This was to be a house warming gift for a Navy sailor. This is a piece of junk! Very cheaply made, thin tin with what may be a very very thin coat of copper, not full copper as ad says. This type of compass is usually filled with liquid, this is sitting on a piece of metal which is off center does not allow compass to move.The ring that holds the compass is also not centered, very poorly made, should only be worth 30 bucks and that is pushing it. Will keep it cause it will probably cost more for me to ship it back to India than what I paid for it. Only giving one star cause it would not post with no stars. Would show pictures but I dont allow any external source access to my phone.

I had done a lot of looking at many sellers of these brass Helmeted Binnacle Compasses. I settled on this one based upon price point, dimensions, photos provided in description and the answers to some questions I asked the seller before I ordered (more on that later!). I bought this binnacle to add to a Ship's Wheel pedestal as a display in my home which I had designed and was building, so it had to be a good "fit" for my project, as well as LOOK good. Before I ordered, I had asked the Seller to provide the precise dimensions (Overall Height and Diameter of the base of the piece, in inches). The seller replied that it was 9" tall and 8" in diameter, which was what I was hoping for.The binnacle arrived very quickly from India via DHL Airpost. I can't say that the packing was really as secure as it should have been being that the piece had to travel almost 5,000 miles to get to me. It did arrive in good overall condition, with two major exceptions. The first was a "ding" on one side of the brass base, which had bent a 1/2" section of the base downwards. Luckily, the metal wasn't creased or cracked, and I was able to gently bend the section back into shape, but it still isn't preferable to receive a new item and already have damage to it. I believe that the damage must have been done BEFORE it was packed, as there was NO damage at all to the shipping box. The second issue I have is that when they packed the piece into the box, they had turned the compass inside sideways on its gimbals and stuffed a few pieces of bubble wrap inside to keep the compass from knocking around during shipping, but they were not very careful while doing this, as the compass assembly had become detached from the gimbals posts and so was able to scrape against the inside of the housing, which is painted white and the gimbals assembly made two quite noticeable scratches in the paint about two millimeters wide and all the way to the brass underneath. Again, I can fix these damages, but it will be an expenditure of my time and a few dollars for the bottle of enamel paint and this was a brand new item. Aggravating! I would recommend to the Seller to pay attention to "Quality Control", in other words, INSPECT every item BEFORE it gets packed to make sure you aren't shipping an already damaged item to a customer 5,000 miles away!The most annoying issue I experienced was the inaccuracy of the Seller's quoted dimensions of the piece! Rather than the quoted 9" height and 8" base diameter, the piece is actually only 7" in height and 7" in base diameter! This made me adjust my pedestal design and purchase and add a 2" high wood base for the Binnacle to attach to. This raises it to the needed height. I don't know how the seller was THAT far off in his dimension quote, but it caused me to have to expend more money and change my plans. Accuracy is important and when you are making decisions based upon a Seller's answer, it is quite aggravating when that answer is simply WRONG!That being said, overall, I am quite pleased with the item. It is well shaped and made, the soldering of the brass is well done and smooth. The item came fairly clean, although still with a few smudges, scratches and marks. The lines of the piece are straight and "true". The gimbals and the compass work as intended. The oil lamp is quite well made and looks like it would work very well in actual use, although I am going to replace the oil lamp with a wired electric light to add detail and ambiance to my display. I have already mounted the Binnacle to the top of my Ship's Wheel pedestal display and it looks great!I would recommend this item and the Seller, but I would say that the Seller needs to be much more accurate in answering questions from customers. Those questions may not just be idle curiosity, but may need an accurate answer. I would also say that the Seller (or whomever is responsible for packaging items) needs to INSPECT each item before it is packed and then use caution when packing an item to prevent damaging the item before it is even shipped.I have added a few photos of the Binnacle mounted on the Ship's Wheel Pedestal display I am building. It hasn't been finished yet, but it is going to look great with this Binnacle on top when the project is finally complete!

The binnacle compass received was of high quality.There was a misunderstanding regarding th actual dimensions of the product, and the company resolved this issue promptly and to my satisfaction.