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Prism Binoculars

Object Details

Description
This is a 9 power instrument with objective lenses 23 mm diameter. The eye end of the left prism housing is marked “C. P. GOERZ BERLIN.” That on the right is marked “TRIEDER” and “BINOCLE” with the trademark initials “C.P.G.” between. The cross-frame at the eye end is marked “9X” and “GERMANY.” The “22700” on the cross-frame at the field end is a serial number indicating a date of around 1900. The word “RESARD” scratched into this cross-frame may refer to an early owner. The frame is aluminum and brass. The eyecups seem to be of a plastic material. There is a set of wheels in the center that adjusts the focus. Another wheel adjusts the distance between the two halves of the instrument. The carrying case is leather with a dark velvet lining.
Carl Paul Goerz began in business in Berlin in 1886. The Opticsche Anstalt C.P. Goerz (C.P. Goerz Optical Institute) was formed in 1890. It began making Galilean binoculars in 1891 and prism binoculars in 1896. The Triëder binoculars were available in powers of 3, 6, 9 and 12, and were advertised as being were “small as an opera glass” and “more powerful than the largest field glass.”
Ref: C. P. Goerz, Triëder-Binocles (Berlin, 1906).
Queen & Co., Inc., Priced and Illustrated Catalogue of Opera Glasses, Marine and Spy-Glasses, Binocular and Astronomical Telescopes (Philadelphia, 1899), p. 46.
Location
Currently not on view
Data Source
National Museum of American History
maker
Carl Paul Goerz
date made
ca 1900
Credit Line
Paul S. Conger
Measurements
overall: 4 1/8 in x 4 7/16 in x 2 1/8 in; 10.4775 cm x 11.27125 cm x 5.3975 cm
overall in case: 5 5/8 in x 5 3/4 in x 3 in; 14.2875 cm x 14.605 cm x 7.62 cm
Object Name
binoculars
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