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ITALIAN TELESCOPES

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Terrestrial telescope

Inv. 3639 V.32 Terrestrial telescope 1689 Paolo Belletti, Italian construction Cardboard, leather, paper Length 1730 mm

Description Terrestrial telescope consisting of seven section. All the tubes are made of cardboard. The largest, which is covered with red leather (turned brown with the passage of time) with gold tooling, contains the objective; the other tubes are covered with decorative paper in various colours. The ring enclosing the objective bears the signature of the maker and the date of construction: "Paolo Belletti, Bolognese Año 1689". The composite eyepiece, 38 mm in diameter, is contained in the smallest tube and consists of three lenses, one of which is missing. The glass of the lenses shows a slight green tint, a considerable number of bubbles and some inclusions. The instrument is a typical example of a terrestrial telescope of Italian manufacture.