So I just received mine (from the Kickstarter) and will share my impression. It's lovely. The brass is nice and weighty, feels solid and tough, with beautiful levels of detail on it. The actual compass face has an elegant black and tan compass imprint. The needle settles on magnetic north quickly, but is very sensitive to external magnetic metals and magnets.
I enjoy the detail on the brass, with rotating dials, sigils, and filigree. For me, the Grand Lodge symbol is too crisp and clean; it looks modern, not old at all. The aeon stones can be swapped out with no effort. The interior of the cover has a blue enamel star-swirl design that looks great. It's lighter than shown in the image above (or is it my monitor?), with a color that's a shade or two brighter than navy blue.
If I didn't know what it was, I would just think someone made a cute little modern version of an antique compass.
Indeed, while it's very pretty, it's not flawless. It's a little stiff to open, there's nothing to give you purchase when you try to open it, and some of the aeon stones look a little too fake. My biggest problem is that the aeon stone is easily dislodged accidentally. Finally, I feel like it's aching for a loop for a lanyard, fob, or chain. Those are minor complaints.
It should go without saying, but no, you aren't going to use this in any practical sense.
I can't tell you if this delightful little replica is worth almost a hundred USD to you, a hundred sixty with the aeon stones, but it's one of the nicest replica props for anything that I have ever picked up. It's a premium product at a premium price.
The Aeon Stones were definitely not worth the price of add-on since they look like cheap plastic colored candy.
The base model itself though is great.
