By Paul B Downing
Majestic Press
1992 ISBN 0-9625311-2-X
Paul Downing writes:
My goal as I set out to do this book more than 3 years ago, was to produce a methodology for valuing opals which worked. But more important it had to work the same way for every person who used it. Thus, it was necessary to combine definitions of the various characteristics of an opal with a visual, measurable and reproducible criteria. It needed to be visual so that each person who used the definition gained the same sense of meaning from the words. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when describing opal characteristics. Measurable criteria had to be developed so that each stone could be objectively characterized. The criteria had to be reproducible so that each individual using the valuing methodology employed the same meaning for each item.
Photographs were the only way. I am fortunate to know to excellent opal photographers, Len Cram and Rudy Weber, who have large libraries of pictures of opals of all types and characteristics. Each has access to some of the best opals found in Australia. Their photo libraries are an attempt to chronicle this exciting stone. Just to see them is a real treat. They are wonderful.
I searched through their libraries and selected pictures that would best illustrate the characteristics I needed for visual criteria. I did not always select the most beautiful picture, although there is plenty of beauty within these pages. Rather, I selected pictures for the utilitarian purpose of adding a visual to the definitions to be contained in this book. Without the help of Rudy and Len this book could not have been done. I am deeply in their debt.
Originally I was going to make my own estimates for value and set up a panel of experts to produce periodic updates. The more I thought about that, the more work it seemed. Then my wonderful wife, Bobbi, suggested a simple solution. Why not use someone else’s estimates of market value? The someone else was Richard Drucker and his market assessment of colored stones called The Guide. Terrific idea. Richard and his panel were already doing estimates of opal value and updating them periodically. Exactly what I needed, leaving me time to research more thoroughly the individual characteristics. Richard and I talked and he agreed to let me use his data. Again, I couldn’t do it without him.
The result of using The Guide as the basis for value is that this book never becomes outdated. To get a current reading of market value all you have to do is consult the current issue of The Guide. Then you can use the prices it contains with the methodology presented in this book to obtain the latest market estimate of the value of any opal.
The whole book is set up with one goal in mind. I want any user, anywhere in the world, to identify all the relevant characteristics of a particular opal in exactly the same way. The book is, unfortunately, quite detailed. This detail is needed so that each reader understands the subtle differences that can have a significant affect on value.
To make this detail a little less difficult to follow, I have broken down the process. The book instructs step-by-step, one characteristic at a time. When all the characteristics have been explained, I show how they are put together to form an estimate of value.
I have attempted to make the book complete by covering all sources of opal that appear on the market from Australia, Mexico, America, Brazil, Honduras and Hungary. I have covered all types too, including solid opal (black, white, and crystal), boulder opal, matrix opal, carved opal, doublets, triplets, synthetics and simulated. However, new sources appear yearly. Fortunately, the characteristics that make opal valuable, even opal from new sources, are covered in this book. Using these characteristics you should be able to estimate the market reaction to that new opal from Timbuktu.
It is important to realize that the use of the terms I define here have evolved in the industry over time and by word of mouth. It is inevitable that others will use or visualize these terms a little differently. Hopefully this book will be a first step toward a common and consistent terminology. Remember that definitions are never wrong—they are just different. I hope to narrow these differences.
I realize that the opal market is alive and well, and thus always in state of change. I cannot hope to anticipate the future. Rather, I have done my best to give the most accurate picture of the market at this time.
To do this I have consulted with various opal experts. I have had the privilege of sitting and kibitzing with the Opal Advisory Service of the Lightning Ridge Miners Association on numerous occasions. I have discussed pricing and this project at length with various opal experts in Australia, including Richard Osmond, Joy Clayton, Greg Sherman and John Traurig of Sydney; Ted Priester and Len Cram of Lightning Ridge; Ewe Barfuss of Yowah; Andrew Cody of Melbourne; Andrew Shelley of Coober Pedy; Stafford Scott of Mintabie; Mario Anic of Andamooka; and many others. Several opal cutters in Hong Kong have been most helpful, especially Sunny Li and Peter Su.
In the United States I have consulted with David Baitel, Martin Bell, Tony Dabdoub, Richard Drucker, Brian Franks, Keith Griffin, Glen and Keith Hodson, Bill Maison, Gerry Manning, and Charlie Smith, among others. None of these very helpful people agree with me completely, but I have taken their advice to the best of my ability. Presentations of these ideas at various meetings of the Accredited Gemologists Association and at the GIA International Symposium have helped me clarify and refine this book. My early article, Evaluating Cut Opal, appeared in the December, 1987 issue of Rock & Gem. This article was stimulated by a prior attempt at a pricing system put out by the American Opal Society.
Specific detailed reviews of drafts of parts or all of this book were done by Len Cram, Richard Drucker, Pat Dunnigan, Richard Osmond and Ted Priester. Without the help of all these people I could not have created this book. Still I must accept all the blame for the remaining errors. I hope you find this book helpful, and may be a little entertaining from time to time.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Diamonds Changing Facets
Here is an update on diamonds.
Economist writes:
An industry once dominated by a cartel is starting to look like any other. DIAMONDS are back on the big screen. The stones serenaded by Marilyn Monroe as a girl's best friend are now, however, portrayed by Hollywood as Africa's worst enemies. Leonardo DiCaprio may win an Academy Award for his performance in “Blood Diamond”, as a mercenary hunting for the precious rocks during the war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. But in reality, the shape of the industry—which produces an estimated $13 billion of rough stones and over $62 billion of diamond jewellery—has greatly changed since then.
