Exceedingly rare Confederate Army Signal Corps four-tiered brass-bodied telescope, measuring 40″ long at full extension with a 2.5″ diameter objective lens, engraved near the eyepiece, “Signal Corps, C. S. A., No. 15,” and “Negretti & Zambra, Instrument Makers to Her Majesty, London.” In very good condition, with general wear from use, a cracked objective lens, various dents and dings, and some tarnishing. In 1864, the Confederate government contracted with well-known Negretti & Zambra to provide twenty-five telescopes to the Signal Corps. These were extremely high quality optical instruments for their time, providing an approximately 40x magnification with a range of fifteen miles. Very few of these Signal Corps telescopes are known extant and such instruments are of the utmost desirability.
