Tank... Binoculars?

Well... I recently discovered my great grandfather was a bit of a WW2 hero... Fought in Africa, killed several dirty Germans and stuff. I also discovered he had brought home from the war some very big, very bulky and very powerful binoculars which he took from a knocked out German tank.

Unfortunately, they're in rather bad condition. One of the lenses is cracked and you cannot see through it, and the other lense is also very difficult to see through. They have a dial on the top to adjust the brightness, so that if facing the sun you can dim them and still use them effectively, and screwed on to the front is a small metal plate that read:

Carl Zeiss
Jena

Rm. - F.12x60
Zum 6R
Nr. 152

They've been stored under the stairs at my grandma's house for around 40 years, not seen the light of day. I just discovered them last week. I was just wondering a few things...

Any idea how much it would cost for me to have something like this repaired? Not just the lense but the rust, the rubber around the eyeguards which has rotted away and cleaned etc... Basically fully restored?

Also is there any way i could find out more information about them? Perhaps what type of tank they would have been used on or anything like this?

And lastly if you guys would like me to post some pictures of them on here i would gladly do so once i charge up the batteries for my digicam.

 

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carl zeiss was a famous company manufacturing world renowmed optics in the prussian city of iena ,
the description leave me a little puzzled it seems a bit oversized for field glasses , more like artillery glasses or navy ??


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binos

Unfortunately Dayve, not worth cost of restoring, would cost a bomb even if you could get them done, you can get very binos quite cheaply.
Keep them as they are as a family souvenier, possibly damaged when your Grandad aquired them.
Were very good originally but leave them as they are.
Could have come from anywhere to tank crew originally, might even have brought them from family home, can you see if there is a tiny eagle/number stamp on them any where, most German military gear had that. I had a Verie pistol from a German plane and EVERY part had number/eagle stamp on. Brian.S711
(I would imagine they are 60x12, that is 60 lens size x 12power.)
Are they dated can you see?
From your reference to 'dirty Germans' I assume you are not very old?

 

I'm 18 yeah... I call them dirty Germans because they were fighting for a man who was the cause of about 55 million needless deaths, anywho... I've examined them closely and i cannot find an eagle stamp on them, the only writing on them is what i posted.

I would like to get them fixed up in the future though definately, regardless of the cost... Not to sell them obviously, just something to pass on to my kids and all that jizz.

I'll take an even closer look later... I've a magnifying glass somewhere and they are very dirty and worn in places so there may be one hiding under everything...

Here's a picture of them.



Just out of interest, could anybody here hazzard a guess as to how much it might cost to get them restores?

 

Those are not binoculars...

That is either a Tank periscope (probably gunner) or Tank aiming optics.

Kris

 

binos

Kris, Correct.

 

Can you make a shaper picture, especially the id-tag.

I am starting to suspect it isn't even WW2...

Kris

 

Re: binos

I thought it was cause they were in the desert.......what no drum roll?

 

binos

I go along with Kris all the way, all tank periscopes I've seen had one flat 'look-in' lens.
(Whoops, not been in later models since early 48!)

 

Sorry i'm having real trouble getting a clear shot of the plate, it's very small and my camera apparently isn't all that good. I did take some more clearer photos for you guys though.







I'll keep trying for a decent shot of the name plate thing.

 

binos

Afrika Korps optics, are these any thing like?

 

binos

Plenty more pics if you want to see them? Note that sun shields can be removed.

 

Ah i forgot to tell you, these do not need sun shields... The dial you see just above the plate with the writing on it can be turned to shade the lenses... You can look directly into the sun by turning the shade dial.

Although the fact that they are green and not sand coloured would suggest they might not be from Africa afterall... Any other ideas then? I just want to get to the bottom of it, it's niggling at me...

 

No idea on what they are.

Carl Zeiss Company could possibly tell you but that is a long shot. At the end of WW2, the US and Soviet forces were in a race to cover as much of Germany as possible. Jena was figured to become occupied by the Soviets so the US put together a small task force to go there and retrieve as much of the Carl Zeiss operation and staff as possible. They did this to the Soviets anger as even then Zeiss optics were world class and all the Allies wanted this prize. The factory, equipment, and workers who could not be moved out in time became Zeiss-Jena, which was located in East Germany and the new company would become Carl Zeiss and located in West Germany. The former Zeiss-Jena is now known as Docter Optic. They make world famous microscopes and have an outstanding line of rifle scopes (one of which I have).

 

I have seen these type before... can't remember where

 

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I've found this site ,
http://www.opticstalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1740&PN=1


merlin , very nice !!
would I be wrong to assume those are observation and,or artillery glasses to be mounted on some support like a tripod ?
the wear patern underneath is interesting

I've seen plenty of tank glasses periscopes, they are just a double inverted prism arrangement ,
usually quite a fews spares are carried by the crew


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bino's

'jeaguer' (Why don't you change it to 'Jäger'?) No, you wouldn't be wrong, artillery, not sure about mount but some more pics.

 

bino's

one more pic, and a bonus pic!

 

These don't look like field glasses - too bulky. It has to be a bent periscope.

 

cool pin ,merlin is it authentic? the binocs are they from a afrika corp afv?