14 replies to this topic

[Larry Geary]

I posted a question over in the Eyepieces forum, but I'm not getting any good answers. I don't want to duplicate it here, but if anyone here can help, I'd appreciate it if you would have a look:

 

Did a 4mm Cave Orthostar Ever Exist?

 

The 26.6mm and the 10mm were the first eyepieces I ever owned. They came with my 6" Cave Astrola, so they have nostalgic meaning to me. I picked up the others used to try to complete the set. I still need to pick up the 20mm Cave Orthostar, and maybe the 20mm Wide, but I really want to know if I should leave a hole open for the mysteriously absent 4mm.

 

Thanks.

 

[mdowns]

I don't recall the 4mm orthostar but the meade 4mm research grade is from the same OEM. The Rgs and the orthostars are from the same place,the look,performance and feel is the same as well.

[PiSigma]

The price list picture is mine. I have been watching for years for any information that might confirm they even exist. I have never seen a picture of one nor anyone claim they have one, so I'm fairly confident they were never produced.

 

Here is a picture of my full set.

 

 

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[Larry Geary]

The price list picture is mine. I have been watching for years for any information that might confirm they even exist. I have never seen a picture of one nor anyone claim they have one, so I'm fairly confident they were never produced.

 

Here is a picture of my full set.

What is the box and empty barrel on the extreme left?

[PiSigma]

What is the box and empty barrel on the extreme left?

They sold spare barrels.

[clamchip]

What's nice about a spare barrel is you can use standard thread-in spotting scope

eyepieces for your telescope, like these delicious specimens from Bausch & Lomb.

Robert

 

Edited by clamchip, 05 March 2023 - 06:34 PM.

[gelkin]

Wish I had a spare barrel. One of my Orthostars was engraved with the owner’s initials. 😢

[RichA]

I don't recall the 4mm orthostar but the meade 4mm research grade is from the same OEM. The Rgs and the orthostars are from the same place,the look,performance and feel is the same as well.

And the Telescopics eyepieces.  How about Star Liner?

 

Edited by RichA, 05 March 2023 - 10:59 PM.

[PiSigma]

Here are some spotter EPs in the same style boxes as the Orthostars. They thread right into the same barrels.

 

 

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[Russell Smith]

Wish I had a spare barrel. One of my Orthostars was engraved with the owner’s initials.

I sent you a PM

[tim53]

And the Telescopics eyepieces.  How about Star Liner?

 

orthos.jpg

That Telescopics price list was just a year after I'd bought my 8" mirror kit from them in 1973.  For under $23!  I finished the mirror at Delmarva some years ago.  When I had it coated at L&L in Santa Ana, it cost me $240, IIRC.  Things have changed somewhat.

[Larry Geary]

I'm happy for people to continue discussing this question because the information will be useful to others who search for it, but I've reached my own conclusion: Either the 4mm Cave Orthostar was never produced, or if it was produced, it was no longer being sold at the time I bought my Cave Astrola - 1970, if I recall correctly. I will consider my collection complete when I can acquire a 20mm Cave Orthostar in similar condition to the others I own.

 

Cave Optical was a small shop, and business was touch and go. It's quite possible that they initially advertised all of the focal lengths available from the supplier, but didn't keep any inventory, simply ordering what they needed to fulfill orders as they came in. If nobody was ordering the 4mm, then it made sense to drop it from their catalog. Or maybe the eyepiece became exclusive to Meade under later agreements. Cave made several changes to their eyepiece offerings over the years. When my brother purchased his own Cave Astrola in the early 1960s he received a pair of volcano-top eyepieces I know nothing about, though there are pictures of them in some of the Cave ads or catalogs.

 

I don't have any interest in substituting a 4mm Meade Research Grade Ortho or any other similar eyepiece in place of the 4mm Cave Orthostar. That's just not the point of a collection.

[bjkaras]

I'm happy for people to continue discussing this question because the information will be useful to others who search for it, but I've reached my own conclusion: Either the 4mm Cave Orthostar was never produced, or if it was produced, it was no longer being sold at the time I bought my Cave Astrola - 1970, if I recall correctly. I will consider my collection complete when I can acquire a 20mm Cave Orthostar in similar condition to the others I own.

 

Cave Optical was a small shop, and business was touch and go. It's quite possible that they initially advertised all of the focal lengths available from the supplier, but didn't keep any inventory, simply ordering what they needed to fulfill orders as they came in. If nobody was ordering the 4mm, then it made sense to drop it from their catalog. Or maybe the eyepiece became exclusive to Meade under later agreements. Cave made several changes to their eyepiece offerings over the years. When my brother purchased his own Cave Astrola in the early 1960s he received a pair of volcano-top eyepieces I know nothing about, though there are pictures of them in some of the Cave ads or catalogs.

 

I don't have any interest in substituting a 4mm Meade Research Grade Ortho or any other similar eyepiece in place of the 4mm Cave Orthostar. That's just not the point of a collection.

When I bought my 6” from Cave in 1972, Tom pulled three eyepieces out of a drawer and put them in a box for me. They were all UO Circle T Kellners, 6mm, 12mm and 20mm.

[bjkaras]

Aren’t the Orthostars and the Meade RGs the same eyepiece?

[RichA]

Here are some spotter EPs in the same style boxes as the Orthostars. They thread right into the same barrels.

Same thread as the Meade RG orthos, which can be screwed into the Bushnell Spacemaster.  So can "normal" old orthos, to a point.