This is a portable astronomical refractor telescope, however, the stand is missing. In terms of contemporary sales catalogues, this would have been classed as a 3 1/2 foot refracting telescope, retailing when first made at around £20 to £30 depending on the stand.

This type of telescope was popular in the 18th and early 19th century as it became fashionable among a certain class to dabble in science and in astronomy in particular.

The brass barrel of this portable refractor telescope divides in two parts for storage purposes. It has a refracting telescopic sight on the side of the barrel and has a doublet object glass and a brass object end cap. The objective lens cap has a small hole which can be opened, perhaps for observing the Sun, and a number of different size discs which can be unscrewed for different size openings. There is a finderscope with three screws that give a small amount of adjustment, a rack and pinion focuser for fine adjustment and push pull focusing for coarse adjustment. There is an eyepiece tube and cap within the eye-end. The handle attached to the barrel extends the eyepiece.

The box for the telescope survives and contains, in addition to the telescope tube, four celestial eyepieces of varying focii with shades, two of which are missing; two terrestrial eyepieces; four bolt attachments for the missing stand and a brass barrel which is corroded and marked. The box itself has brass handles and a brass lock, but the key is missing. The box lid is broken. There are six holes in the box for astronomical eyepieces which means two are missing. Also in the box are several shapes for holding accessories which are missing, although these might have been to hold part of the tripod.