Who built this scope

I came across this telescope in a local antique mall and got it for a good price. The declination axis was frozen, the paint was slightly chipped and it was missing a diagonal. I refinished the entire scope and mount and found in the process a nicely built scope. It has a doublet lens, baffled tube, and the mount has hardwood legs. I was wondering if anyone can tell me who manufactured it.

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This is a photo of the "plaque' on the drawtube.

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David, I am only guessing, but I know that back in the early 70's Sears sold refractors with a similar color scheme.

David: I can't answer your inquiry, but the OTA of your scope bears a close resemblance to a refractor advertised by "Swift Instruments, Inc." in the December 1980 issue of Sky & Telescope, right down to the 910 mm focal length (which seems unusual to me). I scanned the old ad and am attaching a copy of it. Good luck on your quest.

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David,
It's a exact twin of my Sears Tower model...and of the Mayflower 815 model...and a twin of some other importer/house branded models from 30 some years back I'm sure.
I remember trying to seach the diamond SYW mark some time ago without success. My Sears has the same mark. Now I'm reminded to resume that search.
My Tower is a very nice scope with very good optics and I have little doubt yours will match. Good luck with getting it back into full working condition.

[edited addition]: John Siple writes in the Rosette Gazette that the Orbit 2264 is a also a twin of the venerable Tasco 7TE. A large number of these imported scopes had 60mm/910mm specs. Mr Siple further states that he thinks the lenses are of Carton origin and the mounts are of GOTO origin.

Larry

Thanks for the information. I figured this dated from the mid to late 1970's. There was also a small tag on the bottom of the OTA that I had to remove to refinish it, which indicated that is was manufactured in Japan. That made me wonder if the scope might be an early Vixen product.

I can't wait to get it up to the advertised 456x!