsill. The tripod is also very well made and has height adjustment.Bottom-line: Yes I definitely recommend this telescope as a gift to someone (or yourself) who's into vintage stuff.Pros:1) All brass.2) Handmade.3) Functional piece!4) Authentic look and feel.5) Attention to every fine detail.6) Beautiful wooden box.7) Perfect gift for every occasion :).Cons:1) Some pieces don't fit very well.2) Extending tube is very hard.3) Smaller than expected.

So right off I am guilty of taking things out of focus (PUN) and thinking they are larger or smaller than they actually are. This scope is not tiny, but its not large either. Where the pictures make it seem much larger than it is. Its actually pretty small.The scope itself is well made with quality metal that isnt the cheap pot metal painted like a lot of others in this realm. The attention to detail is nice and its well embellished with text and patina. It feels heavy in the hand and to the lay person looks like an authentic historical piece.As far as the useablilty is concerned thats why Im deducting one star from this. You can see through this, but the optics are horrific and are by no means aligned. There is terrible vignetting and focus issues. However I didnt buy it to actually use it as a scope and I assume most people wouldnt either. It would do in a pinch, but I wouldnt do any bird or people watching with it.All in all this is a nice little setup that was well made with some quality parts. The optics however are lacking, but I assume most people are buying it for aesthetics and not to use to look through