274 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [mAY 31, 



inch. The estimated cost of recutting such a sphere was, in 

 New York 850 to $75, and in Ja])an 650. 



The facilities for working hard stone in the Oberstein Idar, 

 in Oberstein, are so good tliat a dish of agate, 13 inches long, 

 S inches wide, and over 3 inches deep, and hollowed out to 

 i inch in thickness, was sold for §300 in New York after passing 

 through the hands of three dealers, and paying a duty. 



The G^-inch ball hereafter quoted as weighing 15 lbs. Troy, 

 was offered for sale at -$400, and the cost of cutting it was prob- 

 ably not more than one-fourth of that amount. It will thus be 

 seen that at Oberstein it is not the cost of the turning of rock- 

 crystal into spheres that is the cause of the high prices, but 

 simply the extreme rarity of masses of rock-crystal which will 

 a ford absolutely piire spheres from 3^ i7iches in diameter upwards. 

 The great rarity of these masses and the constant demand, which 

 at all times has been greater than the supply, warrant the pre- 

 diction that prices will be higher rather than lower. The United 

 States, with its host of collectors of fine Japanese pottery, 

 bronzes, and other curios, who do not hesitate to spend thousands 

 of dollars for a single object, cannot boast of the possession of 

 half a dozen perfect crystal balls over 5 inches in diameter. 



Dealers themselves are often ignorant of the true reason 

 why crystal balls are so expensive, and being interrogated on 

 this point, may answer that the difficulty of cutting them is the 

 cause of the high price at which they are held. 



Among the French crown jewels is a crystal ball measuring 

 Gi inches in diameter. One in the possession of Mr. R. E. 

 Moore measures G^ inches in diameter, and is valued at 

 85,000. This ball was purchased in Japan twenty years ago for 

 84,000. Mr. Samuel M. Nickerson, President of the First Na- 

 tional Bank of Chicago, owns a fine ball measuring 5f inches in 

 diameter, and valued at 83,500, which was brought to this 

 country by Commodore Perry. In the possession of Mr. Brayton 

 Ives is one measuring 5f inches, estimated to be wortii 83,000; 

 and Mr. Heber R. Bishop has one measuring 5| inches in 

 diameter, which was sold for $1,250 at a New York sale. Mr. 

 W. D. Walters, of Baltimore, owns another measuring of inches 

 in diameter; Mr. Pruyn, of Albany, one 54 inches in diameter; 

 and Mr. James F. Sutton, of New l^ork, one 5^ inches in 

 diam.eter. A crystal ball in the Harper collection, measuring 

 44 inches, was sold last week to Mr. Hiram J. Sibley for 81,000, 

 while one of exceeding purity in the Morgan collection was 

 44 inches in diameter, mounted on a silver stand ornamented 

 .with a gold dragon and other grotesques, and containing the 

 private, or palace seal of the Mikado. It sold for 81,750, and 

 the stand alone was estimated to be worth 8800. 



