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The Eerie Orb: 1925
April-May 1925. Washington, D.C. "NO CAPTION." If you stare at this long enough, you really don't need a caption ... caption ... caption ... caption ... Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Finally!
...something I recognize on Shorpy! I've seen this crystal ball up close! As a kid in the '80s my family and I visited the Smithsonian; the sphere was on display in the minerals and gems collection. Heck, I might have even touched it (I remember it just being out in the open (it's not like anyone was going to stuff that thing into a pocket and walk off with it)).
The gentleman in the picture
He looks to be George P. Merrill (1854-1929)Dept. Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
http://www.barringercrater.com/about/history_4.php
Museum listing
The Smithsonian still has custody of this item, per the catalog entry.
Mystery solved
This is (allegedly) the world's largest perfect crystal sphere. LOC has a captioned photo (dated 1930) of the orb on display at the Smithsonian.
The Evening Star ran a May 7, 1925 story, while the Post seems not to have addressed the subject until Feb. 28, 1926, when it published a very long (& in my view extremely overwrought) rumination on the sphere & Oriental divination.
The Star's story:
Question
So how do you get the water and fish in?
Mesmer Eyes
I want to be the first to say that it did not go unnoticed that you spherized the Shorpy logo at the bottom left.
Papa Escher
"M.C., when will you stop fooling with that thing and make something of yourself?"
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