They started their numbering at 50 so yours would be 209. The first 180 - 200 had cave mirrors and correctors in them. Yours would not be a Cave and a good thing. The Cave mirrors where not to Questar's liking. They were not very good. Queststar had to mix and match correctors and then star test to get a set of mirrors to work. They never ordered from Cave again. True story. Heard it from the marketing director at NEAF.

 

I think if I could only have one telescope, that would be it. Lotsa luck with it, Bob.

 

Beautiful scope! I adore the dew-shield, not only is it aesthetically impressive, it's a brilliant little piece of engineering as well.

 

I was not aware that Cave ever made corrector lenses for Questar or any other telescope firm - it didn't have that expertise, nor was it equipped to make them, unless it subcontracted the work to someone else. Truth be told, the components for its own Cave Cassegrainians were made by 3-B Optical of Mars, Pennsylvania.

 

Hi lew

Yep, cave made them. It is documented at questar. Cumberland took over and still makes them today

 

boy, I learn something new every day. Thanks Turk!

 

Do you have any more information about 3b? My two cass cave mirrors are unmarked.

 

Beautiful! Looks like an instrument that you should wear white cotton gloves when you operate it.

 

It is very beautiful! Nice job on the polishing. I agree with @KeithF on the white cotton gloves during operation lol.

 

Very nice Bob. Someday I want to own one of these. One just hasn't found me yet.

 

Back in 1960, I met a fellow by the name of Robert Little in a camera store in Los Angeles. When I told him about my 8-inch reflector, he came over to my apartment to have a look at it. Turned out, he was the west coast distributor for Scientific American magazine. Even though he was 5 to 10 years my senior, we became friends, but a few years later I went into the military and he moved back to New York City and I never saw him again. Subsequently, with a Nikon F camera and a Questar like your, Bomber Bob, he took a picture of a solar eclipse that was published on the cover of Life Magazine. He became a spokesman for Nikon and Questar, then started his own small company that advertised in the pages of Sky & Tel.

 

I've often heard, speaking of Questars, people saying how they want to own one before they die... so here's an idea, a traveling Questar that can shuttle back and forth between the oldest among us, passing onto the next when the current user has fulfilled his (or her, of course) wish to own one before they die. If someone's taken deathly ill, they get it sent immediately, otherwise it's a more leisurely process. The price of one split up among many wouldn't be too much.

The brotherhood of the traveling Questar.