The vintage compass in a handheld instrument that is used to ascertain geographic direction. Of course, it does have to be held in hand - many compasses are attached to a deck or other piece of furniture. A vintage compass is essentially an antique version of the more modern compass that most of us are familiar with.

Compasses have a magnetic needle suspended in a horizontal position over a circular field inscribed with letters to indicate direction. The needle will pivot until it finds itself aligned with the earth's magnetic field. At that point you can read it - look at the direction with which the needle's head is lined up.

A magnetic compass - which is the forerunner of the current pocket compass - probably originated in Asia approximately twenty five hundred years ago. In China, many people used what are known as lodestones - that is, minerals containing iron oxide that thus align either North or South to tell the future. Someone figured out that the lodestones could be used to actually read directions. Hence the compass.

Early compasses - of which we have few samples remaining - were basically just slabs of stone on which cardinal points - which are the four directions - were carved or otherwise marked out. The needle was actually just a lodestone that shifted to indicated one of the four direction or a point in between.

For a long time, this was all there was to the compass. But around the eight century, magnetized needles came into vogue. These were nothing more than strips of magnetized steel that moved in response to influences from the earth's magnetic poles. In just a couple of short centuries, these compasses - which are relatives of today's vintage compasses - were being used regularly on ships and boats.

How did these compasses work? The science is relatively simple. What geologists call magnetic oxides (ferrites) attract iron. Thus they are magnets. An English philosopher named William Gilbert wrote a book on the subject that he called De Magnete.

Thus, the compass - and the sextant, too - became popular instruments that helped make travel safer and more reliable. Because of that, they are key contributors to allowing human beings to begin to exchange both goods and ideas. This was the origin of the world of commerce and enlightenment.

When we collect a vintage compass, then, we are basically engaging with history. We are preserving a tool that helps us to better understand who we are as human beings.

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