This Galilean telescope's barrel is covered with shagreen (rayskin), while the single draw tube is made of red leather with a floral decoration in gold-tooling. The maker's name, 'H. PYEFINCH LONDON', is also stamped onto the draw tube. This is Henry Pyefinch, who made and sold optical and mathematical instruments in the second half of the 18th century.

The other fittings are made of brass, including a screw-on lens cap that is probably of a later date. The eyepiece has a slide that allows the user to select one of two lenses of different magnifying powers. Two black dotted lines on the draw tube correspond roughly to the appropriate viewing lengths for each of these eyepiece lenses.

Galilean telescopes like this example were simple to make and could be very compact due to the small number of lenses required. They were commonly used as a monocular version of opera glasses.