More info @ http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8743058
Economist writes:
An industry once dominated by a cartel is starting to look like any other. DIAMONDS are back on the big screen. The stones serenaded by Marilyn Monroe as a girl's best friend are now, however, portrayed by Hollywood as Africa's worst enemies. Leonardo DiCaprio may win an Academy Award for his performance in “Blood Diamond”, as a mercenary hunting for the precious rocks during the war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. But in reality, the shape of the industry—which produces an estimated $13 billion of rough stones and over $62 billion of diamond jewellery—has greatly changed since then.
More info @ http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8743058
Joban Oil
Nearly all emeralds are treated with a liquid or resin after cutting. In India, Joban oil (green) is the choice for treating commercial grade emeralds. The treaters believe the oil improves the overall gemstonality of the emeralds. All treatments should be disclosed at all levels of the distribution chain. If you are doubtful have it checked by a reputed gem testing laboratory.
The Color Of Money
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Eddie Felson (Paul Newman): You're some piece of work... You're also a natural character.
Vincent Lauria (Tom Cruise): You see? I been tellin' her that. I got natural character.
Eddie Felson (Paul Newman): That's not what I said, kid. I said you are a natural character; you're an incredible flake. But that's a gift. Some guys spend half their lives trying to invent something like that. You walk into a pool room with that go-go-go, the guys'll be killing each other, trying to get to you. You got that... But I'll tell you something, kiddo. You couldn't find Big Time if you had a road map.
Eddie Felson (Paul Newman): You're some piece of work... You're also a natural character.
Vincent Lauria (Tom Cruise): You see? I been tellin' her that. I got natural character.
Eddie Felson (Paul Newman): That's not what I said, kid. I said you are a natural character; you're an incredible flake. But that's a gift. Some guys spend half their lives trying to invent something like that. You walk into a pool room with that go-go-go, the guys'll be killing each other, trying to get to you. You got that... But I'll tell you something, kiddo. You couldn't find Big Time if you had a road map.
The Koh-i-noor Diamond
By Stephen Howarth
Quartet Books Limited
1980 ISBN 0-7043-2215-3
Stephen Howarth writes:
Koh-i-noor: the name means Mountain of Light. The diamond called the Koh-i-noor is one of the most famous of the Crown Jewels of Great Britain. It is not the largest diamond in the world, nor is it the most valuable, in monetary terms. Whether or not it is the most beautiful is a matter of opinion; but of all existing jewels, it has the longest history in legend, and the most colorful history in fact.
Diamonds are symbols of eternity. The word comes from the Greek adamas, meaning unalterable and indomitable. This, and the poetic name ‘Mountain of Light’, together indicate the reasons for the high regard in which diamonds have always been held: their beauty and their endurance. Diamonds are one of the hardest natural substances in the world, and many of their uses nowadays are for industrial purposes. But for thousands of years previously they were sought for their beauty, and by their rarity became the province of kings.
The Koh-i-noor was found in an Indian mine, probably more than three hundred years ago, and as the fortunes of India have varied in those three centuries, so the Koh-i-noor has changed hands from one conqueror to another. Through the changes, this special diamond has gradually acquired its own particular symbolism. It has meant different things to different people; to many, it has been an emblem of power and conquest and empire. To others, it has represented something more peaceful, and it is an image of union, factually and philosophically. Diamonds as fact, symbol and legend are woven inextricably into the paradox of Indian society, simultaneously changeless and everchanging. This marriage of constancy and variability can be a difficult concept for many Western minds, but it is this very concept which makes the Koh-i-noor a jewel literally beyond price, for the story of the Koh-i-noor reflects the history of the subcontinent of India. It is a turbulent story, sometimes cruel and violent, sometimes peaceful and calm; and it starts not three hundred years ago, but three thousand years ago, in India’s oldest legends.
The Owners of the Koh-i-noor
Mir Jumla, one-time wazir to the King of Golkonda, presented it to Shah Jahan, the Mogul Emperor, c. 1655-7. It descended to Auragazeb, Shah Jahan’s son. In 1655 it was seen, weighed and measured by Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a French jeweler. It remained with the Moguls until 1739, when it was lost to Nadir Shah, the Persian emperor, after his sack of Delhi. The jewel went to Persia. After Nadir’s assassination in 1747, his grandson Shah Rukh Mirza inherited the jewel. In gratitude for support he gave it to Ahmad Shah, leader of the Durrani clan and unifier of Afghanistan, in 1749. The jewel remained in Afghanistan with Ahmad’s son, Zaman Shah, who inherited it in 1793. Zaman was imprisoned and blinded by one of his brothers, but contrived to hide the jewel, until he passed it on to another brother, Shah Shuja, in 1795. Shuja eventually surrendered it to Ranjit Singh, the ‘Lion of the Punjab’, in 1813, in return for military aid. On Ranjit’s death the jewel passed to Dhulip Singh, his supposed son, in 1839. On the annexation of the Punjab by the British, in 1849, the jewel was claimed by The Board of Government, who took possession of it pending its presentation to Queen Victoria. The presentation took place on 3 July 1850. Since then the jewel has remained in Britain and is now mounted in the State Crown of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
Quartet Books Limited
1980 ISBN 0-7043-2215-3
Stephen Howarth writes:
Koh-i-noor: the name means Mountain of Light. The diamond called the Koh-i-noor is one of the most famous of the Crown Jewels of Great Britain. It is not the largest diamond in the world, nor is it the most valuable, in monetary terms. Whether or not it is the most beautiful is a matter of opinion; but of all existing jewels, it has the longest history in legend, and the most colorful history in fact.
