Telescope, binoculars, and instruments

Collecting can take many forms, and collectors may be drawn to entirely different fields of interest. After more than 150 years, we still have not seen them all. In this auction, we highlight the allure of optics for this particular collector and his peers: binoculars and telescopes in all their forms.

Ever since Hans Lippershey and Galileo Galilei invented the lens and developed the telescope in the early 17th century, there has been a human desire to see what is not visible to the naked eye—to see the invisible, whether it is far away or extremely close and small.

The great seafaring nation of Britain accounts for the largest share, but there are also fine French and Swedish examples here, or why not Italian 17th-century telescopes in vellum and horn. There are also some fine brass compasses as well as ingenious small mining compasses.