World War I Period Nickel Plated "Officers of the Watch" Naval Telescope by T. Cooke & Sons Ltd

A World War I period nickel plated officer of the watch naval telescope by T. Cooke & Sons Ltd.

This telescope is in superb condition with original leather sleeve to both the barrel and shade covering. It has an 18” barrel with a 6” single draw to the eyepiece and 3” sunshade, all with smooth sliding action. The draw is marked to “T. Cooke & Sons Ltd, London & York” with road arrow military stamp and “no16 & No17” below. The draw, barrel and the sunshade are all stamped with the serial number “4890”. Both leather components are further impressed with the broad arrow military mark. The objective lens is 1.5" in diameter.

Founded in York by Thomas Cooke in 1837 and was continued by his sons upon his death in 1868, The company was known for its quality of manufacture and built many optical and scientific instruments. They were responsible for manufacturing the clock face for the Darlington Clock Tower and their Newall Equatorial telescope was the largest telescope ever built at the time of its manufacture in the nineteenth century. T Cooke & Sons became a limited company in 1897.

During the First World War, T. Cooke & sons, focussed their business on defence products and were a large supplier to the Government although they had by this time been acquired by Vickers Limited, themselves a military supplier of note. Just after the Great War in 1922, the company merged with Troughton & Simms to become Cooke, Troughton & Simms. The company still exists today and now trades as Cooke Optics Limited with a focus on cinematography lenses.