Other's have replied, and a couple were right on.  But, I went to the 
horses mouth so to speak.  I live in Columbia Mo about 20 miles from 
Centralia.  I have friends there in my Civil War re-enactment group who 
work for AB Chance.

They still make the tool, and have probably been making it for at least 10 
years including the leather case.  It is shiny brass when new, and there is 
supposed to be a level in the brass tube sticking out.  I couldn't tell 
from the reply (voice mail) whether the level might be unseen in the 
provided photo, or has gone missing.  As someone suggested, it is used as 
far as I can quote my friend "to make sure lines are straight"  He doesn't 
work in their manufacturing wing, so had no idea what the current selling 
price might be.

--Scott

At 05:05 PM 8/18/2004, Mike Swindell wrote:
>I found this at a swap meet and have no idea what it is for and if it has 
>any value. It is called a Mathews Teleheight Type CW made by AB Chance Co. 
>Centralia MO
>
>Can anyone identify this find.
>
>Cheers
>Mike on the left coast
>
>http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/maswindell/detail?.dir=/bfda&.dnm=2c56.jpg
>Archive: http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/
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+=======================================================+
  Scott Stager                        
  IT System Support               (573)-882-9289
  University of Missouri System