NO32 Mk1 scope (opinions wanted)

[MichielVR]

hi everyone

what are your opinions on this scope+box

the scope, bracket and box have mismatched serial numbers, but are all the parts original on their own?
i think the pads are not original but i' not sure.

and what is the current price for one of these scopes?

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[jmoore]

Except for the pads and the hex thingy it's all good. The hex thingy may be good too, but I don't know what it is! If it's a scope zeroing tool, I don't THINK it's for a No.32.

Your scope is VERY early. The number on the bracket matched a rifle's S/N at one point. It was never matched to the scope S/N. As an interested party for purchase, I best recuse myself from valuation, but even w/ the brass bits in an unnaturally bright and bare state, it's gonna be a fair sum...

The box is just a correct box. Fairly pricey as well, these days.

Valuation might be easier if you can let us know from what country you post.

BTW, welcome to the forum. Waving those bits aboot is a good way to get attention!

[Baal]

Welcome to the forum!

IMO your scope, bracket and can would probably sell in the $1800 - 2000 ballpark on ebay.

[Peter Laidler]

That is telescope number 138 (they all started at 1000 except for United Instruments/Vickers). I'd like to see the number of the rifle on the box.....................

[Lance]

Nice scope.....so close to the one I am looking for...........

[Surpmil]

As Peter said it's a very early scope. Would have been on one of the trials No4's converted at RSAF Enfield in 1940/41 originally.

The bracket is a bit later, but it all looks perfectly genuine to me.

The scope has had a sympathetic restoration with just the drum "turret" and screw heads painted. Note the missing locating pin.

The paper label in the case looks to read RIFLE No. AQ7240 and TELESCOPE No. 5420. I could well be wrong of course! Ah, hang on, looking at the lid, it looks more like AQ7540.

The adjusting tool, if that is what it is, I would guess was made up somewhere to expedite matters. Was there a handle fitted to the end we cannot see? Note the photo of a tool that was one of a small number made up as explained.

Would "W.I.D." be "Weapons Inspection Department/Directorate"? The patina certainly suggests it is as old as it claims to be.

Can't say much about those weird and wonderful pads. The front one looks like it might be brass, is it?

Value for all that? A couple of grand at least. Parted out, perhaps more.

The numbers should be added to the "Scopes Needing Rifles" and Rifles Needing Scopes" threads.

[jmoore]

I'd say the bracket is correct for the scope, based mostly on the unusually good "finish" (this one's a bit sub-par) that seems peculiar to early brackets. But that's just a SWAG.

It is also not the only early scope I've seen that has been apparently reassigned to a 1944 vintage weapon. (tiny sample size of four+, to date, so NOT definitive!) I'm thinking that for some reason, production bottlenecks perhaps?, some of these early optics were pulled off rifles (presumably U/S or otherwise not intended for further field work) and reassigned. I think I have mentioned it before. It makes reuniting early optics all that more difficult, if true, as there will then be TWO "proper" rifles for each scope.

[Surpmil]

As the screws on the ring caps are not staked and there is no patina around the rear ring on the scope tube, my guess would be that the scope and bracket have not been together that long, at least never in service.

The original trials rifle probably saw hard use through WWII and was scrapped afterwards. Look at the wear on the scope for example!

Thousands of MkI scopes were sold off post-WWII.

Personally I doubt there was much mating and matching of scopes going on in WWII. New rifles and scopes were being produced all the time and was there time to fiddle about when a new set could just be issued? Witness the thousands of unused scopes and rifles still in store after WWII, and sold off all through the 50s, and 60s.

[jmoore]

I wouldn't think so either, but I've eleven pounds of evidence that says otherwise. Plus there are the others observed. This is the first loose scope seen, but it fits. Having minimal or no staking AND a S/N added post-WWII doesn't make much sense, either. It ought to have remnants of old stake marks, or something.

Not calling my theory even close to being proven! I just want y'all to think about it when this sort of thing comes up. Especially if you see a complete, and apparently "as manufactured" rifle in it's matching crate, with a scope that's much uglier and three years older than the rifle but seems to have been shipped as part of the original CES!

Its @&$%( weird, but what if it can be verified multiple times?

[Headhunter]

I would say you could pay up to $3000 for that package..................$500 - $800 on the tin and $2500 on the scope and bracket.....................Let us know if you dont buy it!!! I would be interested as I am sure there are many others here that would be.