Diamonds are symbols of eternity. The word comes from the Greek adamas, meaning unalterable and indomitable. This, and the poetic name ‘Mountain of Light’, together indicate the reasons for the high regard in which diamonds have always been held: their beauty and their endurance. Diamonds are one of the hardest natural substances in the world, and many of their uses nowadays are for industrial purposes. But for thousands of years previously they were sought for their beauty, and by their rarity became the province of kings.
The Koh-i-noor was found in an Indian mine, probably more than three hundred years ago, and as the fortunes of India have varied in those three centuries, so the Koh-i-noor has changed hands from one conqueror to another. Through the changes, this special diamond has gradually acquired its own particular symbolism. It has meant different things to different people; to many, it has been an emblem of power and conquest and empire. To others, it has represented something more peaceful, and it is an image of union, factually and philosophically. Diamonds as fact, symbol and legend are woven inextricably into the paradox of Indian society, simultaneously changeless and everchanging. This marriage of constancy and variability can be a difficult concept for many Western minds, but it is this very concept which makes the Koh-i-noor a jewel literally beyond price, for the story of the Koh-i-noor reflects the history of the subcontinent of India. It is a turbulent story, sometimes cruel and violent, sometimes peaceful and calm; and it starts not three hundred years ago, but three thousand years ago, in India’s oldest legends.
The Owners of the Koh-i-noor
Mir Jumla, one-time wazir to the King of Golkonda, presented it to Shah Jahan, the Mogul Emperor, c. 1655-7. It descended to Auragazeb, Shah Jahan’s son. In 1655 it was seen, weighed and measured by Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a French jeweler. It remained with the Moguls until 1739, when it was lost to Nadir Shah, the Persian emperor, after his sack of Delhi. The jewel went to Persia. After Nadir’s assassination in 1747, his grandson Shah Rukh Mirza inherited the jewel. In gratitude for support he gave it to Ahmad Shah, leader of the Durrani clan and unifier of Afghanistan, in 1749. The jewel remained in Afghanistan with Ahmad’s son, Zaman Shah, who inherited it in 1793. Zaman was imprisoned and blinded by one of his brothers, but contrived to hide the jewel, until he passed it on to another brother, Shah Shuja, in 1795. Shuja eventually surrendered it to Ranjit Singh, the ‘Lion of the Punjab’, in 1813, in return for military aid. On Ranjit’s death the jewel passed to Dhulip Singh, his supposed son, in 1839. On the annexation of the Punjab by the British, in 1849, the jewel was claimed by The Board of Government, who took possession of it pending its presentation to Queen Victoria. The presentation took place on 3 July 1850. Since then the jewel has remained in Britain and is now mounted in the State Crown of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Thai Jewelry Market
(via The Nation) Petchanet Pratruangkrai writes:
Growth in the Thai jewelry market this year is likely to drop by half from the original target, because of the world's economic slow-down and the recent appreciation of the baht, say jewelry exporters.
More info @ http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/02/27/business/business_30027970.php
Growth in the Thai jewelry market this year is likely to drop by half from the original target, because of the world's economic slow-down and the recent appreciation of the baht, say jewelry exporters.
More info @ http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/02/27/business/business_30027970.php
Cedar Wood Oil
Nearly all emeralds are treated with a liquid or resin after cutting. The traditional way to enhance emeralds gemstonality has been to treat them with near colorless natural cedar wood oil. The refractive index of cedar wood oil is in the range of 1.495-1.510. The purpose of the treatment is to reduce the visibility of inclusions in emeralds in order to improve the appearance. If in doubt consult a reputed gem testing laboratory.
Casino Movie
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro): The town will never be the same. After the Tangiers, the big corporations took it all over. Today it looks like Disneyland. And while the kids play cardboard pirates, Mommy and Daddy drop the house payments and Junior's college money on the poker slots. In the old days, dealers knew your name, what you drank, what you played. Today, it's like checkin' into an airport. And if you order room service, you're lucky if you get it by Thursday. Today, it's all gone. You get a whale show up with four million in a suitcase, and some twenty-five-year-old hotel school kid is gonna want his Social Security Number. After the Teamsters got knocked out of the box, the corporations tore down practically every one of the old casinos. And where did the money come from to rebuild the pyramids? Junk bonds. But in the end, I wound up right back where I started. I could still pick winners, and I could still make money for all kinds of people back home. And why mess up a good thing?
Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro): The town will never be the same. After the Tangiers, the big corporations took it all over. Today it looks like Disneyland. And while the kids play cardboard pirates, Mommy and Daddy drop the house payments and Junior's college money on the poker slots. In the old days, dealers knew your name, what you drank, what you played. Today, it's like checkin' into an airport. And if you order room service, you're lucky if you get it by Thursday. Today, it's all gone. You get a whale show up with four million in a suitcase, and some twenty-five-year-old hotel school kid is gonna want his Social Security Number. After the Teamsters got knocked out of the box, the corporations tore down practically every one of the old casinos. And where did the money come from to rebuild the pyramids? Junk bonds. But in the end, I wound up right back where I started. I could still pick winners, and I could still make money for all kinds of people back home. And why mess up a good thing?
Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair
TGJTA writes:
The 39th Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair takes place at IMPACT Challenger (the world’s largest column-free exhibition center) February 28, 2007 to March 4, 2007. Over 3,000 exhibitors will be at the event that will feature gems and jewelry from Thailand and around the world. The jewelry show comes in a range of styles, from traditional to contemporary and offers designs based on both precious and semi-precious gems.
The event has become a favorite amongst the world’s gem’s and jewelry professionals and emphasizes the precision skills of local craftsmen and women. As a world-class manufacturing center and a regional hub for diamond and colored gemstones cutting and trading, Thailand is a natural choice for this trade fair, which opens to the public March 3 and 4, 2007.
More info @ Thai Gem & Jewelry Traders Association
Jewelry Trade Center
52nd Fl, 919/616
Silom Road
Bangrak
Bangkok10500
Thailand
Tel: (66) 0-2630 - 1390
Fax: (66) 0-2630 - 1398 or 99
Website : www.bangkokgemsfair.com
Email : info@bangkokgemsfair.com
Venue Details:
Impact Arena
Exhibition And Convention Center
Muang Thong Thani
99 Popular Road
Banmai Subdistrict
Pakkred District
Nonthaburi 11120
Thailand
Tel: (66) 0-2504-5050
Fax: (66) 0-2504-4445
Website: www.impact.co.th
Email: info@impact.co.th
The 39th Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair takes place at IMPACT Challenger (the world’s largest column-free exhibition center) February 28, 2007 to March 4, 2007. Over 3,000 exhibitors will be at the event that will feature gems and jewelry from Thailand and around the world. The jewelry show comes in a range of styles, from traditional to contemporary and offers designs based on both precious and semi-precious gems.
The event has become a favorite amongst the world’s gem’s and jewelry professionals and emphasizes the precision skills of local craftsmen and women. As a world-class manufacturing center and a regional hub for diamond and colored gemstones cutting and trading, Thailand is a natural choice for this trade fair, which opens to the public March 3 and 4, 2007.
More info @ Thai Gem & Jewelry Traders Association
Jewelry Trade Center
52nd Fl, 919/616
Silom Road
Bangrak
Bangkok10500
Thailand
Tel: (66) 0-2630 - 1390
Fax: (66) 0-2630 - 1398 or 99
Website : www.bangkokgemsfair.com
Email : info@bangkokgemsfair.com
Venue Details:
Impact Arena
Exhibition And Convention Center
Muang Thong Thani
99 Popular Road
Banmai Subdistrict
Pakkred District
Nonthaburi 11120
Thailand
Tel: (66) 0-2504-5050
Fax: (66) 0-2504-4445
Website: www.impact.co.th
Email: info@impact.co.th
Gems & Precious Stones Of North America
By George Frederick Kunz
Dover Publications, Inc
1968 ISBN 0-486-21855-4
Edward Oslon (Curator of Mineralogy, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago) writes:
When the early Spanish explorers first entered the North American continent it was the overwhelming desire for precious stones and metals that lured them on. DeSoto, for example, trekked over the entire southeastern quarter of what is now the United States, led on by rumors and tales of fabulous gems and golden cities. He perished having found only a small quantity of freshwater pearls for his trouble. He was not the only one to die unrewarded; the bones of Spanish gold and jewel seekers littered the continent from California to North Carolina, from Central America to northern Kansas. A goodly amount of gold and silver was acquired in Mexico and Central America, and a few gemstones turned up now and then, but it rapidly became apparent that North America was not going to be a fabulous source for precious stones. Today, with the advantage of 400 years of hindsight, the dogged crisscrossing of the continent by these treasure hunters seems foolish to say the least. North America has been no Golconda.
Despite the fact that North America has produced only a handful of gemstones, in contrast to Africa, India, Ceylon, South America and parts of Europe and Asia Minor, which have all been rich sources, the old fever to find diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other stones has never fully abated. Every year Arkansas draws hundreds of diamond seekers; Wyoming attracts ruby and jade hunters; Minnesota and Iowa have their agate hunters; Maine and North Carolina their aquamarine prospectors, and so on.
Until 1890 occurrences of gemstones in North America were matters principally of local knowledge shared only a few avid collectors and specialists in the gem business. Then, in that year, George Frederick Kunz published the first edition of this book, Gems and Precious Stones of North America. It represented years of intimate experience with the gem industry in America as the mineralogical consultant to the largest and most important gem and jewelry house in the United States, Tiffany and Company of New York City. The book is something of a milestone, for it was the first to describe the locations of any and all gem occurrences on the North American continent. As such it is not a textbook or treatise on gemology but primarily a guide to the collector of precious and semi-precious stones; it tells where they occur and something of their history, archaeology and lore. It was, at that time, a unique treatment, but less than six years later a learned German mineralogist, Professor Max Bauer of the University of Marburg, published a major book, Edelsteinkunde (Precious Stones), which treated worldwide occurrences of gems in the manner Kunz had used for North America.
Since gemstones are fundamentally rock-forming minerals, they fall under the wing of the professional mineralogist, who unfortunately is primarily concerned with them as minerals, and too often in an abstruse and academic way that does not interest the gem fancier. This book, on the other hand, was written by a mineralogist whose professional concern was gem minerals only. Such specialists are not common. In fact, as a professional mineralogist on the staff of a company such as Tiffany, Dr Kunz was something of a rare bird. His predilection for minerals as gems is evident in this book.
