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I found these binoculars cleaning at my in-laws house. Initial research would indicate that they are WWII vintage. The case is not marked and I can't find a way to date the binoculars. I appreciate any input.
Also, what are the tabs on the bottom for?
Ron
It would seem that Hensoldt are still in business, in Germany.
Our Heritage : HENSOLDT
I would guess that the tabs are so that the case can be clipped onto a bracket inside a vehicle, ship, aircraft, etc etc.
I am wondering if the small M denotes fit for "Marine" usage seems logical with the tabs being clipped to a bridge or fly bridge (in fine weather)
'Tis a wartime Bakelit case, whatever they were intended for otherwise, the clips on the back were used for straps to secure the case to the Tragegepaeck.
The pic of the bino right tube cover shows a stripe- an you tell if it read Dienstglas at one time? Often there is other data on this tube side as well (H6400, etc)
Bakelit is a thermosetting emulsion using material filler from sawdust to cloth fiber. I've run into various shades of the Bakelit cases, from red to black. It often depends on the maker and what they used for fiber to fill out the emulsion. There is usually a cast mark in the well with the Bakelit maker and mix type, the number above the 'M' is the manufacturer, the sideways number is the composition material. These were not usually cast with maker codes (that was already in the mark) nor with date codes. Nice find! Many of these have cracks from being dropped over the years.
I don't recall seeing red/brown bakelite cases for sale before at militaria shows only black ones which always seem to be eye wateringly expensive. Perhaps the red/brown type is less common?
I've seen a lot of the black ones, granted, but over the years saw several others, two red/brown ones stick out in my memory- one was on a militaria display in Massachusetts in 1979 and one was basically trashed (had been crushed) for sale in a Berlin flea market when I was there in 1986-87. Guess they are less common after all!
Here's the mold mark inside.
My ref doesn't list "OF" as a yet known maker among hundreds, but the "T2" indicates Phenolic Resin with asbestos and other organic fibers as the filler material.
Is that a "M.D." trade mark in a circle with "OF" above?
It is a 'pressmark', the official marking approved by the MaterialPruefungsAmt and used by members of the German phenolic resin manufacturing 'society', an agreed upon way to mark maker and material used in the composition. Started around 1930s, ended at the end of WW2. Top digraph is the maker code, lower is the composition. As some compositions looked like years (two numbers, eg 43 which was actually Dynamit AG), some people thought they were date codes. They are NOT date codes, just maker and composition.