WORLD WAR ONE ERA BAUSCH & LOMB BINOCULARS –
MARKED SIGNAL CORPS US ARMY – VERY NICE SET:
This is a very nice set of World War One era Bausch and
Lomb binoculars made for the US Army Signal Corps and so
marked on the flats of the lens barrels. Made of brass
and coated with a heavy black enamel coating, these
light weight binoculars were intended for field use by
the Signal Corps troops and likely found their way in
many officers’ personal equipment inventories.
This set has a very unique feature – the left lens is
superimposed with a vertical and horizontal grid,
delineated in regular increments, suggesting this set
may well have been used by forward artillery observers
for adjusting the impact of shells fired from behind the
trench lines.
All four glass lenses are intact, with no breaks, cracks
or chips, and the optics are clear with only some very
minor occlusions that could probably be cleaned from the
inside surfaces of the lenses. The focus adjustment is
a little different, in that each eye piece is focused
for the vision in that particular eye, and once set
provides a much clearer view than the standard single
adjustment on the center hinge that most of us are
familiar with on other binoculars.
The barrels are covered in an applied russet colored
finish that is pebble grained to resemble leather,
giving this set a nice finished appearance, but with a
finish that was far more durable in the field than the
light leather covering used in earlier binoculars. In
addition to the maker and Signal Corps info on this set,
the serial number and lens size and power are also
stamped into the flats of the lens barrels.
Standard issue, US Army marked binoculars from the First
World War are not common and this particularly nice set
with the Signal Corps marking will be a nice addition to
your World War One Signal display or Officer’s
grouping. $195
NOTE:
For an original binocular strap, click on this link and
scroll down to Number 23:
CLICK HERE |