Primarily the book serves as a source book for information on gem occurrences, and contains a wealth of specific facts about the quality, size and quantity of the rough gem material found in any particular place. For example, within three pages (140-142), twelve localities for ornamental petrified wood are discussed in detail.
Most gem localities in North America are, unfortunately, a one-time thing; one or a few stones of good quality are found, and that’s it. This continent has never had a major gem mining operation even remotely comparable to the Kimberly diamond district in Africa or the emerald mines at Muzo, Colombia. As Kunz himself pointed out (p.7) “The daily yield from the coal and iron mines would exceed in value all the precious stones found in the United States during a year.” Nevertheless, some districts have been fairly consistent producers of gem material, albeit not in large quantities. For these areas the book indicates production figures and the annual value of particular gem materials.
As one reads this book one becomes aware that its author was captivated by the legend, lore and superstition associated with precious stones. The story of Aztec turquoise (pp.62-64) and the history of New World pearls from Colombus’ first contact with them onward (pp.240 ff) are examples of the historical and archaeological vignettes interspersed in the text. The whole subject so fascinated Kunz that in later years he published three full length books that dealt primarily with folklore and superstition connected with gems: The Curious Lore of Precious Stones (1913), The Magic of Jewels and Charms (1915), and Rings for the Finger (1917).
Perhaps the most unique feature of the book is the intriguing description of pearls in the New World (Chapter XII). This section is a kind of book within the book, and certainly represents the most detailed compilation of information and history of the American pearl fishing industry up to that time. This particular topic deeply interested Kunz and in 1904 he and Charles H Stevenson published The Book of the Pearl. This was a definitive work on the subject, based on Kunz’s intimate knowledge both of pearls as mineralogical objects and the pearl fishing industry; from 1892 to 1899 he served as special commissioner on American pearls for the United States Fish Commissioner.
Besides the books already mentioned, Kunz published widely on a great variety of mineralogical and gemological matters, and even made occasional contributions to the subject of meteorites. He was a prodigious writer. In an active career of almost sixty years he wrote a total of 531 articles, papers, reports, books, etc. This averages out to between nine and ten publications per year. This tremendous output of written material was very probably the result of the same strong self-motivation that made Kunz the self-made man that he was.
George Kunz was born in New York City in 1856. After a public school education he attended the famous Cooper Union, but he never received a formal degree. It was at Cooper Union that he began to plan for a professional career. He once wrote about “the Cooper Union, in whose laboratories, lecture rooms and library (I spent) useful, profitable evening hours for several hours, at a time when there were no opportunities of a similar nature in the City of New York.”
Before Kunz went to high school he had begun collecting minerals in the New York-New Jersey area around the city. The (then) recent excavations in the Bergen Hill, New Jersey, are—the site of a large number of rare and attractive minerals—provided him with a fairly sophisticated collection, and by the time he was fourteen years old he had already begun an active series of exchanges with collectors both in the United States and abroad. These exchanges allowed him to put together a number of well-rounded mineral collections and before he was twenty years old he had sold a major collection to the University of Minnesota. In the following years he established his reputation a knowledgeable mineralogist by building and selling mineral collections to a number of institutions, colleges and individuals, including Amherst College, the New York State Museum in Albany, the Field Museum in Chicago, and Thomas A Edison. His reputation grew accordingly and he was only twenty four years old when he joined Tiffany and Company as their gem expert. By the time he had been with the company for twenty years he had visited most of the gem producing localities in the United States, Mexico, Russia, Asia and Australia. One result of these travels was the formation of two major gem collections which were purchased by the famous J P Morgan in New York City. Kunz became, in a sense, a modern-day Tavernier, searching the world of gems. It was largely through his efforts that Tiffany acquired the now famous 128.51 carat Tiffany diamond, which the company still owns today.
Over the years his fame as a gem expert spread and in 1898 he received a honorary M A degree from Colombia University. This was followed by an honorary Ph.D from the University of Marburg, Germany, in 1906, and honorary D.SC from Knox University in 1907. He also received decorations from several foreign governments: the Legion of Honor (France), the Order of St.Olaf (Norway), and the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan). In addition, he held various offices in numerous professional societies and was, for fourteen years, an honorary curator of gems at the American Museum of Natural History. Although Dr Kunz was offered the directorship of the U S National Museum in 1904, he declined the honor and remained with Tiffany and Company throughout his career. He died in 1932.
Gems and Precious Stones of North American went through two editions. The present volume is a reprint of the second edition (1892), which differed from the first in that it included an appendix which Kunz wrote to cover occurrences of North American gems not covered in the text of 1890. By the very nature of this book age cannot detract from its utility. The locations of precious stones which are described cannot have changed over the seventy five years since the book was originally published. In fact, the only major annotation one might make today is to note that Kunz defines the unit of weight used in the gem industry, the carat, as equal to 205 milligrams (pp.13-14), and that over the intervening years this has been redefined to be 200 milligrams exactly. Thus, when carat weights are mentioned in the text they should be adjusted slightly upward, by a factor of 1.025.
