Posted 7 years ago
Tonyc
(1 item)
This past weekend a friend called and asked if I could go help him clean out a house he just purchased. I had no plans so I headed over there. As i pull in he has a dump truck full of stuff he's taking to the dump. He's complaining about how much he's having to pay to throw all this stuff our and how he's on his 4th run. I walked in and saw just piles of stuff everywhere. I asked him if he went through it to make sure he's not throwing anything out that might be valuable. And He Tells Me THAT The Owner Of The House passed away . Older gentleman! And how his kids had already come through and aweransacked the house and took everything of value. I pick up the 1st small box I see and open it. Inside there is and old really cool looking set of binoculars do I asked him if I could have them to which he replied . .. go ahead I'm just going to take it to the dump. I didn't even think about value .! Just took them cause they are really cool looking.. had very beautiful antique look to them . When n I got home I thought I'd Google to see when they might be from. Typed in Fussartillerie and 1st thing that comes up is " most expensive binoculars sold on ebay 2014 "" has a picture that looks just like what I have in my hand. Same type of cursive engraving with same names CARL ZEISS JENA D.R.P ON ONE SIDE and FUSSARTILLERIE D.F 6X on other. Only difference is that the ones on pic so 3x instead of 6x.. so I called couple appraiser and no one can seen to tell me what or how much they could be worth. I went to the history of Carl zeiss and found a section that talks about the 1st binoculars he made for military and how there were only 500 made. 2 of them at their museum. Goes on to explain how the are marked with cursive engraving with same inscription as what I'm holding. So I think they might be a real good find . Might not ever know if they are or not but it's a cool story and a really neat item.. I did go back and show my buddy the pic where the other pair was sold for over $3.000 just to see the expression on his face.. it was priceless.. !!
I'm sure someone at the dump kept a few things.. where he dumped ir they have people sorting through all that gets dumped and separating everything that can be scrapped.. wish I would have got there sooner though !! Also got a picture of the gentleman in his service uniform and a medal with his name tag. But if I'm right these would be pre wwi
The Zeiss name make these a lot better than just a pair of European binoculars. Zeiss is the famous German name behind Rolleiflex and Hasselblad cameras.
I haven't had a lot of time to research but the little I have is very interesting! I actually got one story from a girl at an auction house at the east coast that said the only ones she had heard of were actually stolen from hitler's gold room. I don't know if it's true but it adds to the story.. hopefully someone can help me out in finding out if I'm right about any of this !