HIROSHIMA, Aug. 2 Kyodo -- A pair of binoculars believed used by an Enola Gay crew member to evaluate the devastation of the first atomic bombing have been donated to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, museum officials said Friday.

Yae Araki, 82, of Osaka, donated the binoculars to the museum on Thursday, the officials said.

Araki bought the binoculars for $13,200 at Christie's auction in New York in December 1990.

The wife of Enola Gay copilot Robert Lewis owned the binoculars previously, according to the auction company's catalogue.

The late Capt. Lewis had told his family he used the binoculars to evaluate the force of the bomb, the catalogue said.

The binoculars' case bears his signature, dated Aug. 6, 1945, the officials said.

The officials said the binoculars are very likely authentic and that they plan to put them on display.

The Enola Gay dropped the ''Little Boy'' atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, in the closing days of World War II.