It's what I was looking for; it's attractive, it's the right colors for my family room, and it's magnification is what I need. The problem is that the metal was dented in transit. I've got a sami-circular blemish pretty much centered at 12:00 (if the handle is 6:00). Not great for an item that is clearly meant to be decor. Guess I'll see what the return policy is.

3-1/4 stars
For this pretty magnifying glass, it was cheaply packaged. Wrapped in brown paper inside a brown flimsy small box with a little bit of bubble wrap inside. It would have been nicer if they had at least a white felt or microfiber pouch included. Or, the box could have been nicer for storage - preferably with a clear plastic top and a solid box bottom.

About the actual magnifying glass, it had a small nick or scratch in the center of one side of the glass. The handle, which is apparently mother of pearl, it had sharp edges on one length where they applied the pieces therefore you couldn't hold it comfortably. It wasn't very well smoothed out at one side to be flush with the next row. So I took my nail file and carefully filed down the rough edges on that side.

The magnifying glass is larger and it magnifies considerably when looking at 3-1/2 x 5 (and up) photographs for details, which is why I purchased it. It is pretty, but not as fancy as I thought it would be because of the cheap packaging which may lead me to believe this product may have been made cheaply also.

A more than functional magnifying glass. Although I saw a few criticisms, the positive reviews told me to take a chance and I'm glad I did. There are less expensive magnifying glasses out there that will do the job, and may even be more robust than this one. Don't know that I'd turn kids loose playing with it unless they are careful. However, there is nothing wrong with the structure, fit, and finish of this one. You're paying more for the beauty of it - and, if that's what you want, it is well worth it! I was afraid the handle would be rough, poorly aligned, chunks of fake plastic abalone. Instead, it is VERY smooth; very well fitted, very well aligned, and it looks like real abalone. It has that iridescent look that I've never seen fake plastic imitations have. We wanted a very attractive, interesting, but functional, magnifying glass to go on our bookshelf where we keep interesting nature 'finds'. This fits the bill PERFECTLY!

I have searched for a quality magnifier of this type for some time. This is very nice. Well made, looks great, and does what it is supposed to do very well!

Looks really sharp when not being used. Works great when trying to read small print. Feels solidly built.