Pecole Posted March 7, 2012 Share #1 Posted March 7, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Binoculars - sport optics in Leitz product lines - are not common in Leica collections. But they bear the Leitz logo, and as such, some samples found a place in my Fontenelle collection. One has eluded all identification efforts in the known Leitz documents. When Dennis Laney included this category of products in his Collector's Guide, I sent him some photographs. In the 2d edition of his book, on page 561, he publishes 2 photos with the caption "Unidentified binocular" : one comes from Leica archives, the other is mine. And here is the comment : "On examination of the original photograph with a 10x magnifier in the area of damaged paint on the top-plate one can make out a "B" and after a gap "cle". It is very similar to the "Binocle" 6x in photos supplied by a correspondent (Pierre Jeandrain, pers. comm. 1995). No "Binocle" is listed in any of the catalogues surviving in the Leica archives, but the style dates these instruments to around 1912". Laney also states that Leitz made binoculars continuously from 1907 and they are a very important part of the Leica product line today. Here are a few photos of "my" "Binocle": [ATTACH]303994[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]303995[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]303996[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]303997[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]303998[/ATTACH] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 7, 2012 Posted March 7, 2012 Hi Pecole, Take a look here Fontenelle archives 92 : Unidentified binocular. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
tdavis Posted March 9, 2012 Share #2 Posted March 9, 2012 Hi Pecole, Looks like you had a sample of the first Leitz binoculars of May 14, 1907, see Porro-Prism and Galilean Leitz Binoculars top of page. Our wiki picture came from a page made by Jeff Bolton in 2009 for Leica Sports Optics. The same picture is also on the Leica Manufacturer's Site. Yours looks better than the one at the Leica site! Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecole Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share #3 Posted March 10, 2012 Hi Pecole,Looks like you had a sample of the first Leitz binoculars of May 14, 1907, see Porro-Prism and Galilean Leitz Binoculars top of page. Our wiki picture came from a page made by Jeff Bolton in 2009 for Leica Sports Optics. The same picture is also on the Leica Manufacturer's Site. Yours looks better than the one at the Leica site! Tim Thanks a lot, Tim. I didn't know there was finally a "Binocle" mention on the Leica site. This contradicts Dennis Laney and my own researchs that failed to discover any mention of the name in the available Leitz-Leica files. And it seems to date the Binocle earlier than we thought, and even probably as one of - or THE first Leitz binocular model ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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