Museum recovers precious crystal ball

A $200,000 crystal ball that was stolen from the University Museum almost three years ago was recovered by the FBI yesterday. The 55-pound ball was recovered along with a $30,000 bronze statuette of the Egyptian god Osirus that was swiped at the same time. The crystal ball -- which was perhaps the most renowned artifact in the museum and is the second largest of its kind in the world -- is not yet in the University's posession, but University Museum spokesperson Pam Kosty said late last night the ball will be shown to the public at a press conference at the FBI's Philadelphia headquarters this morning. According to Philadelphia Police Lieutenant Richard Eite, a University Museum volunteer saw the bronze statuette Thursday at a garage sale on the 2400 block of South Street. Because the volunteer was unsure if the statue was the same one, she called two other museum workers to come look at the piece, who then verified that the statue was the one stolen. According to Eite, the man who was running the sale said he had bought the statue for $30 on October 12 from a "trash picker" who was hocking the art piece on an "old wooden table" on the 2300 block of Gray's Ferry Avenue. It is unclear whether the finding of the statue led the FBI to the crystal ball, and neither Kosty or Eite had information on the discovery. But a report on WCAU-TV last night said that the ball was found in a pawn shop. The ball and the statue were stolen from the museum on November 11, 1988. Before the ball disappeared, it was the museum's most popular artifact, sitting prominently in the building's third floor rotunda. It served as both the literal and symbolic centerpiece of the museum's Chinese exhibit, and was the prize of one of the nation's most famous collections of Buddhist art. At 10 inches in diameter, the crystal ball is second in size only to one displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. In the months following the incident, the museum offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the recovery of the lost artifacts, but it is not known if the reward was still being offered or if anyone had claimed it. The FBI had spearheaded the investigation since the pieces' disappearance. They had been placed on the National Stolen Art file, and FBI agents in Philadelphia and several other regional offices had participated in the search. The theft was the first in a string of three major art thefts in Philadelphia during November 1988. A Sri Lankan mask was swiped from the University Museum ten days after the ball and statue were stolen, and a priceless statue was stolen from the Rodin Museum four days later. The Rodin piece was recovered several months later, but it is unclear if the mask was ever found. The theft of the ball and statue had impact beyond their material value at the time of the incident. "[The ball] was my favorite object in the museum," University Museum Director Robert Dyson said at the time of the crime. "There's total dismay and sadness. It's like a wake around here."

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