ANSWERS: 10
  • Yes.
  • No. It, along with the plates, were taken by the Angel Moroni into heaven.
  • That depends on which seer stone you’re talking about, and whether or not you believe the urban legend. (I personally do.)
  • Yes they do. It is one of the many Treasures that is now locked away from the general public. It is real though, and does exist. Sadly man if able to have access to the stone would only want to prove it to be false.
  • Joseph had a 'Seer stone' of his own that he had obtained whilst helping to dig a well. I believe that this is possibly the stone that is locked away in Salt Lke City. Yes it is only a stone, and would probably be of no use to anyone else. However it is an artifact that was owned by the Prophet and therfor of value to the people of the church. The Urim and Thumim seer stones used to help translate the Book of Mormon were given back to Moroni.
  • Yes it still is in possesion of the first presidency. In the book "Mormon Doctrine", written by Bruce McConkie, look up "seerstones" and read the exerpt on the subject. You will find that the church still has the seerstone in its possesion.
  • I believe the stones entrusted to Joseph Smith with the Golden plates were returned to the care of Moroni when the plates were.
  • It seems to me that there were several seer stones . One for each of the several top players in the makeup of Mormonism. Psychic crystal balls were much the same. A focusing item . I beleive that the results of this scrying was the process put forth by the angels of Enoch. Not related to any form of cristianity or any other religion but merely another demension striving to get attention on our plane of existence much like John Dee and his efforts to contact these exact same beings. He also succeeded and what is left of his work in now in the British Museum in London.
  • At one time all of the Kings of Middle Earth had one so that they could communicate with each other. Then Sauron came along and defeated all of the kings turning them into Wraiths and confiscating the their possessions. The seer stones were thought to be gone until Gandalf the Grey found Saruman the White using one to communicate with Sauron. Then...oh wait you are serious aren't you. This isn't a question about the Lord of The Rings. LDS, LOTR you can understand my confusion.
  • SHORT ANSWER: Yes, it most definitely is. LONG ANSWER: Many LDS Historians who have had access to the LdS Church archives have validated this including Richard Bushman, Leonard Arrington, D. Michael Quinn, and Grant Palmer who all had access to these artifacts (there's more than one in the Church Archives) within recent history. Further, here are citations from Mormon friendly sources throughout the years regarding this very question: In 1887, a body guard of church president John Taylor reported that he had seen and handled the seer stone: "On Sunday last I saw and handled the seer stone that the Prophet Joseph Smith had. It was a dark color, not round on one side. It was shaped like the top of a baby's shoe, one end like the toe of the shoe, and the other round" (Samuel Bateman diary, 17 Aug, 1887, Lee library) Wilford Woodruff, as new president of the church in 1888, dedicated the Manti, Utah temple. While there, Woodruff had the stone upon the alter: "Before leaving I Consecrated upon the Altar the seers Stone that Joseph Smith found by Revelation some 30 feet under the Earth [and] Carried By him through life" (Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 18 May, 1888) Mormon Bishop Fredrick Kesler wrote in his diary in 1899 that church president Lorenzo Snow showed him the seer stone: "...showed me the Seerers [sic] Stone that the Prophet Joseph Smith had by which he done some of the Translating of the Book of Mormon with. I handeled [sic] it with my own hands. I felt as though I see and was handling a very Sacred thing. I trust and feel that it will work in his hands as it did in the Prophet Joseph Smiths hands." (Fredrick Kesler diary, 1 Feb, 1899, Marriott Library) In about 1982, a descendant of Brigham Young, Mary Brown Firmage was told by the First Presidency's secretary that there were 3 seer stones in First Presidency's vault. She was allowed to see one when she visited that office. She reported: "The stone was not chocolate brown but rather the color of brown sugar.It was 3-4 inches long, 2 inches wide, and had a hump in the middle which made it perhaps 2 inches thick at the thickest point. It was flat on the bottom and had three black, concentric circles on the top 1/2 inch. Below the circles were many small black circles. The stone was not transparent." (Mary Brown Firmage interview with Richard S. VanWagoner, 11 Aug 1986. Van Wagoner papers, Marriott Library) ATTACHMENTS: And attached are images of a couple of Joseph Smith seer stones that have made their way out into public. Image 1: The "Quarter" or "Peyote" Seer Stone Image 2: THE FAMOUS BELCHER-SMITH-DIBBLE-PIERCE STONE THE FAMOUS BELCHER-SMITH-DIBBLE-PIERCE STONE, said originally to have