AN EARLY 20TH CENTURY MILITARY TELESCOPE BY ROSS OF LONDON, NO. 30941

the two drawer, field artillery brass telescope with leather cover to the brass barrel with a pair of carrying handles and cover to the lens, inscribed 'ROSS LONDON NO. 30941, FIELD ARTY TELESCOPE',

56.5cm when closed, 112cm in length when fully extended.

They exhibited the first draw telescope for field use (as opposed to nautical use) at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and set the standard thereafter. When WW1 broke out, the British Government put Ross in control of the newly opened Carl Zeiss binocular and optical factory in Mill Hill, London, where they produced sophisticated military optics such as rangefinders, periscopes, binoculars and telescopes.