The Hampton Nautical Premium Quality 15" Brass Spyglass Telescope is a great gift for a nautical navigator in your family. The spyglass measures 15" when its four brass tubes, which are clear coated to protect the brass from tarnishing, are fully extended. The diameter of the objective lens is 30 mm. The spyglass is 5" when collapsed and features a smooth, hardwood wrapped handle. This spyglass also comes with a solid brass cap to protect the lens. Simply adjust the length from lens to eyepiece to bring the image into clear focus.
The 15" Spyglass is shipped in a beautiful felt-lined, brass-inlaid hardwood case. The box features brass side inlets on all sides and the Hampton Nautical solid brass anchor-with-rope logo on the top. The box is a smooth hardwood, gloss finished, measuring 6" x 4" x 4".
Custom engraving is available directly on the spyglass, in any placement, with a minimum quantity required. For custom engraved orders, please contact us.
- Polished brass spyglass body
- 15X Magnification
- Glass optics for a clear view (not plastic lenses)
- Fully functional spyglass focuses and magnifies
- Wood-cased body adds a decorative touch
- Solid rosewood box lined with felt to store spyglass
- Brass anchor emblem inset in face of rosewood box
- Custom engraving available on large quantity orders (call us for information)
Glass lenses were originally discovered by the Phoenecians, as described by Pliny, around 5000 BC when cooking fires on the desert sand caused the sand to melt. Along with these earliest glass lenses, natural crystal lenses have been used since before recorded history, and it was this type of lens that was used in the earliest model antique telescopes. In the 13th Century the English Philosopher Roger Bacon, in his treatise Opus Majus, made mention of “transparent bodies” or lenses, being arranged “with respect to our sight and objects of vision, that the rays will be deflected and bent in any direction,” so that “we may see the object near or at a distance.” This early description may be one of the first writings on what would later become the brass telescope. The first mentions of using concave and convex lenses for a brass telescope were made in 1589 when Giambattista della Porta wrote “…to make glasses that can recognize a man several miles away,” with both a concave and convex lens together “to see both things afar off, and things near hand.” Though the creator of the very first brass telescope is not known, in 1608 Hans Lippershay became the first person to apply for a patent for the device. Upon hearing of the small brass telescope model, Galileo crafted his own design in 1609, and a year later had created one with enough magnifying power to study Jupiter, the Sun, and the Moon.
