I thought that was the way the serial numbers went...thanks for the confirmation.
I guess if it is a Charles Frank mount (which everything points to being the case) then it's a fair assumption that Charles Frank would have sold this telescope with one of their mounts....presumably as some kind of upgrade or package?
I am currently researching Charles Frank as a business...interesting stuff.
One interesting tidbit on Wiki was this one:
"Charles Frank was an avid collector of optical instruments. This grew to become one of the most important collections of historic instruments in Britain. It passed into the ownership of his son Arthur who continued to grow the collection. It remained with the family until Arthur Frank decided to sell the collection at auction. The collection was sold as 'The Arthur Frank Collection of Scientific Instruments' at Sotheby's Auction House on Tuesday 25 March 1986, with Arthur Frank in attendance. 808 lots were sold. A number of pieces now reside in Scottish museums. Arthur Frank continued to sell other pieces from his collection on eBay, becoming an avid Ebayer well into his late eighties."
I wonder........
Jimi