Your item appears to be the main parts of a liquid-filled compass , prob for nautical purposes .
Looks like it may be from around the turn of the century , to me .
The main face of your compass would be the indicator for magnetic direction , and would not have had a needle attached (no need to look for that part !) . It would have been 'suspended' in liquid to make the compass quite a bit more steady in waves , turns & movements , augmented by (usually) being mounted in/on a gimbal/gimbal 'box' .
A non-liquid filled (air of gas) compass 'dances' about with even slight movements !
Up here in the Pacific N.W. , we see bunches of broken nautical compasses , the cases are often made from non-magnetic metals & some are quite heavy ... these usually don't do too well at auctions around here , except for those from historic ships/planes & etc .
Working & intact compasses that are antique do fetch some fair prices , however , in the Pac N.W. (USA) !