been found at Salina, New York, taken to Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, and there purchased from the owner by Joseph Smith before he translated the Book of Mormon. Near the time of the martyrdom, this stone was acquired by a survivor of the Missouri mobs, Philo Dibble, who also made the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum. Dibble later exhibited the stone, death masks and other historical objects on lecture tours which he conducted in Utah Territory. Early Mormon seer stones are of the greatest rarity and importance. The lure and lore of "magic stones" have of course fascinated people throughout history. According to Brigham Young, Joseph Smith had three seer stones during the early part of his life. Judging from numerous other accounts, these would have been the white, opaque stone, of which nothing has been heard since 1900, the present "green" stone now offered here, and the brown stone which, according to David Whitmer and other friends of the Prophet, was used to translate much of the Book of Mormon and which is kept in the First Presidency's vault in Salt Lake City. Modern studies based on writings by faithful early members of the Church suggest that Joseph Smith took his seer stones very seriously, and sometimes used them to receive revelations. For documentation and analysis of the above, see Quinn (below, citing statements by Brigham Young and others in the Church Archives), and David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ . . . (Richmond, Missouri, 1887), p.12. PROVENANCE 1) Anonymous owner, Salina, New York (immediately north of Syracuse). 2) Purchased by Jack BELCHER, of Gibson, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania (ca. early 1820s). 3) Purchased by Joseph SMITH, Jr., of Harmony, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania (ca. 1825). 4) Acquired from Joseph Smith or the Nauvoo Mansion House near the time of Joseph's death by Philo DIBBLE.* 5) David DIBBLE, son of Philo Dibble. 6) James Madison PEIRCE (1850-1934; brother-in-law to Loran Dibble, son of Philo Dibble). 7) Louise Workman PEIRCE (widow of James Madison Pierce). 8) Norman Clifford PIERCE [surname spelling changed] (1906-76; nephew of James Madison PEIRCE); acquired the seer stone in 1936. 9) The children of Norman Clifford PIERCE. * Based on the description by James B. Buck, prominent early Susquehanna County settler, the original Belcher stone is generally viewed by historians as being the same, Dibble-Pierce Stone which is now offered here for sale. The haunting origins of this stone were recorded in Buck's account quoted by Emily C. Blackman . . . The stone which he afterwards used was then in the possession of Jack Belcher, of Gibson, who obtained it while at Salina, N.Y., engaged in drawing salt. Belcher bought it because it was said to be "a seeing stone." I have often seen it. It was a green stone, with brown, irregular spots on it. It was a little longer than a goose's egg, and about the same thickness. When he brought it home and covered it with a hat, Belcher's little boy was one of the first to look into the hat, and as he did so he said he saw a candle. The second time he looked in he exclaimed, "I've found my hatchet!" (it had been lost two years) and immediately ran for it to the spot shown him through the stone, and it was there. The boy was soon beset by neighbors far and near to reveal to them hidden things, and he succeeded marvellously. Even the wanderings of a lost child were traced by him -- the distracted parents coming to him three times for directions, and in each case finding signs that the child had been in the places he designated, but at last it was found starved to death. Joe Smith . . . bought the stone of Belcher and then began his operations in directing where hidden treasures could be found. His first diggings were near Capt. Buck's saw-mill, at Red Rock; but, because his followers broke the rule of silence, "the enchantment removed the deposits." LITERATURE ON THE BELCHER/DIBBLE STONE BLACKMAN, Emily C. History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania . . . Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger, 1873, p. 577. BUTLER, Jon. Awash in a Sea of Faith; Christianizing the American People. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990, p.244, with illustration. KRAUT, Ogden. Seers and Seer Stones. [Salt Lake City, n.d.], pp. 57-9, with two illustrations. Millennial Star, Volume 11, pp., 11-12, cited by Kraut. PIERCE, Norman C. LETTER to Wilford C. Wood, 5 February 1937, and STATEMENT, 24 November 1934. Reel 16, Film 413, Wood Papers, LDS Church Archives, cited by Quinn. QUINN, D. Michael. Early Mormonism and the Magic World View. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987, pp. 39-41, 195- 200, and illustration Figure 9. Finally for those who are unfamiliar with Joseph Smith's seer stone history I have embedded Bill McKeever's excellent vido presentation on the subject.

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