Enhancing a growing reputation at Edinburgh auction house Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium) for optical instruments, the August 31 sale included 18 lots of binoculars and the like.
Topping the list was this pair of Second World War 10 x 80 Naval ship’s deck binoculars by Carl Zeiss, right.
They were marked with the 1935-45 variation of the Reichsadler, in which the German heraldic eagle clutches a swastika. However, the Kriegsmarine is not associated in people’s minds with Nazi atrocities. With crossover appeal to militaria collectors and scientific instrument collectors, the binoculars attracted international interest.