# Chinese puzzle balls

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-puzzle-balls/833449>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 4, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-puzzle-balls/833449 "2019-05-04T00:37:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-puzzle-balls/833449/1 "2019-05-04T00:37:24Z")

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I had never heard of this art form. Concentric sculpted balls: the inner balls were sculpted through the holes in the outer balls. Up to 12 concentric layers of spheres. Long before the invention of the Dremel.

> **[The Mind-Boggling Artistry of China’s Ivory Puzzle Balls](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/puzzle-balls-from-guangzhou)**
>
> This traditional art from Guangzhou can never be produced legally again.

Mind blown.

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**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-puzzle-balls/833449/2 "2019-05-04T22:34:18Z")

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My grandparents had one of these. It was beautiful. Unfortunately it got dropped and one or more of the inner balls broke. === It must have been one of my cousins. It wasn’t me.