Most of the readers of this book will undoubtedly be gem and mineral collectors, lapidary hobbyists, and rock hounds seeking to ferret out old gem occurrences for future collecting trips. On the other hand, there will be those readers relatively uninitiated in the field of gems and minerals who will pick up this book with the thought of finding out something about gems and their history on this continent. The book will serve both groups of readers equally well, for although it was written primarily to document the numerous scattered and unrecorded gemstone occurrences on the North American continent, it stands also as the first and foremost history of the gem mining industry in America.
Dover Publications, Inc
1968 ISBN 0-486-21855-4
Edward Oslon (Curator of Mineralogy, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago) writes:
When the early Spanish explorers first entered the North American continent it was the overwhelming desire for precious stones and metals that lured them on. DeSoto, for example, trekked over the entire southeastern quarter of what is now the United States, led on by rumors and tales of fabulous gems and golden cities. He perished having found only a small quantity of freshwater pearls for his trouble. He was not the only one to die unrewarded; the bones of Spanish gold and jewel seekers littered the continent from California to North Carolina, from Central America to northern Kansas. A goodly amount of gold and silver was acquired in Mexico and Central America, and a few gemstones turned up now and then, but it rapidly became apparent that North America was not going to be a fabulous source for precious stones. Today, with the advantage of 400 years of hindsight, the dogged crisscrossing of the continent by these treasure hunters seems foolish to say the least. North America has been no Golconda.
Despite the fact that North America has produced only a handful of gemstones, in contrast to Africa, India, Ceylon, South America and parts of Europe and Asia Minor, which have all been rich sources, the old fever to find diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other stones has never fully abated. Every year Arkansas draws hundreds of diamond seekers; Wyoming attracts ruby and jade hunters; Minnesota and Iowa have their agate hunters; Maine and North Carolina their aquamarine prospectors, and so on.
Until 1890 occurrences of gemstones in North America were matters principally of local knowledge shared only a few avid collectors and specialists in the gem business. Then, in that year, George Frederick Kunz published the first edition of this book, Gems and Precious Stones of North America. It represented years of intimate experience with the gem industry in America as the mineralogical consultant to the largest and most important gem and jewelry house in the United States, Tiffany and Company of New York City. The book is something of a milestone, for it was the first to describe the locations of any and all gem occurrences on the North American continent. As such it is not a textbook or treatise on gemology but primarily a guide to the collector of precious and semi-precious stones; it tells where they occur and something of their history, archaeology and lore. It was, at that time, a unique treatment, but less than six years later a learned German mineralogist, Professor Max Bauer of the University of Marburg, published a major book, Edelsteinkunde (Precious Stones), which treated worldwide occurrences of gems in the manner Kunz had used for North America.
Since gemstones are fundamentally rock-forming minerals, they fall under the wing of the professional mineralogist, who unfortunately is primarily concerned with them as minerals, and too often in an abstruse and academic way that does not interest the gem fancier. This book, on the other hand, was written by a mineralogist whose professional concern was gem minerals only. Such specialists are not common. In fact, as a professional mineralogist on the staff of a company such as Tiffany, Dr Kunz was something of a rare bird. His predilection for minerals as gems is evident in this book.
Primarily the book serves as a source book for information on gem occurrences, and contains a wealth of specific facts about the quality, size and quantity of the rough gem material found in any particular place. For example, within three pages (140-142), twelve localities for ornamental petrified wood are discussed in detail.
Most gem localities in North America are, unfortunately, a one-time thing; one or a few stones of good quality are found, and that’s it. This continent has never had a major gem mining operation even remotely comparable to the Kimberly diamond district in Africa or the emerald mines at Muzo, Colombia. As Kunz himself pointed out (p.7) “The daily yield from the coal and iron mines would exceed in value all the precious stones found in the United States during a year.” Nevertheless, some districts have been fairly consistent producers of gem material, albeit not in large quantities. For these areas the book indicates production figures and the annual value of particular gem materials.
As one reads this book one becomes aware that its author was captivated by the legend, lore and superstition associated with precious stones. The story of Aztec turquoise (pp.62-64) and the history of New World pearls from Colombus’ first contact with them onward (pp.240 ff) are examples of the historical and archaeological vignettes interspersed in the text. The whole subject so fascinated Kunz that in later years he published three full length books that dealt primarily with folklore and superstition connected with gems: The Curious Lore of Precious Stones (1913), The Magic of Jewels and Charms (1915), and Rings for the Finger (1917).
Perhaps the most unique feature of the book is the intriguing description of pearls in the New World (Chapter XII). This section is a kind of book within the book, and certainly represents the most detailed compilation of information and history of the American pearl fishing industry up to that time. This particular topic deeply interested Kunz and in 1904 he and Charles H Stevenson published The Book of the Pearl. This was a definitive work on the subject, based on Kunz’s intimate knowledge both of pearls as mineralogical objects and the pearl fishing industry; from 1892 to 1899 he served as special commissioner on American pearls for the United States Fish Commissioner.
Besides the books already mentioned, Kunz published widely on a great variety of mineralogical and gemological matters, and even made occasional contributions to the subject of meteorites. He was a prodigious writer. In an active career of almost sixty years he wrote a total of 531 articles, papers, reports, books, etc. This averages out to between nine and ten publications per year. This tremendous output of written material was very probably the result of the same strong self-motivation that made Kunz the self-made man that he was.
George Kunz was born in New York City in 1856. After a public school education he attended the famous Cooper Union, but he never received a formal degree. It was at Cooper Union that he began to plan for a professional career. He once wrote about “the Cooper Union, in whose laboratories, lecture rooms and library (I spent) useful, profitable evening hours for several hours, at a time when there were no opportunities of a similar nature in the City of New York.”
