WWI Magnifying Glasses

It was concidence that while yesterday meeting at a gun show I finally was able to take over (from someone else who served as "postman") the three British WWI magnifying glasses sets I had bought of a fellow member here also ended up in buying the (kind of) "German counterpiece" at exactly the same show.

They might not be compareable in all details since the German Zeiss Glasvisier does the magnification in the scope itself and only uses an additional front sight cover for aiming, but both are attached to the rear sight and both are adjusted with the rear sight. And neither of the British nor the German design are very rugged. It was a nice thought, but not well engineered (well, at least not with the engineering considering the conditions they would see in actual combat conditions).

Looking forward to any comments, whether you would agree on the parallels that I am seeing, or possibly would also want to deny them!

Promo,
I have a few sets of Gibbs units and Type D MOD Stereo pairs, but your sets there look great, want to part with them perchance?

Very nice collection of magnifiers...

Sorry, these are my first set of British magnifying glasses. I would rather buy more of them than to sell any. I‘ve been told there is also a set by Martin and BSA, I would hope that those will turn up too to have all manufacturers!

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Originally Posted by Promo

I‘ve been told there is also a set by Martin and BSA

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There is also "Youltens Hyposcope" not a magnifier as such but still an aiming enhancing device.

Tell me more on that one!

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Originally Posted by Promo

Tell me more on that one!

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Type the words in the search bar, i posted some pictures on here about a year ago.

Youlton's Rifle Butt Hyposcope. It was a form of periscope rifle as used in the trenches, whilst keeping the firer's head safely (relatively) below the parapet. I have the prism from one somewhere...

I had expected some glasses attached to the sights themselves, therefore I was not sure you were referring to the trench mirror I was able to find via Google. An interesting device, but a different approach and goal than the magnifying glasses.

There's a picture of either a Youlton or something very similar on p29 of the British Sniper, & a periscope mirror fitted to the SMLE bayonet on p23, just to differentiate the two...