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1883 Binoculars presented to John Henderson who was a River Mersey pilot who worked for Anchor Line shipping in Liverpool. I presume these binoculars were presented to him as a long service or retirement gift? They are made of brass I think and the adjustment wheel is very smooth and the smaller lens mounts extends and retracts nicely. The lenses do have some age related scratches to them but thats not unusual with them being over 137 years old. The magnification is not really that good and these are more like a collectable item than as usable binoculars. But they were presented to John Henderson by Anchor Line Shipping. Could he be the same John Henderson who had three brothers Thomas, David and William from Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland and who were all Master Mariners with Thomas joining with Nicol and Robert Handyside from Glasgow, Scotland as a partner and forming the Anchor Line Ltd shipping company in 1855. In 1857 John Henderson joined the company and became a partner in the business in 1859. In 1863 Nicol Handyside retired and the company became Handyside & Henderson. In 1865 the Anchor Line opened its own offices in New York under the name Henderson Brothers. Offices were later opened in Londonderry, Liverpool and Dundee. and they had shipping to many countries around the world. The Handyside connection was severed in 1873 with the retirement of Robert and the Anchor Line partnership consisted solely of the Henderson brothers, and they opened a Manchester office in 1882. Sadly during the 1890s all four Henderson brothers died and the company drifted due to the lack of direction and lost ground and to cut a long story shorter in 1911 The Cunard Steamship Co Ltd bought all of the ordinary shares of Anchor Line and the routes and all ships were changed to match Cunards. So the question from me is did these binoculars belong to the John Henderson who was a partner in the Anchor Line shipping company? The time period matches because they opened an office in Liverpool in 1869? Surely there cant be another River Mersey pilot named John Henderson in 1883? I believe this is one of the four Henderson brothers because they were all Master Mariners so he was well qualified to be a River Mersey Pilot. Even if I am wrong and this is a different John Henderson they still hold a Liverpool and Anchor Line connection and these binoculars would look good in any maritime collection. This is a one of a kind item and very collectable, I have put a starting price that I feel reflects the minimum historic value of the item. There is no reserve. The binoculars come with a more modern case for protection. If this item sells it will be sent as 2nd class Royal Mail SIGNED post at a cost of 4.20 within the UK ONLY. If it sells abroad the cost will be more and subject to the Global Shipping Programme. There are NO RETURNS on this item.
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Category: Cameras and Photography:Telescopes and Binoculars:Binoculars and Monoculars
Location: Ormskirk