I like this compass because the Burt family made it and the compass comes with a field book and a clearly documented history. Here's the Burt family story in terms of making instruments:

William A Burt was a noted surveyor of public lands and the inventor of the typewriter and the Burt Solar Compass. William A had two sons who were also surveyors, John and William. In 1852 William Burt engaged a Detroit instrument maker, John Bailey, to produce the Burt’s Patent Solar Compass. During the next year Bailey and William A Burt's sons (John and William) formed Burt & Bailey to produce surveying instruments. Bailey left the firm in 1856. William A Burt's sons then formed a new firm, J & W Burt. This business lasted one year. Watson which continued for another year.

In 1857, John and William Burt, almost certainly with their father’s help, were able to entice Thomas N Watson, Young’s foreman at that time and an excellent instrument maker, to move to Detroit and become a partner in the new firm of Burt & Watson. The earliest evidence of this move is in an invoice dated June 20, 1857:

Detroit June 20th 1857 Recd from W. A. Burt
Two Hundred dollars for one solar compass to be finished in one year.
T. Watson

This was probably money advanced by William A Burt to Thomas Watson to help with moving expenses. The firm is only listed in the 1857 directory. On the death of William A. Burt in 1858, the family lost interest in the business and on October 23, 1858, The Detroit Advertiser announced, “Grant and Crosman have purchased the establishment of Burt & Watson, next door to the Advertiser’s office, for manufacturing Burt’s Solar Compass and Mathematical Instruments generally.

You can read Smart's write-up on the Burt family here.

The compass was used in Nebraska by W. E. Thorne. Thorne was an impressive guy - he was the county surveyor for several terms, a prosperous farmer and rancher, and a Nebraska state senator. You can read a nice biography about Thorne here. This Compass also comes with a really neat two page handwritten letter dated in 1995 from Thorne's great granddaughter providing the family history with the compass. The compass also comes with a field book. I didn't see a name in the field book, but when I ran the township coordinates found in the book thru the GLO database, Nebraska locations came up, not surprisingly.

I think this compass would make for a great display - nice looking compass and box, original field book, and a clearly documented history.

Price: SOLD
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