What do the circles mean?

[Tropo-Bob]

Some of my eyepieces have a small circle with R in it, others have circle V and one has circle T. I also have a number of EPs with no such marks on them.

I know that these marks cause excitement to some, so could anybody give me a concise explanation of what they mean and if they all matter, or only some matter?

Thanks in advance.

[rrussell1962]

I believe V in a circle was a mark Vixen used on their eyepieces and T in a circle was used by Towa. No idea about the R in a circle though.

[Merlin66]

Circle R = Registered design

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/417351-celestron-circle-r-and-televue-circle-r-plossls/

[Wavytone]

Bob they are japanese "makers marks", much like the "hallmarks" on fine english silverware. From a thread on CN recently:

Badge SOC=Showa Optical Company (Not the same as S.O.C)
Circle T-Towa
Circle Dash (-)= Carton Optical Co
Diamond N = Eikow
Circle Y (upside down) = Eikow or Towa (circle split in 3 symmetrical parts)
Circle K-Kenko or Koyu (Vixen was originally a trade name used by Koyu)
Diamond Z-Tanzutsu
Diamond SYW-Yamamoto
Circle + (plus)-Shimadzu Seisakusho
Circle W- ???
Diamond BOL - Bushnell Optical Labs
HOC-Hino Optical Company
Circle V-Vixen
Crown Goto-Goto Optical (why can’t they all be this easy!)
Circle A-Astro Optical
Circle G, backwards G, in a cross-Astro Optical-Older
COC-Carton Optical Company
APL-Apollo Business & Industry-Bought by Koyu, then Vixen.
AvA=Takahashi on Swift
Star on Crescent-Nishimura
KOL-King Optical
Diamond K = Tasco but original manufacturer unknown
NS = Nihon Seiko, rebranded as University Optics

[Merlin66]

Bob,
Does this answer your original question??

[Tropo-Bob]

Yes, thanks all for the information.

I only half-understood what this was about before.