Doppelfernrohr 8x30 Carl Zeiss Jena, Imperial Persian Navy - Kriegsmarine, 1940

Binoculars 8x30 produced by Carl Zeiss Jena to be intended for the Officers of the Persian Navy, who by will of the Iranian General and First Shah of Persia Reza Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty, following agreements with European nations such as Italy, France and Germany, were sent to promote their training at the Military Academies of these countries. Furthermore, in view of the above, the collaboration between Persia and Germany and the esteem that the Shah showed towards Hitler are known, so much so that he changed the name of the nation from Persia to Iran which means "Land of the Aryans".

The binoculars feature the "Imperial Persian Crown" on the left eyepiece plate located just above the "Carl Zeiss Jena" logo written in Persian. Furthermore, there is a three-digit number which probably refers to an assignment. On the right eyepiece plate, however, in addition to the serial number and "8x30" both written in Persian (the latter also reported in Arabic numerals), there is the Kriegsmarine acceptance mark "Aquila", "M", "IV /1". Furthermore, there is the metric ratio scale X/XXXX, written in both Arabic and Persian numerals. Inside the right eyepiece there is the artillery reticle showing Persian numbers on the scale. The eyepieces are of the "schiebeokulare" or Gasmask type, and the numbers placed on each of them are in Persian. Also, the graduated washer relating the interpupillary distance shows the Arabic numerals. The concomitance of all this information confirms the fact that these are binoculars produced by Carl Zeiss specifically to be intended for officers of the Persian Navy jointly operating alongside officers of the Kriegsmarine.

Only a few other examples are known, one of which was published on page 99 of the volume Ferngläser und Fernrohre by Dr. Hans T. Seeger.

The binoculars come with their original benutzer and shoulder strap.

All mechanisms work perfectly and the vision is clear and collimated.

Carl Zeiss takes its name from its founder, Carl Zeiss, who on November 17, 1846 chose the small city of Jena, in Thuringia, as the location for his precision optical equipment factory. Thanks to the strict quality control that Carl Zeiss imposed on its products, going so far as to personally destroy the microscopes that did not pass the tests, the newborn Zeiss became the official supplier of the University of Jena and received the gold medal of the industrial exhibition in 1861 of Thuringia as the best research instrument manufactured in Germany, awarded to the microscope Stand I of 1857.

In 1866, the thousandth microscope was produced and the Zeiss name became known in all European scientific circles. Thanks to the studies on the Porro prism, in 1893 Abbe patented a double prism binoculars, which accentuated the perception of depth.

The mass production of Zeiss binoculars began in 1894, already at the beginning of the twentieth century more than 30,000 were made, by the beginning of the First World War the figure had risen to 500,000 and, by the end of the Second World War, 2,260,000 were produced binoculars for the civilian and military market. Models were made starting from 4x11 mm to 12x40 mm, up to real giants such as 80 mm and 100 mm.

Thanks to studies conducted on the perception of light in low light situations, it was shown that the average dilation of the pupil in an adult is about 7 mm. For this reason, the 7x50 mm model was introduced in 1910 and remained on the market until 1917 with few changes to the materials used.

In 1926, following the post-war crisis of the First World War with the Treaty of Versailles which bankrupted many important German companies, Zeiss bought the "C.P. GOERZ" and founded the Zeiss Ikon in 1926.

In 1937, Zeiss had commercial contacts and factories spread over 29 countries around the world. From 1933 Zeiss acquired interest from the Nazi regime, which balanced production towards military instruments. It successfully produced binoculars with wide-angle optics for military use, pressure resistant optical systems for U-boats, periscope binoculars for targeting tanks. Furthermore Zeiss cameras were mounted on the V2 for remote sensing operations of the English coasts.

On November 1, 1935, Zeiss, in the person of Alexander Smakula, patented a process for the treatment of optical glasses with extraordinary results in terms of light transmission. Remained a military secret until 1939, it was adopted on binoculars to reduce ghost images and internal reflections. During the Second World War, there were numerous bombings against the Zeiss factories.

Jena was bombed several times by the Allies starting in 1944. Stuttgart was razed to the ground, although the Contessa-Nettel factory suffered little damage. The bombing of Dresden, in addition to devastating the city, also caused considerable damage to the Zeiss Ikon headquarters.

On April 13, 1945, American military forces entered Jena, surprising themselves as the bombings had not caused significant damage. The main planetarium was in ruins, while the factories remained operational.