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, the bill is rightside up, so Franklin is upside down inside the sphere. Make note of the fact that in the third pic, the the bill is upside down (while Franklin is right side up inside the sphere. This is fun to have to show to kids and other adults the nature of a lens.  

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 over 1 1/2 inches in diameter.