Featured 1900s French Tri-Focal Binoculars. Manufactured by Colmont.

Picked these up today for cheap.

Early 1900s or late 1800s French-made tri-focal binoculars. Originally I thought there was no maker's mark, but then I saw the six-pointed star, with a 'C' inside it, stamped on the bridge, which is the trademark for COLMONT, a French manufacturer of binoculars and opera-glasses.



What makes these different from regular binoculars or opera glasses of their type is that they are tri-focal...



They were designed to have three different focusing strengths...



...and settings, which told you which strength was supposed to be best for different scenarios. They are...



'THEATRE', which is the weakest setting, designed for use in theaters and opera-houses. This is the first setting.



FIELD, for use outdoors in open land.



And the last, and strongest setting, is MARINE, for use at sea.

I have seen a few of these trifocal binoculars, and they seem to have been both common, and expensive, and date back in design as far as the 1860s or 70s, but this is the first pair I've seen in really decent, working condition, which I could hold with my own two hands!

 

Thanks, never saw one of those and I've had many pairs of binoculars.

Every time binos come up I'm reminded of one story or another of some I've had; don't want to distract fm yr beginning thread so won't write any now.

 

I'm surprised!

They're fairly common. I've seen them made by LeMaire, and various other companies, in England, and in France, but mainly in France.

 

Hi,
Never saw the tri-focals either. Have seen many many binoculars with a lot of adjustments as to depth of field etc.
greg

 

I dunno if 'trifocal' is the correct term for them, but to me that's what describes them best!

 

I've not seen them before either, lovely, I want them I have something like that but it's at someones shop ATM it's a Davon Field Micro-Telescope by F. Davidson & Co. London it changes from a telescope that you can stargaze with to a microscope.