Day 3, Antique binoculars
I am stretching the definition of "garage gem" a bit to include this item, but they are cool and worth sharing. This is a pair of antique binoculars (or perhaps more properly, opera glasses) that I acquired from the estate of Howard Stackpole, one of the members of the Chabot Telescope Makers Workshop. Optically, they are pretty much, well rubbish. They consist (as many opera glasses did) of a pair of simple Galilean telescopes, which means that the image quality isn't amazing, and the field of view is quite narrow. The optics predate the use of thin film coatings so the image isn't particularly bright either. As far as I can tell, they bear no actual indication as to who manufactured them.
But they are cool. The patina is glorious. The brass, the leather, the signs of wear. I have never and will never do more than dust them. For many years they sat on my desk at Pixar Animation Studios, and when I needed a break I would reach over, pick them up and just stare at them and admire them for the beautiful thing they were, perhaps thinking that in a previous life they had been on safari or hunting for buried treasure in the Amazon. When it comes to bird watching or astronomy, I have at least two different sets that are better. But they do not stir up imagery from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and I'm awfully glad to have this pair.
Hope you all are having a good day.