SIS member Dr Peter de Clercq has been delighted to discover another telescope signed by a maker in whom he is particularly interested, William Storer.

Peter commented to the SIS website:

In SIS Bulletin 98, September 2008, I published the article on William Storer, with Appendix 1 (pp. 37-38) being a list of his extant instruments.

In this list, nrs 10-13 are examples of his Subscription Telescope, illustrated and discussed on pp. 31-32. They were made c. 1780, and he announced he would have 500 of them made, although the actual number manufactured may well have been lower.

The serial numbers on these four telescopes are 13, 62, 167 and 176.  We now know a fifth. It was sold by Charles Miller Ltd at a sale held on Wedneday 28 April 2010, Lot 203. It is numbered 188, the highest number recorded so far. We thank Charles, another SIS member, for granting the right to reproduce the image of the telescope here. For those of you interested in such things the total price obtained was £3,360 and it went to a private European collector.