Lot 126
An interesting and potentially special pair of early WWII Kriegsmarine Ernst Leitz Wetzlar 7x50 Binoculars together with authentication by the Leitz Wetzlar Museum in Wetzlar Germany.
These have an early "Hooked Beak" Eagle clutching the swastika, are fully marked Leitz Wetzlar & "M" for marine BUT have no serial or production number. The most likely explanation is that these were a presentation pair - perhaps for a returning U-boat or Kriegsmarine "Ace" as Leitz and Zeiss were known to present individually made pairs with especially good optics to the "tonnage aces". This is, to some extent, backed up by the Leitz museum emails.
Both eyepieces move and focus separately, good definition markings and clearly engraved, top bakelite cover attached by good strong "bungee" cord. Good condition, nearly complete black japanning with minor marks & scuffs. Optics have some internal mould, fogging and some very minor chipping/nibbling around edges (out of visual field). Non-original but good-fitting brown case.
The vendor contacted Paul Kuntz at the Leitz wetzlar museam www.leica-welt.com who advised ''
Hello Mr. ------,
Thank you very much for your inquiry and for showing us your very interesting binoculars. To answer your question directly, we cannot tell you why there is no number on these binoculars. We could only guess. These are certainly genuine early war with the hooked beak design. The most likely explanation is what you have already been told that they were a non standard presentation pair. There are always binoculars coming onto the market where there is no serial number. I think only the person who did the engraving at the time can tell us. Finding this person is probably almost impossible. Today, you can only find this kind of information in books. I have a lot of books here, but unfortunately no information about it.
Guide: £350-450
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