
But that could just be me projecting, based on the rather unstoried history of this smooth chunk of hieroglyphed stone.

However, when it was found in the ground during a fence installation project in 1872 near Lake Winnipesaukee in central New Hampshire, it apparently seemed remarkable, especially to Seneca Ladd, the businessman who organized the dig. He held onto the stone until his death 20 years later. All the usual guesses were made about its origin, but when it came down to it, nobody had a clue what it was or who made it, and that made it seem cool.
Ignorance makes a lot of things seem cool.
Today, we still don’t what it is or who made it. It's still a mystery...stone. However, experts are pretty sure the hole was bored with a machine. That’s enough to hurt its mystery right there, since the explanation seems to be “Some dude just made this for kicks, and relatively recently.”

Actually, I guess the New Hampshire Historical Society is not completely embarrassed by it. I mean, it’s not too hard to find information about it on their website, they sell T-shirts featuring it, and they admit it’s the piece that receives the most inquiries. Still, judging by the exhibit display, you could tell that the museum curators didn’t know exactly what to do with it, and are at least wary of making too big a deal of it.
And, sure, one day we might learn that it’s the top of a lever from a time machine or the necklace bead (or kidney stone) of an ancient god, but its purpose, if it ever really had one, is probably a bit more prosaic. And deep down, everybody with a connection to or an interest in the stone, kind of knows it.