Final answer:
Joseph Smith obtained his brown seer stone in the early 1820s and used it to receive divine revelations and for translation work.
Step-by-step explanation:
Joseph Smith obtained his brown seer stone in the early 1820s, before he claimed to have translated the golden plates to create the Book of Mormon. According to Smith's own account, he found the stone while digging a well on a neighbor's property in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Smith used the seer stone as a means of receiving divine revelations and as a tool for his translation work.
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