This is a very nice Gurley Light Mountain Transit made in 1910. Gurley's Light Mountain Transits were a great blend of precision and weight, and were therefore the go-to instruments for many surveyors and civil engineers. Even today the transits remain popular with collectors.

Light Mountain Transits pop up for sale every now and then. The one offered here stands out, however. While this transit is very nice, it shows some usage, albeit a bit less than you would normally expect to see. What makes this transit worth having - the leather case. Gurley sold the Light Mountain Transits with leather cases. Over time, many of these leather cases were lost or fell apart, so most of the transits no longer have their leather cases. Sometimes you see a transit with a beat-up leather case. You very infrequently see a leather case in nice condition. The case here is in very nice condition - clearly the best I have ever seen.

Every things seems to work on this transit. The optics are very nice with cross and stadia hairs in place. The only thing I notes while paling with it a bit - the Vernier turning thumbscrew seem pretty tight on rotation. I suspect the mechanism needs a cleaning and re-oiling.

The original purchaser signed his name to the underside of the leather top. See attached pic. I can't make it out but didn't spend much time trying either. I also see the initials CMH punched into the top of the case. The signed name looks more like C…L…H to my eyes, on the other hand.

All things considered, this is a really nice example of a Gurley Light Mountain Transit, and the leather case adds some meaningful pop to the value of the instrument.

Please see my Gurley Maker Webpage for more information about Gurley Instruments.

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