R.I.P. ... The USPS Destroyed My Mirror!

I sent my beloved 10" f/4.5 mirror to Paul at Spectrum Coatings to have failed coatings (from another unnamed coater) stripped and redone. It was sent USPS Priority Mail in their packaging completely surrounded by high density packing foam. I was notified by Paul today that the mirror was broken during shipment. It was insured for $400.00, but that may have not been enough. It is too late to worry about that now. My question is this: Where can I purchase a high quality pyrex full-thickness 10" f/4.5 primary mirror? It goes in a Starsplitter truss dob I own. I have no idea where to start! I would appreciate suggestions. Thank you!

Steve,
Sorry to hear about that and I hope that USPS will at least pay the $400. It is always a nervous time when the mirror is in transit. I hate that I have to ship my 10" Zambuto to Florida when it is needed for the telescope assembly. This kind of thing makes one really think about it.
I plan on shipping my mirror inside the original box that has full foam padding and put it inside a second box with 2" of sytrofoam all around that box. By double boxing and double insulating it, hopefully it will survive. I will probably use Fedex for this as they will keep track of the package better and you can do fragile with them. I also will use special shipping so that it is handled by hand more.
I am not sure where to send you for the mirror. It will be expensive for a good mirror. My 10" from Carl was $1000.
http://www.obsidianoptics.com/elite.htm $800 for a 10"

Steve

Sorry about the mirror! I suggest an email to Royce, Swayze, Discovery, Zambuto, Pegasus, etc and explain what happened and what you need. See what comes back from them. You may also want to try Starsplitter, Astrosystems, Hardin and other telescope makers and see what they offer. Finally, put an ad on Astromart and see what pops up.

Good luck!
Bill

Thank you for the replies, Floyd and Bill! It was my understanding that you can not purchase a mirror directly from Carl Zambuto. If that is not the case, I would definitely go that route. I will start sending out inquiries and see where they go. Never a dull moment in Astro Land! The coatings on this mirror were failing so badly, I really had no other choice but to send it off for a recoat. Floyd....I packed it similarly to how you described and they still managed to mangle it!

Though I am a ZOC user and sometimes ZOC bigot, if I were you, I would at least consider buying a 10" F4.5 Discovery mirror. The ones I've seen lately have been quite good, are reasonably priced and I am guessing have a short delivery time. If you aren't happy with the figure, send it to someone to refigure it, or sell it when your premium mirror arrives.

Randy

Steve
Anacortes list the Discovery 10" F4.5 mirror on there web site as does Discovery Telescope.
Just a thought
Buck