The largest crystal ball we've encountered, from The Saturday Evening Post, 1839.

"The crystal ball turned inky black."  From Strange Stories, April 1939.

An illustration from a 1901 issue of The Lady's Realm magazine.  The caption reads: "'Hush', she whispered, 'it is clearing now.'"

"The Crystal Ball": an illustration from a 1901 issue of The Lady's Realm magazine.

"The Crystal Ball:" an illustration from a 1901 issue of The Lady's Realm magazine.  The caption reads: "With sudden fury he seized the crystal and flung it through the window with all his force."

An illustration from The Yellow Circle by Charles Edmonds Walk (1909).  The caption reads: "Dorothy took a chair before the crystal."

"The Crystal Evening": an illustration from a 1909 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.

Before the advent of Internet porn:  an illustration from a 1908 issue of Life magazine.

An illustration from a 1908 issue of McClure's magazine.  The caption reads: "The fat man's eyes ... were fixed upon this thing with a kind of stupid intensity."

"The Crystal": an illustration from a 1907 issue of English Illustrated magazine.

An illustration from a 1901 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "Drawing a mystic half-circle on the floor."