Hi Red,
the binoculars are made by Zeiss and are post-WWII production
After WWII, there were two Zeiss companies in operation:
- one at the original location of Jena, in what was then the new nation of East Germany (and continuing to use the original ‘Carl Zeiss Jena’ marking), and
- a seperate company at Oberkochen in West Germany
The East German company recommenced production using pre-WWII designs and equipment
However, when the West German company commenced in 1954, it used new more compact designs
The West German models included what’s called a tele-objective, where the 2 big lenses on each side of the binocular, were not glued together but spaced apart
This allowed the objective body (the large cylindrical part attached to the front of the binocular) to be shorter than usual
(the design was also later used by Carl Zeiss Jena for some models)
Zeiss Oberkochen initially made their individual focus 7x50 design from 1956 to 1961. They then replaced it with a 7x50 B version in 1961
(see the attached listing from:
http://www.europa.com/~telscope/binotele.htm)
The B indicates a binocular with a longer eye relief, that can be used by people who wear spectacles, since their eyes are further away from the eyepieces
I’ve attached a copy of:
- the original version from a 1958 catalogue, and
- the B version from a 1964 catalogue
As you can see yours is the former
To confirm that yours is a West German model, compare your binocular's markings to the centre focus 8x50 version here:
http://www.greatestbinoculars.com/allpages/reviews/vintage8x50/vintage8x50.html
See about 1/3 down the page at ‘Zeiss West 8x50B’
And especially note the comments about the internal problems that happen with age, as these will have a big effect on what price your binocular might get
In addition, your binocular is missing its eyecups - someone on the forum may be able to give you a source for replacements
And due to its age, it will primarily be of interest to a collector, rather than someone looking for a binocular to use
For those interested, Holger Merlitz has:
- comparative reviews of various larger 7, 8 and 10x designs by the two Zeiss companies, and
- copies of various Zeiss catalogues from 1912 to 1985
see:
http://www.holgermerlitz.de/binoculars_english.html
John