A REGENCY MAHOGANY AND LACQUERED BRASS TWO-INCH REFRACTING T...

Estimate

£500 - £700

A REGENCY MAHOGANY AND LACQUERED BRASS TWO-INCH REFRACTING TELESCOPEDOLLOND, LONDON, EARLY 19th CENTURYThe 28.75 inch slightly tapered mahogany tube with brass dust cap to the objective end opposing rack-and-pinion focus adjustment and telescopic eyepiece assembly threaded into the tube end piece engraved DOLLOND * LONDON to circumference, mounted via an universal pivot joint onto a rotating column turned upright over folding tripod supports cast as cabriole legs with pad feet, in original mahogany box with additional eyepiece tube, eyepiece lens and a filter.The box 77cm (30.25ins) long, 16.5cm (6.5ins) deep, 10cm (4ins) high. Peter Dollond is recorded in Banfield, Edwin BAROMETER MAKERS AND RETAILERS 1680-1860 as born 1730 and died 1820. He was the son of John Dollond, a Huguenot silk weaver and started business as an optician in 1750. He was joined by his father in 1752 until his death in 1761, and then by his brother, John, until his death in 1804. The family business was continued by Peter Dollond's nephew, George Huggins, who changed his surname to Dollond. George Dollond became instrument maker to William IV and Queen Victoria, exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and died 1856. The firm became one of the largest makers and suppliers of scientific and optical instruments and continued trading under various guises throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.