G. N. Saegmuller described this as a "Four-inch Theodolite, As furnished to the U. S. Government Surveys," and priced it at $300. This example was made after 1887 when
Saegmuller began putting serial numbers on Fauth instruments, and before 1905 when Fauth & Co. went out of business. The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey transferred it to the
Smithsonian in 1929. The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, and read, with opposite verniers and magnifiers, to 30 seconds.
Ref: George N. Saegmuller, Descriptive Price-List of First-Class Engineering & Astronomical Instruments (Washington, D.C., 1903), p. 41.