How do you describe such a magnificent telescope?


Note one of the chips out of the enamel on the barrel, the only sign of any wear!
Engraved information

How does it perform?

Dimensions and value

How do you describe such a magnificent telescope?
Note one of the chips out of the enamel on the barrel, the only sign of any wear!
This is a classic telescope as sold in an Ebay sale of antiques, a Dolland three draw leather covered brass telescope. Run of the mill, lots about, not a high value product, mass produced in the early 1800s.
So why did I buy it, at a very inflated price compared to any others? Because this one is different.
Readers of this site will be aware that the name Dolland possibly became a generic name for telescopes with an achromatic objective lens, giving the better performance of the telescopes originally patented by Dollond in the 1760s. So Dolland telescopes became cheap copies of the Dollond standard. However, while this telescope might be a lower cost version of the real thing, it has been kept in an air-tight tin (metal) case for over 150 years, I would guess.
The telescope is pristine, it has no corrosion to the brass, and the leather is looking healthy, and with no stretch to the stitches. What is more the edges of the sliders on the objective and the eyepiece feel sharp, they have not been worn smooth by use or wear. It looks like the telescope has never been used. No old polish secreted in the corners either.
Dimensions are: opened length 34.5″ without sunshade extended, or 37″ total: 12″ closed. Overall diameter 2+3/8″, container diameter 2.5″. Came from a house clearance in Bury St Edmunds.
So perhaps it should be put in a glass case in a Museum? I may be one of the few people who have looked thru it, and it works really well: the lenses have no dust and have never been cleaned, they have never needed it.
The screw threads are not as good as they could be, ie not as good as the Dollond versions, but this is what characterises the Dolland units. The tube walls are probably thinner than the Dollonds, so will not be as robust in use, but in this example are looking good!
There is no way I am going to touch it further, except for trying to wipe off some recent fingermarks: it is to stay bottled up. Even the photos used here are from the Ebay sale page. One day there will be some Museum that needs such a brilliant specimen!
Accession number 281.
Whatever you collect, it is always of particular interest to find an item that has a particular relationship with the village or area where you live. For me this was slightly more difficult than usual, I thought, as I collect terrestrial telescopes, ie the sort of hand-held telescopes that were used on ships. So living inland, in Alresford, there would be quite a limited number of naval telescopes linked to here.
My one real hope was Lord Rodney, George Brydges Rodney, who was brought up by his godfather, George Brydges of Avington Park. After winning some prize money at the battle of Finisterre in 1747, when in command of the 60 gun “Eagle”, Rodney purchased land near Alresford Church, and built Alresford House. His life is described in the 1991 Alresford Displayed story by John Adams, see www.alresford.org/displayed/displayed_17_01.php. Lord Rodney died in 1791, at Alresford House.
Regrettably Rodney was at sea only up to the 1780s, which is right at the start of the boom in telescope production, which started following the Dollond patent of 1760, a development that made them far more efficient. So any telescope he might have used would these days be very expensive, where they have survived, and they would probably out of my price range! Incidentally, none of the later portraits of Lord Rodney show him with a telescope, which is unusual, for paintings of Admirals in those days. But surprisingly, I’ve found a portrait of him as a young man, with a telescope that looks like a 1730/40 model – very expensive now!
However, I did find a bit of Lord Rodney’s past, on a visit to see my daughter in Cornwall. If you walk down the main streets of Helston, near Porthleven (the nearest decent harbour) you will find the The Rodney Inn, with apparently a picture of Lord Rodney hanging outside! The picture does look like the many portraits of him, painted in around 1791.
The Rodney Inn sign, with a copy of a standard portrait of Lord Rodney, with seagull adornment. Below are some views of the exterior of the pub.
Portrait of Mary Ricketts
This week I visited the National Trust at Hinton Ampner, and read about the ghost stories that relate to the original house on that site. In 1765, Captain William Henry Ricketts and his wife Mary rented the original Tudor house on that site. Captain Ricketts had estates in Jamaica, and was presumably in the Navy: his time in the West Indies was coincident with that of Admiral Rodney, and his wife Mary was the sister of Admiral John Jervis, who was also in the Royal Navy, and active in the West Indies at that time. So presumably there were frequent visits between Hinton Ampner and Alresford House.
Indeed in 1770, John Jervis came to stay at the house in Hinton Ampner, with a friend, Captain Luttrell, when Captain Ricketts was away in Jamaica. The two of them tried to keep guard over the house one night, to find an explanation for the ghostly noises and appearances that were regularly disturbing the household. Unable to explain the happenings, and thoroughly frightened, John Jervis advised his sister to move out.
The link to a telescope results, although it does turn out to be tenuous: a year or so ago I acquired a telescope signed Captain J. Jervis Tucker, believing it to be linked to Admiral Jervis (later known as Earl St Vincent, and commanding officer in charge of one Commander Nelson at the battle of Cape St Vincent: Nelson was as a result of this battle appointed an Admiral). But for John Jervis to be the rank of Captain, the telescope would be dated around 1760, and this telescope was younger than that, it looked early 1800s.
Admiral Jervis had a personal secretary (or ADC, or Batman, or whatever a PA is known as) called Benjamin Tucker, who went on to be Second Secretary to the Admiralty. He christened his son, born 1802, John Jervis Tucker: JJT joined the Navy in 1815, and became Captain of HMS Royal William in 1838: and that is about the right date for this telescope, which is unique in that it is over 4 feet long!
So John Jervis Tucker probably never brought this telescope to Hinton Ampner, nor Alresford. Never mind, the search goes on!
This story is a straight copy of another story written for the AlresfordMemories.wordpress.com website in 2016.
There are several!
The first one is in the middle of the British Isles, nowhere near the sea: an ‘Admiral Rodney’ is situated near Martley, Worcestershire
Then all the others: