Undated and unmarked (circa 18th century) Pocket Compass. Very Fine.

44.5 mm; 15.9 mm high, with lid affixed. Brass casing, with glass interior cover and paper labels inside. A charming and functional piece that, as the Ford cataloger wrote, is "the sort of gadget an officer might carry with him into the unmapped American forests." It is not hard to look at this and imagine it guiding troop movements, explorers or surveyors a couple of centuries ago.

From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from John J. Ford, Jr.; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XVI, October 2006, lot 99.