Memorabilia lovers are zooming in on a piece of Cape Town’s history - the first public telescope placed on Table Mountain in 1930 - which is for sale at R90,000.Within 14 hours of advertising the telescope on an online classifieds site on Tuesday‚ owner Julian Meyer’s post had had 2500 visitors.Meyer‚ from Tamboerskloof in Cape Town‚ bought the telescope in 1991 for the brass scrap price. It had fallen out of use as its objective lens was cracked and the prisms were chipped.“This is obviously a very‚ very rare piece and would be an amazing restoration project or an extremely valuable collectable for display. Some very important people looked through this telescope during the years it was on the mountain‚” he said.The telescope was mounted for public viewing next to the upper cable station in 1930‚ just after the opening of the cable car. Some of the illustrious visitors who may have peered through its lenses include Queen Elizabeth II during her 1947 South African tour.They were greeted by the 77-year-old Prime Minister Jan Smuts‚ who not only hiked to the top of the mountain to meet them but arrived back in town in time for a joint sitting of the houses of Parliament.Meyer was able to confirm the telescope’s authenticity via the South African Astronomical Observatory. He also unearthed from online archives a picture of it in place on the mountain.A former Zeiss employee‚ visiting Cape Town from the USA‚ was able to provide the exact manufacture date and sent Meyer the original token used to test the timing mechanism which takes the place of the 6d coins the public used to pay for their spectacular view of the city and the ocean.Meyer said the telescope was manufactured in 1918 and the lenses ground in 1912.After spending trying to get the telescope refurbished by the now defunct SA Navy Optical Workshop and by the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company as a possible public exhibit‚ Meyer decided to sell it.”I hope whoever buys it will have better luck than I did in getting this wonderful telescope back into working condition‚” he said.Would-be buyers can view the ad on Gumtree.The text of the advert reads:I'm offering for sale a unique item in Cape Town's history - the original Carl Zeiss telescope that was installed on top of Table Mountain soon after the Cableway was built‚ circa 1930. The telescope was manufactured in 1918 and the lenses ground in 1912. This information was obtained from Zeiss records and from the serial numbers on the lenses. It is in reasonably good condition but the optics are fuzzy due to chipped prisms and a cracked 150mm objective lens. The clockwork sixpenny coin slot mechanism is still working. Included is an original Zeiss token with a picture of the telescope used to operate the coin mechanism. The original stand has long since disappeared. The telescope was removed from the mountain (I haven't been able to find out exactly when) and was about to be sold for scrap when I saved it. This is obviously a very‚ very rare piece and would be an amazing restoration project or an extremely valuable collectible for display.Some very important people looked through this telescope during the years it was on the mountain. I've included a photograph of the telescope on Table Mountain dating back to the 1950s judging by the models' fashions! Please do not contact the seller unless you are a serious buyer...