I let Matt know I would be interested in saving the telescope and I gave him a lot of information on what it was, how I would proceed, and the value I thought could be placed on it. We had many back and forth conversations as the college president and a new committee began deciding the telescope’s fate. My goal was to preserve the telescope for future generations. I would restore it and then donate the telescope to a new owner and help them set it up. It would require a commitment of the future owner to a program maintained by them over many years. I let Wilmington college know that if they would be a candidate for such a program, that I would donate the telescope back to them!
This whole process started at the beginning of summer. The last two months I have heard very little. The conversational emails with Matt became few. I feared that as with many colleges and universities, they get committees involved, the discussion gets started and no one can make a decision and then the telescope ends up in a heap at the curb. That did not happen here!
I received an email today from Matt stating:
“I finally have some news for you. The powers that be have met and made a decision and I am happy to say that you are now the proud owner of a 16" Cave Astrola cassegrain telescope – assuming you are still interested in it. I appreciate your patience as we have slowly worked our way through this process, as I know it has been a lengthy one."
With the signing of a contract I provided them with, I now own the telescope.
“Who wants to help.”
Edited by turk123, 21 October 2014 - 12:29 PM.