I have owned a total of 5 "Department Store" 60mm Telescopes.  

My interest in Astronomy goes as far back as I can recall.  I remember looking at the Moon for the first time through a Tasco 60mm variable power (15x - 60x) Telescope.  At age 7, I was awe struck.  This was 1964.  I decided I wanted a Telescope.  At age 10, I saw Saturn for the first time.  A school field trip took me and my classmates to Harold Osborn's roll off roof observatory in Eugene.  I recall Mr. Osborn's 12 inch Telescope being made of 25 gallon steel drums.  I was surprised at how small Saturn looked at 300x, but I was still amazed by the sight.   I would later see Mr. Osborn and his Telescope when the Eugene Astronomical Society paid a visit to him. 

In 1968, at age 12, I purchased my first Telescope, a Sears Discovery 60mm which was not Equatorially mounted.  I felt a 234 power telescope was adequate enough to get me started.  Yes I was sucked into the assumption that capability was best measured by magnification or power.  One evening, I became impatient with the mounting when I observed Venus slowly dropping out of the field of view.  I assumed that the mount was sagging, but the reality was that the Earth's rotation was causing the movement. 

My second 60mm. In 1971 I sold the Sears Telescope and purchased a JC Pennies 60mm with an Equatorial Mount.  This new Telescope was beautiful.  It was blue in color and seemly flawless in workmanship.  At 1000mm Focal Length, it was long and slender.  Most of all this Telescope could reach an impressive 500 power!  I still didn't get it.  I chose this scope over the 4.5 inch reflector at 450 power.  The Salesman said you can put more power in a 4.5 inch Reflector, but it is expensive. I was sold, I chose the 500 power. I would later learn that eyepieces could be purchased for $7, not expensive even in their day.  But there was a much larger issue here, the salesman was clearly unqualified to sell Telescopes.  Magnification was the most over-rated feature of a Telescope.

I did learn a lot from the new Telescope, primarily how to use an  Equatorial Mount. 1973 I sold this telescope to fund the building of the 8 inch Telescope.  The third scope would be a used (15x-60x) 60mm mounted to the side of the 8 inch as a guide scope. I was only marginally useful.  I regretted selling the JC Pennies scope because with it's mount, it made a good guiding platform for simple  Astro-Photography. So in 1984, In preparation for the return of Halley's Comet, I purchased my fourth, a "Jason" 60mm Refractor to serve that purpose. 

Well, Halley's Comet was elusive because of how low it was on the horizon as seen from Central Oregon. This was disappointing because much preparation had gone into the effort, including hastily cutting and drilling a piece of plywood prepared at Lynn Carroll's that would act as a guiding platform for the camera and OTA.  The plywood platform was upgraded to a plastic dish from a kitchen ware store.

The Optical Tube was sold in 1988  at the Table Mountain Star Party. The Equatorial Mounting would go on to have an illustrious carrier. The mounting was fitted to a 94mm Brandon Telescope.  It was later used for a 70mm Pronto.  Eventually, I sold the mount.

The fifth 60mm was purchased in 2002 and was used to demonstrate to a class how you can salvage a seemingly ravaged by age telescope.  With so many new scopes on the market today, I would not recommend this now.