Here's looking at you.

Through these old binoculars. They have a 5x magnification and the optics are surprisingly good, even while the field of view is small. They are black-painted brass with leather-wrapped barrels, and came complete with velvet-lined, leather case. The only markings are "5x" and a angle markings on the ocular bridge and "CIMILIA DEPOSE" on the main hinge pin at the objective end. A web search of this name yields no useful information, so if anyone knows anything about this company/manufacturer, please let me know.

These old eyes...

...have nothing on these.

These binoculars are probably from the late 1800's. The brass, black-painted eyecups are stamped "MARCHAND Fabt PARIS. The left brass ocular tube is stamped "Day & Night" on the top and the right brass ocular tube is stamped "U S Signal Service" on the bottom. The main body is also brass, but covered in black leather.

Interestingly, the optics on this piece are quite good - image clarity is high even though magnification seems to be only 1.5 - 2x. It's sad (to me) that many examples of Victorian optics can now be had for a song at antique stores everywhere.

No doubt the "steam punk" crowd is slowly turning these devices into fashion accesories even as you read this.