Many have been lost forever, "but those 'brilliant curiosities' that got taken abroad became regarded as treasures, or even became objects for study by mathematicians."
也因此，許多玩物都已失傳，史料更有限。「可是這些『奇技淫巧』飄洋過海後，卻被加以珍藏，或是成為數學家們研究的對象。」