Doland Binoculars - Information Please

[Nick S]

Hi,

I have just inherited a really nice pair of Binoculars in their case that belonged to my Great Grandfather.  He was in the military, however the size of these looks like they might just have been used for fun....maybe even for a child.  The measure 9.5 cm and have a small compass on the bottom, along with a strange mark on the stem.  It also looks like part of the support around the eyepiece is missing - I dont suppose it is possible to get spares for this

I couldnt find them on the internet and wondered if anyone had any idea what these might have been used for and approximate date.  My great grandfather was born in 1859, so it wodul be interesting to know if these might even go back to his childhood

Thank you for your help

Nick

[BinocularSky]

Field glasses. Can't help with the date, though, but likely late 19th/early 20th century.

[Nick S]

Thank you for this - so when you say Field glasses this is military then?  He was in the Royal Artillery.  They just seem so small

[BinocularSky]

Confusingly, "field glasses" has at least three meanings (context is all! 🙂 ); I meant the first of these.:

• Originally it meant low magnification non-prismatic binoculars. Although they were not prismatic, they were not Galilean either. The erect image was achieved by the inclusion of a relay lens (or lenses) between the objective and eyepiece, in the same manner as in early nautical and terrestrial telescopes that had positive eyepieces. Field glass magnification was low because greater magnification required an unwieldy greater length.
• Some time later it came to be used to mean "any binocular designed primarily for 'use in the field' (i.e. outside)" and then to be interchangeable with "binocular".
• It can also mean a robust prismatic monocular.

HTH

 

[Merlin]

Kershaw of Leeds made binoculars for the military during WW2. Maybe what you have is an early Kershaw. Dunno.