All of the post 1902 Y&S Solar Transits that I have seen were unpainted. So I'm a bit baffled why this one is painted black. The paint job is factory quality, so it is either original or when the transit went in for repairs. I probably have a slight preference for the unpainted look, but the black doesn't detract from the instrument to my eye.
I found a USGLO letter that compares the 1911 Y&S Solar Transit with Aluminum (Serial #8536) to a 1901 non-Aluminum version of the Y&S Solar Transit (Serial #7058). This letter was penned by Arthur Kidder, who was the main guy at the USGLO when it came to survey instruments. This is a fascinating letter, and contains a great deal of info about Y&S solar transits. The optics on this instrument are good, with crosshairs and stadia wires.The telescope measures roughly 10 inches when not extended, and the needle measures 3.25 inches. The only meaningful blemish on this instrument is a cracked bell housing on the moveable base of the transit (which attaches to the tripod). You will see the crack in one of the pics near the bottom of this webpage. A prior owner stabilized the crack with a strong glue, and applied the glue on the underside of the base as well (as shown in the pic after the bell housing pic).
In my opinion, solar transit #8513 won't work as a functional field instrument. When testing out the instrument on its tripod, I realized the crack prevents the instrument from being leveled properly. The crack became slightly worse when I tried to level the instrument using the level screws.The instrument is pretty nice otherwise. For more information about Young & Sons, please see my Y&S webpage at.