Deluxe Class Chrome Admiral's Spyglass Telescope 27" w/ Rosewood Box

The earliest antique nautical telescope suffered from the lack of proper focusing lenses, causing the images to be blurred and distorted. In attempts to create marine telescopes of greater magnification, and clearer image, often times the physical length of the telescope reached sizes up to hundreds of feet. At this time telescopes were stationary, difficult and expensive to build, and not of a particularly high quality. However, with Galileo’s feat of engineering, further research was continued throughout Europe by many of the time’s leading scientists. In 1611 Johannes Kepler switched a concave eyepiece with that of a convex piece allowing for a larger field of view, although the image was inverted. Five years later Italian Niccolo Zucchi created the first reflecting telescope by replacing the lens of a refracting telescope spyglass with a bronze mirror that he attempted to view through a hand held lens. During this time large advances were made in both the refracting and reflecting marine telescopes as the period known as the Scientific Revolution began in Europe. In 1637 Rene Descartes placed multiple lenses together to create a sharper image and pinpoint of light, and in 1668 Isaac Newton created the first practical reflecting telescope using small mirrors to reflect the light to an eyepiece positioned on the side of the telescope. Over the next hundred years the marine telescope was designed and redesigned by scientists throughout Europe as massive telescopes were created, new lenses and mirrors were designed and tested, and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution lead to a dramatic increase in technology and industry.