Last month while reading through the classics forum I saw a picture that really caught my eye from member,Bob W4. I reached out to Bob to ask him,not only about the picture(the first seen below) but also about his interest in the classics. He was kind enough to share this with us to kick off the March eBay thread.
Hi fellow Cloudy Nighters. I have the honor to kick off this month's thread restart. First, just a brief background of how I entered the astronomy hobby. I became interested in astronomy back in 1965 when I was 11 years old. Got my first ever telescope for Christmas in 1967, a Sears 50mm refractor. That little telescope cemented my lifelong interest in the hobby. Then, after seeing the adds in Sky And Telescope magazine for beautiful looking telescopes by Cave, Optical Craftsman, Criterion, Unitron and more, I wanted one!!! Long story short, life got in the way. Sure, as a teenager I got a job, but a car and other cool stuff took all of my money. During the 1980s and 90s, these old beauties were next to impossible to find. Alas, the invention of the internet changed everything. Now, we finally have a method to locate and purchase these forgotten gems. E-bay, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace are one giant treasure hunt. Now that I am back to the present, I would like to share my 2 favorite joys when buying an old classic telescope. First, the sellers are all incredible people. I bought the 1958 Cave 10" f-7 from fellow Cloudy Nighter Phil Young. I first met Phil at the 2023 Nebraska Star Party and by pure chance I mentioned to him my nostalgic love for the old Caves. As luck would have it, he just happened to have the 10" for sale. 30 seconds later, a deal was made. Phil and his son did the extensive restoration needed to get this beast working again. The 1970 8" f-7 Cave was found on Craigslist and purchased from a guy in Zimmerman, MN. When I picked it up, the seller showed me his garage full of old Japanese made refractors. Wow!!! He had alot of them. Finally, the 1975 6" Cave and the 76 or 77 Edmund was another Craigslist find from a fascinating guy named Robert in White Bear Lake, MN. Robert is a collector whose primary interest is old electric fans. I never knew there was an interest in old fans, but his home was well stocked with fully restored examples. He had purchased both of these scopes as abused basket cases from an estate sale, but had no idea how to restore them, and thus, lost interest in them. I spent the entire summer slowly working on the restorations. In full honesty though, I have equal pride in ownership with the 2 scopes that were already restored when I bought them.
The next coolest part of an old classic telescope purchase, are the extras the sellers sweeten the deal with. When Phil sold me the 10" Cave, he included the custom made scope buggy so I can easily wheel it out of my garage in the summer. Also, he included the modern clock drive, along with a box chocked full of all of the original parts that were replaced during the restoration. Good stuff.
The two 6" scopes came with a trove of extras. My favorite are the 4 original correspondence letters hand signed by Thomas Cave, along with the original wire transfer money receipts. Also, vintage eypieces, a barlow, books, original manufacturer instructions, catalogs, and a whole host of do-dads.
And, one last photo of the haul. In conclusion, I encourage everyone to keep scouring the online adds. You never know when that next dreamscope will pop up for sale.
Clear and steady skies,
Bob Wilshusen Thank you Bob for a fun read to start this months thread!
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and this note from the moderators
Let's remember everybody, there's no one place that has all the best-used scope finds just as there's no one place that never has anything. All have something. No need to beat subjective matter, whatever the topic, into the ground. For the sake of all of us who love the classic forum, please keep moving the thread forward. Remember that many of your fellow forum members are already vintage themselves. Instead of restating your opinions over and over, consider sharing something new, insightful, or otherwise constructive to the topic at hand.
