Optical Quartz Sphere

This sphere began as a very clear quartz crystal in Brazil, mined in the 1930's or 40's or earlier. The Canadian government bought the rough and stockpiled it for the WW2 war effort. The optical Quartz was used as lens in things like gun sites. In the 1980's Frank Melanson of Hawthorneden bought the whole lot of it and sent the rough to Idar Oberstein, Germany to be cut into precise spheres and eggs. I remember coming across a stash of these at Frank's house when we went about purchasing his entire inventory. At first we thought 'great, more quartz spheres,' but when I held it up and looked at my dad he was pictured perfectly upside down! 

This is an optical Quartz sphere, meaning there are no inclusions so the distortion to light entering the sphere is scene with total precision and clarity. In the second picture, make note of the fact the the dollar bill is upside down (while George is right side up). In the third pic, the bill is rightside up, so George is upside down, but in the reflection, the bill is upside down and the face is rightside up. In the fourth pic, the camera is focused only on the sphere, so the bill behind it is fuzzy. If you look closely, you can make out the individual pixels of ink composing George's portrait. This is fun to have to show to kids and other adults who are easily amused. 

The Hawthorneden stock had about 20,000 stone spheres and eggs in it. Over the years we have been hoarding these optical spheres while liquidating all the others. This one was, by the way priced at $120 back in the late eighties when they first got them back from the German factories. It weighs 91 grams, and is 1 1/2 inches in diameter.