A huge pair of binoculars designed for a Japanese World War II aeroplane has become the latest status symbol amongst Superyacht owners.

Made by the Tokyo Optical Industrial Corp. in 1944, the 20-inch set is part of an impressive collection of naval binoculars in the Nicholas Brawer gallery in New York and can be snapped up for the modest sum of £15,600.

The collection also includes a pair taken from the deck of a 1950s destroyer that stretches over 3ft long and an 8ft model of a Browning automatic rifle purchased as a gift for rapper 50 Cent .

"Size matters here," Brawer told Bloomberg News. "We're talking about bragging rights to the biggest, baddest battleship binoculars."

These industrial relics undergo months of painstaking restoration before they are fit for sale and cost between £11,000 and £65,000.
SuperYachtWorld, 25 February 2010