Hi,
My first post, so please be gentle. I seem to have lucked out when buying a large box of vintage binoculars at an auction as I noticed a pair of Carl Zeiss Jena binoculars, in seemingly really good used condition, sporting the Reichsadler and in a pristine English (i.e. non original) brown leather case, at the bottom of the box. All of the vintage binoculars seemed to have been really well kept.
As you'll see from the photos (https://postimg.cc/gallery/3hyq6o0lq/), the binoculars are stamped/marked as follows:
Left back/prism plate: National eagle & swastika, 'M', 'T' '1904300', 'CARL ZEISS JENA', '10 X 50'
Right back/prism plate: 'Scheinw. u. Fluwa.', '100'
Bottom bridge/hinge bars, both sides: miniature eagle and swastika emblem and 'WaA 202'
My research on this and other really useful sites suggests the following; please confirm if accurate as I'm a complete noob to the whole militaria scene:
They're rare - of the only, 500 Carl Zeiss 10x50 T Model Binoculars made, they're one of only ~150 issued to the Kriegsmarine's searchlight and acoustic direction-finders ('Scheinw. u. Fluwa') air-defense batteries (which existed at the outset of The War, before being upgraded to radar guided units); the other 350 T model binoculars made being marked 'Fla.(Kuste)' (coastal artillery)
According to allbinos.com, they are of the 'legendary' Carl Zeiss Jena Dekaris 10x50 design, a greatly improved construction of the five-element eyepiece, invented by Heinrich Erfle in 1917, that offered an astounding 7.3 degrees field of view and employed individual focusers, said to make them more water-resistant than central-focuser models?
The Reichsadler (Third Reich eagle clutching a swastika within an oak leaf wreath) emblem with 'M' (for marine) underneath, confirms the binoculars were property of The German Navy (Kriegsmarine).
The 'T' for 'Transparenz' indicating they are one of the minority of pairs enjoying coated optics, said to have been invented by Zeiss worker, Olexander Smakula, in 1935.
Produced in December 1938 / 1939, the T Model production run is said to have started with production no. 194200, with these binoculars ('1904300') therefore, having the 100th production code in the series. I note that the production numbers ('1904300' & '100') also match the pattern noticed with all Carl Zeiss T Model Binoculars, namely the number on the right-hand back/prism plate ('100'), equals the last three digits of the production number ('300') minus 200; which also suggests that the '100' is indeed the series number and that these were the 100th pair to have been produced.
The binoculars are twice stamped with the Waffenamt (WaA) Wehrmacht quality-control/acceptance proof mark 'WaA 202', a specific code which Waffenamt specialists state, was assigned to Carl Zeiss Binoculars produced in Jena, Th (Thüringen) during 1933, 1936 and 1939.
Regarding the binoculars condition, I personally can't see any evidence of them having been re-painted (what do you think as they do look in unusually good condition vs others I've seen on the Web) and with the exception of the portion of missing Vulcanite/Vulcanite-type skin/covering to the right-hand optics barrel, the other elements of the binoculars, including the British leather case, are in a very good, consistent condition, which to me suggests they have been well looked after.
Is there any way of finding out which unit the binos were issued to as assume some kind of paper trail would have survived the war?
https://postimg.cc/gallery/3hyq6o0lq/
Many thanks.
My first post, so please be gentle. I seem to have lucked out when buying a large box of vintage binoculars at an auction as I noticed a pair of Carl Zeiss Jena binoculars, in seemingly really good used condition, sporting the Reichsadler and in a pristine English (i.e. non original) brown leather case, at the bottom of the box. All of the vintage binoculars seemed to have been really well kept.
As you'll see from the photos (https://postimg.cc/gallery/3hyq6o0lq/), the binoculars are stamped/marked as follows:
Left back/prism plate: National eagle & swastika, 'M', 'T' '1904300', 'CARL ZEISS JENA', '10 X 50'
Right back/prism plate: 'Scheinw. u. Fluwa.', '100'
Bottom bridge/hinge bars, both sides: miniature eagle and swastika emblem and 'WaA 202'
My research on this and other really useful sites suggests the following; please confirm if accurate as I'm a complete noob to the whole militaria scene:
They're rare - of the only, 500 Carl Zeiss 10x50 T Model Binoculars made, they're one of only ~150 issued to the Kriegsmarine's searchlight and acoustic direction-finders ('Scheinw. u. Fluwa') air-defense batteries (which existed at the outset of The War, before being upgraded to radar guided units); the other 350 T model binoculars made being marked 'Fla.(Kuste)' (coastal artillery)
According to allbinos.com, they are of the 'legendary' Carl Zeiss Jena Dekaris 10x50 design, a greatly improved construction of the five-element eyepiece, invented by Heinrich Erfle in 1917, that offered an astounding 7.3 degrees field of view and employed individual focusers, said to make them more water-resistant than central-focuser models?
The Reichsadler (Third Reich eagle clutching a swastika within an oak leaf wreath) emblem with 'M' (for marine) underneath, confirms the binoculars were property of The German Navy (Kriegsmarine).
The 'T' for 'Transparenz' indicating they are one of the minority of pairs enjoying coated optics, said to have been invented by Zeiss worker, Olexander Smakula, in 1935.
Produced in December 1938 / 1939, the T Model production run is said to have started with production no. 194200, with these binoculars ('1904300') therefore, having the 100th production code in the series. I note that the production numbers ('1904300' & '100') also match the pattern noticed with all Carl Zeiss T Model Binoculars, namely the number on the right-hand back/prism plate ('100'), equals the last three digits of the production number ('300') minus 200; which also suggests that the '100' is indeed the series number and that these were the 100th pair to have been produced.
The binoculars are twice stamped with the Waffenamt (WaA) Wehrmacht quality-control/acceptance proof mark 'WaA 202', a specific code which Waffenamt specialists state, was assigned to Carl Zeiss Binoculars produced in Jena, Th (Thüringen) during 1933, 1936 and 1939.
Regarding the binoculars condition, I personally can't see any evidence of them having been re-painted (what do you think as they do look in unusually good condition vs others I've seen on the Web) and with the exception of the portion of missing Vulcanite/Vulcanite-type skin/covering to the right-hand optics barrel, the other elements of the binoculars, including the British leather case, are in a very good, consistent condition, which to me suggests they have been well looked after.
Is there any way of finding out which unit the binos were issued to as assume some kind of paper trail would have survived the war?
https://postimg.cc/gallery/3hyq6o0lq/
Many thanks.
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