As of September 30, 2024, this 18 inch Cave Astrola Reflector is owned by Mark Sproul of Shohola PA.
It was built for Henry Gibson of Palm Beach FL.
It then went to University of Miami in Coral Gables Florida where it was used by John Monforte who modified it signicantly.

John Monforte at work on the scope

18" Observatory reflector.

The telescope I rebuilt was the one pictured on your site as the 18" Observatory reflector. It was built for Henry Gibson of Palm Beach FL. I had the mirror ground for a shorter focal length and put a hole in the middle of it and the mount. This way it can be used as a wide field Newtonian or a Cassegrain. I also added encoders for a computer running the Sky software. It is still at the U of Miami, but the Observatory was moved to another building and I don't know what condition it is in.

I spoke to Cave at one point during the work, to find out what I could about it. He was not very happy to talk to me, but I did find out it was the one in the ad and the only one like it.

John Monforte

The 18 1/2-inch mirror was refigured and the Cassegrain secondary was made by Richard A. Fagin of Summit Instruments who had a workshop in Homestead, Florida. He was also a musician with the Miami Beach Symphony playing the viola, at least circa 1982. He's remembered on Cloudy Nights, and his work was highly respected. Evidently he quit optics in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew destroyed his shop, and he moved away from Homestead.

Current State (as of 9/10/2024)
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Original configuration