According to: www.antiquetelescopes.org :
Stanley, London Telescope measures 5.5-inches closed and 16-inches fully extended. On the side of the telescope imprinted in block letters: STANLEY LONDON 1885. Includes hardwood case. Case measures 2.5-inches by 2.5-inches by 6.5-inches. Case is lined with felt and trimmed with brass. There is a brass plate on the lid that is imprinted: TELESCOPE STANLEY LONDON 1885. It's the box that gives it away. Most of the spyglasses that are made in India come with the exact same box, with different brass plates on the lid. Often found on ebay, sometimes two or three in one week. Note that there is a company in Southern California called Stanley London Brass Optics which makes superb brass telescopes. But they are offered as brand new instruments, not antiques.




Barrow, Henry This is a new telescope but looks antique. It has 3 draws and measures 14 1/2 inches when fully open and 5 inches closed. The main lens is 1 inch in diameter, the barrel and sliding sun-shade are covered in brown antique-looking leather and all brass parts have been aged with a chemical. It has new-looking lenses with a good, clear image. It is signed near the eyepiece "HENRY BARROW & CO. LONDON" and has a fitted lens cap over the objective lens. These telescopes have been previously sold on ebay as antique by some people, and have realized quite high prices. Unless you are a semi-expert you could not tell this from an old one.


Pony Express This scope was sold on ebay for $280.00 to an unsuspecting buyer. The aged green patina is fake and the overall condition of the scope is poor enough to make it pass for real in a photo. Unfortunately, rarely does a week go by without at least one "Pony Express" telescope on ebay along with many other "Wells Fargo" items. The seller usually claims that they bought the item at an "estate sale", and therefore know nothing about it. Some of the more unscrupulous sellers use private auctions, which hide the identity of prospective buyers, making it impossible to warn them. There is a brass or copper plate on this scope saying "Pony Express Est. 1860 Property of C.O.C.&P.P. Express Company." The label alone should have warned the buyer. This is reminiscent of items marked "HMS Titanic" or "Orient Express." Closed, it is about 3 inches and opened, a little over 6 inches. The new glass objective and the low power both betray this item, but these cannot be seen in the ad.


This brass "harbormaster" telescope appears in large numbers on ebay every day. The sellers do not normally represent it as antique but as a modern reproduction of a harbormaster telescope. Occasionally, however, one sees it engraved with the name of a famous telescope maker and offered as a genuine antique. When these scopes are made in India and labeled with a makers name, there is probably no intent to defraud anyone. The factories are simply making a reproduction of a Becker scope. However, after tarnishing a bit it is difficult to tell from a photo that you are being offered a modern scope. If you were able to examine this scope, you would notice that the glass looks brand new and lacks the fine layer of scratches, the patina of age, of old glass. The presence of brand new glass is usually the clearest indicator that you have a fake.