A crystal ball and stand

Crystallomancy, the art of using a crystal ball to see into the future, has ancient origins. In their Divination lessons at Hogwarts, Harry ‘felt extremely foolish, staring blankly at the crystal ball’, while Ron simply ‘made some stuff up’. Crystal gazing remains one of the best-known methods of divination. This large crystal ball is typical of the orbs consulted in the 20th century. It sits on an elaborate stand formed of three griffins at the base of an Egyptian-style column.