OP recalls that JS used a seer stone to receive revelation.
"Report of Elders Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith," The Latter-Day Saints' Millennial Star 40:49 (Dec. 16, 1878): 787
Declared that sometimes Joseph used a seer stone when enquiring of the Lord, and receiving revelation, but that he was so thoroughly endowed with the inspiration of the Almighty and the spirit of revelation that he often received them without any instrument or other means than the operation of the spirit upon his mind.