Before Kunz went to high school he had begun collecting minerals in the New York-New Jersey area around the city. The (then) recent excavations in the Bergen Hill, New Jersey, are—the site of a large number of rare and attractive minerals—provided him with a fairly sophisticated collection, and by the time he was fourteen years old he had already begun an active series of exchanges with collectors both in the United States and abroad. These exchanges allowed him to put together a number of well-rounded mineral collections and before he was twenty years old he had sold a major collection to the University of Minnesota. In the following years he established his reputation a knowledgeable mineralogist by building and selling mineral collections to a number of institutions, colleges and individuals, including Amherst College, the New York State Museum in Albany, the Field Museum in Chicago, and Thomas A Edison. His reputation grew accordingly and he was only twenty four years old when he joined Tiffany and Company as their gem expert. By the time he had been with the company for twenty years he had visited most of the gem producing localities in the United States, Mexico, Russia, Asia and Australia. One result of these travels was the formation of two major gem collections which were purchased by the famous J P Morgan in New York City. Kunz became, in a sense, a modern-day Tavernier, searching the world of gems. It was largely through his efforts that Tiffany acquired the now famous 128.51 carat Tiffany diamond, which the company still owns today.
Over the years his fame as a gem expert spread and in 1898 he received a honorary M A degree from Colombia University. This was followed by an honorary Ph.D from the University of Marburg, Germany, in 1906, and honorary D.SC from Knox University in 1907. He also received decorations from several foreign governments: the Legion of Honor (France), the Order of St.Olaf (Norway), and the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan). In addition, he held various offices in numerous professional societies and was, for fourteen years, an honorary curator of gems at the American Museum of Natural History. Although Dr Kunz was offered the directorship of the U S National Museum in 1904, he declined the honor and remained with Tiffany and Company throughout his career. He died in 1932.
Gems and Precious Stones of North American went through two editions. The present volume is a reprint of the second edition (1892), which differed from the first in that it included an appendix which Kunz wrote to cover occurrences of North American gems not covered in the text of 1890. By the very nature of this book age cannot detract from its utility. The locations of precious stones which are described cannot have changed over the seventy five years since the book was originally published. In fact, the only major annotation one might make today is to note that Kunz defines the unit of weight used in the gem industry, the carat, as equal to 205 milligrams (pp.13-14), and that over the intervening years this has been redefined to be 200 milligrams exactly. Thus, when carat weights are mentioned in the text they should be adjusted slightly upward, by a factor of 1.025.
Most of the readers of this book will undoubtedly be gem and mineral collectors, lapidary hobbyists, and rock hounds seeking to ferret out old gem occurrences for future collecting trips. On the other hand, there will be those readers relatively uninitiated in the field of gems and minerals who will pick up this book with the thought of finding out something about gems and their history on this continent. The book will serve both groups of readers equally well, for although it was written primarily to document the numerous scattered and unrecorded gemstone occurrences on the North American continent, it stands also as the first and foremost history of the gem mining industry in America.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Laughlin
Lapidary Journal writes:
If you are looking for a gem, mineral, and jewelry show with all the amenities of a big city venue but with the low costs and laid back atmosphere of a smaller show, it’s hard to beat Laughlin, Nevada, a fast growing casino town 90 miles southeast of Las Vegas. Laughlin is a relative newcomer to the gem show circuit, but has already gained a reputation as one of the better spots to be.
All shows at Laughlin are wholesale/retail with free admission to the public. And with the exception of a show put on by the Gem & Lapidary Wholesalers, all the Clouds Jamboree events, sponsored by former Quartzsite show promoter Dick Cloud.
The main event is month-long show held outside the Avi Resort & Casino from January 7 through February 8. The other five shows are held indoors at the various hotels along Casino Drive, from January 14 through 30.
“When you go to Laughlin, you are not competing with a swap meet mentality. You are going to buy gems, minerals, and related supplies—things that have to do with the business,’ says Warron Big Eagle of Eagles Dream Co. Together with his wife Deb, Big Eagle displays gem rough and beads, as well as finished gems and silver jewelry at the Avi Resort at a booth set up outside their trailer.
“The Avi has one of the nicest, cleanest RV setups in the country,” says Big Eagle, a self-described ‘rocker’ who spends most of his time on the road. But he notes that those coming to visit the shows also have the opportunity to stay at one of the many hotels and resorts in town, with discounted rates for those attending the shows as members of the trade.
Many of the dealers who display at Laughlin—particularly at shows which end before February—go on to Tucson. “Laughlin is not a hurried show like Tucson. It’s more of a low-key, relaxed, spread-out affair,’ says dealer Ron Stanford of Precious Pebbles in Bullhead City, Arizona, just across the Colorado River from Laughlin.
“It’s also a lot cheaper for dealers to do, so you get a lot of the smaller dealers who have a wide variety of goods. You may not find a lot of the high-end merchandise that you would in Tucson, but you will find a lot of bargains on just about anything you can think of, from used lapidary equipment to beads, gemstones, finished jewelry, and gem rough. You will find a lot of rough rock there.”
Because so much of Laughlin’s economy centers on tourism, it seems that everything is done to accommodate show goers, including a shuttle service which takes visitors from one show to the next. With Vegas-like weather, a nearby airport, as well as gold courses, restaurants, and lively entertainment, it’s safe bet that Laughlin will continue to expand as a show venue.
