Nephi makes an inventory of important cultural artifacts, including the brass plates, the Liahona, and the sword of Laban (v. 14). His separate mention of each suggests that he sees each as an item of worth in and of itself. The brass plates had obvious religious and educational value. The Liahona, though apparently never used as a direction-indicator in the New World, is a venerated object for its past function. The sword is a functional weapon.
Understandings about these artifacts change over time. By the time Benjamin confers the kingdom on Mosiah about four hundred years later, these relics represent the transfer of legitimate power:
After king Benjamin had made an end of these sayings to his son, that he gave him charge concerning all the affairs of the kingdom.
And moreover, he also gave him charge concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass; and also the plates of Nephi; and also, the sword of Laban, and the ball or director, which led our fathers through the wilderness, which was prepared by the hand of the Lord that thereby they might be led, every one according to the heed and diligence which they gave unto him. (Mosiah 1:15–16)
When Moroni buried the plates, he included all three relics as a set. When Nephi lists these items, they had been functional. He had actually used them for their original purpose. By the time of Benjamin, they had become more than their original purpose. The Liahona, for example, is never reported as functioning again. Nevertheless, it acquired reverence as a symbol of authority that lasted over a millennium, compared to its functional life of under a decade.