There are no electronics in this “Pirate Scope.” No clever new approach to an old design. No rare materials used. No sustainable method of production.
It’s just a beautiful spyglass made of plated brass with a simple mahogany chest. It’s $70.
Catalog Page [RestorationHardware.com via Uncrate]
I have a love/hate relationship with Restoration Hardware. Their stuff is beautiful, but it’s not usually made as well as you would expect.
For example, I bought a heartbreakingly gorgeous nickel-plated brass cocktail shaker from them. Regular price was over $100 – I paid about $50. It weighs a ton and looks like a million bucks, but the nickel plating on the inside is coming off. Obviously from exposure to liquid, and probably from the (shock!) alcohol. It was made in China, and obviously not that well made.
I expect a very, very long service life out of a $100+ cocktail shaker. Apparently my expectations are unreasonable.
I would lay a fiver on this spyglass being the same: pretty, but not as sturdy as it should be.
Dculberson, the difference is how many people are actually going to use the hell out of their spyglass? It’s a functional show piece, you’d have to be pretty dumb to not opt for binoculars.
Additionally, let’s at least pretend to not exist entirely in our own individual universe, and give them the benefit of the doubt that perhaps your singular anecdotal experience is not indicative of overall product quality, especially considering the number of manufacturers represented in their catalog. Even if it was the same manufacturer, how can you extrapolate a metal-plating problem to something being ‘not sturdy’? You say yourself that the shaker ‘weighs a ton’ – sounds sturdy to me.
I said “for example,” implying the facts: I’ve had more than one such experience with them. They buy cheap but beautiful things and market them well at high prices.
Sturdiness has little to do with weight – it has to do with strength and fitness of purpose, the ability to do the job it was designed for and do it well. If it is damaged just through the act of using it as intended, it is not sturdy. It’s just heavy. And the shaker has been damaged: it now has bare brass showing through, which reacts to the beverages resulting in pitting and light corrosion. Not to mention that my wife and I have almost certainly ingested the missing nickel – not something I would ordinarily look forward to.
As mentioned, it’s a love/hate relationship, they still have neat stuff, and it’s still lovely to look at. It’s just not the fine, lovingly crafted goods that it seems.
You ate a nickel, and were able to throw in your two cents, so to me it looks like you’re still 3 pennies ahead of the game!
I’ll drink to that.
Hell yeah, how about a Manhattan?
Want to warn everyone about this item.
After a week of waiting for this scope to be shipped as a gift for my father (ordered about 2 weeks before christmas, US domestic), my wife called in and was informed that the gift was back-ordered.
Two days later we received an email confirming that.
Then tonight (Christmas Eve) an email arrived informing us that the scope had been over-sold and discontinued. As such we would not be getting our scope. Ever.
Despite this the Restoration Hardware web page lists the item as “In Stock” and “Ships … to arrive in 3 to 7 business days”.
Be warned.