Quote:
Originally Posted by MortonH
Yikes! How did you find that out?
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By the 1980s Zeiss made about 1 million binoculars, even that number was not enough for the demand worldwide... a Japanese company started making 'knock-offs', lots of them... with some differences, and certainly of lesser quality, they have been mainly sold through eBay etc often from the UK....
Rumour has it that eventually Zeiss licenced the Japanese company to continue making them as Zeiss in DDR couldn't keep up with demand. The Japanese versions were sub-standard....
The real deal have 7 digit serial numbers, many of the 'fakes' only have 6 digit serials....
Recently counterfeit versions of other Zeiss binoculars are coming in from China...... some sold as cheap as $70 and if you read the fine print, some say "high quality imitation" .... you need a magnifying glass though...
BUT we digress, as John posted, there are certainly bargains to be had... even here on IIS classifieds some items go very cheaply.......... others, not so much !!