A very rare solar compass formerly owned by a US Deputy Surveyor - George James. As reflected on the George James webpage, George likely used this solar compass to surveyor for the USGLO in the 1890 thru 1892 time frame, when the USGLO required all US Deputy Surveyors to use a solar transit or compass in their field work.

This is a very nice but not perfect instrument. The lid of the box has a compartment for a scope, but the scope was missing. I located a replacement scope which is shown with the instrument above and is included in the sale.

The base belongs to the George James Transit I have offered for sale, and is NOT included with the solar compass.

All of the knobs on the solar compass turn freely.

The solar compass is tarnished and has a bit of corrosion on it. I gently removed a lot of the accumulated dirt on the instrument, but the instrument would benefit from a more thorough cleaning. I will leave that for the next owner. Please examine the pictures carefully and ask questions. I can also take more pictures if necessary.

I'm not a surveyor and have never used a solar compass in the field. I can see two small defects - (i) looks like a screw head is missing on the compass box and (ii) the 3/4 inch pin like thing that normally sticks straight up in the middle of the solar compass face is also missing. I have marked a picture showing the location of these items here.

I sold 5 solar compasses from 1996 thru 2006. The selling prices started at $13,000 and went up from there. This one isn't as nice as any that I sold. But it's a Gurley Solar Compass with a scope and a known provenance. And 12 years have passed. Will be interesting to see what it fetches now.

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