This little Towa Tokyo 62/800mm achromat came from an elderly gentleman in Germany. He remembered watching the total solar eclipse of 1999 with that very instrument. A couple "Kosmos" sun goggles were part of the deal. When he told his story, I sort of felt like in a time machine. I had camped just 50 miles from that guys observation point and I was rained out! So how could I resist buying this scope? This thing had seen the eclipse and the price seemed right. The two lens air-spaced achromat came complete with strange looking semi-transparent lens cover, sturdy yoke mount, spindly height-adjustable wooden tripod, 3-point chain-support, AH 20, HM 12,5, H9 and H6 eyepieces, prism diagonal, earthprism, crummy eyepiece sunfilter and nice looking wooden transport case. Seller had utilized the sunfilter on top of the AH 20mm to watch the partial phases of the eclipse.
After flushing out the old syrup-colored grease in the yoke mount, taking apart and cleaning the airspaced frontlens and applying some well deserved tlc, my scope is now ready to rumble. I must admit that I have developed a strange liking for that little 4x20 finderscope with crosshairs. I can´t really explain it. That finder is tiny, yet the objective gives pretty good daylight views. No chance for star testing. Waiting for skies to clear up later this week. I was told this Towa may have been sold in 1956, but I do not have proof for that. I also would like to know who made the front lens. Astro Optical?