Years and years ago, around 1976, I had a tube type TV that went fritz so I took it to an Austin, Tx TV repair shop. The guy took it in the back to work on and while he was doing it I looked around his shop and there were quite a few very nice amateur astronomy photos, Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon and such. I was taking some astronomy classes at UT. When he came out we got talking and he told me he was into astronomy. Now, this shop was a WRECK, much like most TV repair shops I have ever seen. pretty much a dump. He asked me to come in the back to 'See something'. The guy was about 6'6" tall and BIG, and rough looking, and I am NOT, so I declined, but he insisted so I finally went through a maze of old junk, narrow dark halls, and finally got to the back of the store. I was kinda scared. He pointed to something on the ground. It was a round plug of glass on a large wooden palate. My jaw dropped, I asked him if it was what I thought and he confirmed it was a slug for a 6 ft telescope. I believe he said he got it at auction when a Swiss observatory had two made and the first worked out, so he got it cheap. It was unfinished, just a blob of glass, but at the time I'd only seen telescopes in the 36" range and this was huge! He was grinning ear to ear, and I was astounded.
I believe his name was Chuck Knesek but I may be wrong or only close. It's been 35+ years. I never saw him again.
If anyone knows what happened to him or his slug I'd love to know.