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WWI Rifle Range Telescope with Franklin D Roosevelt Signed Letter
Following its entry into World War I, the United States was in short supply of certain equipment badly needed by the military, including field glasses and telescopes. Soliciting donations of this equipment, the government promised to return the borrowed items when the war ended, if possible. Accordingly, Mr. A.H. Miller sent the Navy a lovely circa-1900 leather-bound brass telescope. A letter to Mr. Miller from future President and then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt is included, dated January 11, 1918, and ending "On behalf of the Navy, I wish to thank you most heartily", and is boldly signed by Roosevelt in fountain pen. Also included are accompanying forms and receipts, as well as the original Navy Dept. envelope sent to Mr. Miller. Condition of these documents is NRMT, with the signature 9/10. The vintage leather-bound brass telescope expands from 10 1/4" to over 35", in five sections, and its barrel is inscribed "Bardou & Son / Paris / Rifle Range Telescope / Power 33 Times". Founded in 1818, Bardou & Son was by then the largest manufacturer of small telescopes in France. The telescope is equipped with its original sun shield, leather end caps and strap, and is in perfect working condition, showing signs of fairly gentle use. Construction and optics are of high quality, and still deliver an amazingly sharp image. Attached to the scope is a dogtag reading "Donated to the U.S. Navy / A.H. Miller / 8 Grove St., / Peterborough, N.H.", very neatly tying together the items in this collection and firmly establishing provenance.
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