6x30 Artillery Prism binoculars Mod.A.K.

The rarest binoculars produced by the State Optical Plant in Leningrad (formerly RAOOI MP) with an original case. The year of production is 1926. Perhaps the most unusual binoculars in their design, made for the Red Army by order of the Artillery Directorate. The unusual feature lies primarily in the design, which is rather archaic for the mid-20s of the XX century, and in the fact that a cruciform angle-measuring grid mod. 1912 was installed in the right eyepiece of the binoculars, which, starting in 1915, was no longer used either in RIA or in the Red Army. And this is despite the fact that the optics of the binoculars are very perfect! The history of the appearance of these binoculars is also interesting, or rather, the absence of this history — it is only known that the drawings for it are dated July 1926, which is in the same A year ago, a single batch of about 2,000 pieces was urgently produced, and that was it. Moreover, the year 1926 is indicated on the stamp drawing, which was never usually done in the design documentation for optical devices — zeros were always indicated in this place. It turns out that it was originally planned to produce a single batch of such binoculars, and only in 1926! The issue of deciphering the abbreviation "Mod.A.K." has not been fully clarified either — most likely, it means "Model of the Artillery Committee", but this has not yet been documented. In the antique market, binoculars are represented by only a few extant specimens of varying degrees of preservation (about 5 pieces), and complete with the original case, shoulder strap and light filters, this sample is probably the only one.