Evening star., 1932-02-14
PERFECT" CRYSTAL
BALL1N MUSEUM
Sphere Valued at $4,000
Believed to Have Been
Owned by Chinese Ruler.
BY JAMES WALDO FAwCETT.

The block Of rock crystal from which
thiS ball was cut was found IN Burma.
The actual cutting was done in China
and the final polishing in Japan. The
sphere was brought to America by the
late Worcester Reed Warner, who lent
it to the Smithsonian Institution IN
1925 and whose widow presented 1t to
the institution as memorial to ner
husband in 1880.
The original block Is supposed to
have been at least 4 feet square and
to have weighed half ton. The ball
itself, in its finished form, measures
1874 inches in diameter and weighs
about lot pounds. Its closest rival Is
q ball 10 inches in diameter belonging
to the collection Of the University OF
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Valued at s25o,ooo.
The National Museum crystal Is
valued at $250,000, but, since 1t is
unique among its kind, its actual
worth Is really problematical. The
guard whose duty it is to keep watch
on the treasure tells of Japanese vlsi-
tor, skilled in such matters. who, see.
ing the ball, remarked: "A quarter OF
q million dollars? Well, yes. But
world, we might say whole mhhon
or two millions or any other price we
choose. There is no measure for values
In a case Of this kind. Such a BAH Is
worth whatever its owners wish to
say"
A crystal globe 62s inches in diameter
in the Green Vaults in Dresden
brought $4,000 in 1780, very large
sum in the money Of that period.
Tradition holds that the National
Museum ball was once owned by the
Emperor Chieng Lung. It was by his
orders that it was cut and polished.
the latter operation, performed by
japanese artisans, requiring six months.
A great mandarin, attached to the En-
peror's court, was told by his master
that he might choose any treasure ne
liked as a reward Of merit for some
valuable service rendered. The man
DARN chose the crystal, and it remained
in his family for two centuries. It
came on the market when the family
suffered financial reverses.
Origin Explained.
No one knows how long nature re-
uuires for the making Of so large and
fine a crystal Water, heated in some
obscure pocket of the earth, finding
means Of escape, drops slowly from cne
level to another. Silica, carried by
the water, accumulates. Thus the
crystal COIIltS 3>SSS<Hoe>AAAJs
1t is in caves that crystals are found, and
their finding depends upon accident.
Flawless crystals are exceedingly
rare, and it is said that there Is no
fawless glass artif1cially manufactured.
The National Museum ball. accord
ing to DR.. w. F. Foshag, curator OF
gems and precious stones, Is very hard,
though not as resistant as a diamond.
If dropped on the marble floor 1t
=. ;l>al1y fn ho dapnoOad-hlt
the floor might.
Beautiful CRYSTALS have been highly
prized in the Orient since long before
the dawn Of history. Because in their
original condition they are not par
ticularly attractive, it is logical to sup
pose that the art Of cutting and pol
ishing them must be OF great antiquity
In the legendary lore OF China and
Japan, crystals were the frozen breath
Of unbounded esteem and reverence.
To the japanese the crystal Is the per-
feet Jewell They see in it purity, In
dnity of space and noble patience.
Nothing More Striking.
DR.. Herbert P. Whitlock, curator OF
mineralogy, American Museum OF
Natural History, has said: There are
probably no series Of objects fashloneo
of rock crystal which are more strlk-
ing and characteristic than the spheres
made by the lapidary artists OF Japan:
The best of these are cut from naWless
quartz crystals clear and absolutely
colorless, and are usually mounted on !
bronze, wrought into decorative forms,
such as dragons, storks, tortoise and
grotesque human figures.
The clear, polished ball, contrasting
with its dark bronze mounting Is pre-
eminently an artistic object, lendlng
Itself with especial facility to the
japanese taste, which sets aside one
beautiful thing as sufficient to con-
template and admire in an entire room.
Groups of these balls, delicately bal
anced in their mountings. have been
frequently employed in that land OF
earthquakes to give warning OF shocks,
being shaken from their balanced poises
by the slight preliminary tremors."
The art Of the Japanese lapidary. oc-
cording to DR.. Whitlock, IS largely q
family affair It Is handed down from
father to son for generations (and)
consists of manual dexterity carried to
a superlative degree. Armed with only
two primitive tools, the lapidary shapes
from an angular quartz crystal sphere
of perfect roundness and high polish.
The quartz crystal Is first roughly
shaped to the form OF ball by chip
DlIlR Blu ~ WILL q PlCSS Va
steel about IL inches long and half
inch wide, which has concave cutting
edge somewhat like a carpenters
gouge.
Method Of Polishing.
when, by means of this treatment,
the ball has been made round and ap-
proximately smooth, a Joint of bamboo
is used to complete the polishing, quartz
dust. which lodges in the pores Of the
bamboo, and finally rouge, furnishing
the abrasive. This all sounds extremely
simple and no doubt is-to one who is
trained to do 1t. The labor expended
on crystal ball of even modest size
renders it very costly object"
DR.. Whitlock calls attention to the
fact that quartz has the optical prop
erty, called double refraction, of ex-
hibiting two images of everything
which Is viewed through it in certain
direction. 1t Is impossible for q
glass ball to produce this effect"
. Edward A. Preble of the United
States Biological Survey, writing in
Mature Magazine" says: Crystal
balls have for time immemorial played
a part in attempts at divination. Some
of the earliest attempts to look into
the future involved the use of objects
with bright surfaces, such as mirrors
or cups Of polished metal. In the story
of Joseph and his brethren, as related
in Genesis. We learn that Joseph con-
cealed silver cup in the sack Of grain
taken away by Benjamin, and invoked
its help in seeking the return Of his
brother. Is not this it in which my
Lord drinketh, and whereby he indeed
divineth?'
I'm later times the Arabs used a golden
ball, incrusted with jewels, that when
spun helped the magician to fall into
trance and see visions. A god of the
ancient Mexicans could learn all Sc
crets by means of his mirror. BY the
thirteenth or fourteenth centuries the
. Persians and even the Britons were
using the crystal ball more or less Sc