Japanese WWII Optical Relic Identification

[saiyanid]

Hi everybody,

I am new to this site and I expect I'll be on here more often.

I had a question for all of you in regards to identifying certain WWII relics.

I cannot seem to find any information on this particular Ocular Device.

I can read the Japanese well enough to know it says Japan Optical Technical Corporation and I know the inside is a list of parts like special use camera or microscope, joining rubber, illuminator, color lens and cleaning cloth. However I have yet to find anything online that looks like this or knows where it might have been used.

[Gunny Hartmann]

I notice it looks like it's got a built in spirit level, some sort of surveying device?...

[saiyanid]

That is my guess too. I don't see this being anything else but I have been wrong in the past. The only other guess I have is that is a part of a tank or naval unit. I can't see an infantry guy hauling this around.

[ghp95134]

Looks like it's for an aiming circle of some sort. This one below is similar, but perhaps larger?

Hohkoh-ban (Aiming circle), Nippon Kogaku


source

--Guy

[saiyanid]

That is it exactly! if you look at the large scope on it's own you will notice it is the same piece of equipment. Thank you for helping me to identify it!

[saiyanid]

Now the next part is to find out how much the piece I have is worth. There is a serial number on it of 277. I'll also need to figure out how many were made. Where did you find that particular information?

It looks like Neko-san is a collector for this type of equipment. I'll see if I can contact him somehow.

Thanks again!

[ghp95134]

Where did you find that particular information?

Glad to help. I wasn't certain if it was the same model; the source is listed below the photo I posted. I thought it might be a mortar site, so I googled "Japanese artillery sights" and just scrolled through images till I saw something similar to yours.

Cheers!
--Guy