“It just a real nice place,” says Big Eagle. “Because the Avi show goes on for so long, the vendors all get to know each other, and we will steer people in the right direction to find what they are looking for. They seem to work together rather than be overly competitive with one another, and they are trying to build the show.”
For more information, visit www.cloudsjamboree.com or call (866) 558-7719
Laughlin show schedule:
- Clouds Jamboree—Edgewater Hotel & Casino (January 14 – 23)
- Clouds Jamboree—Ramada Express Hotel & Casino (January 14 – 23)
- Clouds Jamboree—Don Laughlin’s Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino (January 14 – 30)
- G & LW—Flamingo Laughlin (January 21 – 23)
- Clouds Jamboree—AVI Casino (January 27 – February 6)
If you are looking for a gem, mineral, and jewelry show with all the amenities of a big city venue but with the low costs and laid back atmosphere of a smaller show, it’s hard to beat Laughlin, Nevada, a fast growing casino town 90 miles southeast of Las Vegas. Laughlin is a relative newcomer to the gem show circuit, but has already gained a reputation as one of the better spots to be.
All shows at Laughlin are wholesale/retail with free admission to the public. And with the exception of a show put on by the Gem & Lapidary Wholesalers, all the Clouds Jamboree events, sponsored by former Quartzsite show promoter Dick Cloud.
The main event is month-long show held outside the Avi Resort & Casino from January 7 through February 8. The other five shows are held indoors at the various hotels along Casino Drive, from January 14 through 30.
“When you go to Laughlin, you are not competing with a swap meet mentality. You are going to buy gems, minerals, and related supplies—things that have to do with the business,’ says Warron Big Eagle of Eagles Dream Co. Together with his wife Deb, Big Eagle displays gem rough and beads, as well as finished gems and silver jewelry at the Avi Resort at a booth set up outside their trailer.
“The Avi has one of the nicest, cleanest RV setups in the country,” says Big Eagle, a self-described ‘rocker’ who spends most of his time on the road. But he notes that those coming to visit the shows also have the opportunity to stay at one of the many hotels and resorts in town, with discounted rates for those attending the shows as members of the trade.
Many of the dealers who display at Laughlin—particularly at shows which end before February—go on to Tucson. “Laughlin is not a hurried show like Tucson. It’s more of a low-key, relaxed, spread-out affair,’ says dealer Ron Stanford of Precious Pebbles in Bullhead City, Arizona, just across the Colorado River from Laughlin.
“It’s also a lot cheaper for dealers to do, so you get a lot of the smaller dealers who have a wide variety of goods. You may not find a lot of the high-end merchandise that you would in Tucson, but you will find a lot of bargains on just about anything you can think of, from used lapidary equipment to beads, gemstones, finished jewelry, and gem rough. You will find a lot of rough rock there.”
Because so much of Laughlin’s economy centers on tourism, it seems that everything is done to accommodate show goers, including a shuttle service which takes visitors from one show to the next. With Vegas-like weather, a nearby airport, as well as gold courses, restaurants, and lively entertainment, it’s safe bet that Laughlin will continue to expand as a show venue.
“It just a real nice place,” says Big Eagle. “Because the Avi show goes on for so long, the vendors all get to know each other, and we will steer people in the right direction to find what they are looking for. They seem to work together rather than be overly competitive with one another, and they are trying to build the show.”
For more information, visit www.cloudsjamboree.com or call (866) 558-7719
Laughlin show schedule:
- Clouds Jamboree—Edgewater Hotel & Casino (January 14 – 23)
- Clouds Jamboree—Ramada Express Hotel & Casino (January 14 – 23)
- Clouds Jamboree—Don Laughlin’s Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino (January 14 – 30)
- G & LW—Flamingo Laughlin (January 21 – 23)
- Clouds Jamboree—AVI Casino (January 27 – February 6)
Special Effects
I love movies, because the concept enable the characters to simulate their natural talent with good acting and special effects. The reality is that in the movies a sound mixer combines all three elements of the film’s soundtrack: the dialogue, music and sound effects to create the voice of the film. In a way movies and colored gemstones are on the same wavelength. They are sensitive, attractive, and provides constant emotional stimulation--a lightswitch. A gem cutter combines size, shape, color, clarity and cut to create the voice of a colored gemstone. I would say 34% color, 33% clarity, and 33% cut—it’s life.
Citizen Kane
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles): You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man.
Thatcher (George Coulouris): Don't you think you are?
Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles): I think I did pretty well under the circumstances.
Thatcher (George Coulouris): What would you like to have been?
Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles): Everything you hate.
Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles): You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man.
Thatcher (George Coulouris): Don't you think you are?
Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles): I think I did pretty well under the circumstances.
Thatcher (George Coulouris): What would you like to have been?
Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles): Everything you hate.
The Jade Kingdom
By Paul E Desautels
Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc
1986 ISBN 0-442-21797-8
Van Nostrand Reinhold writes:
For more than 4000 years, jade has been a stone of legend and mystery, prized for its beauty and superiority as a hardstone carving material. The development of mineralogical and gemological knowledge of jade has been as fascinating as jade lore and history. Yet, until now, no book on jade has explored jade’s physical and chemical properties as well as the stone’s rich history. Instead, past literature has tended toward quick surveys of some of the more exotic carvings that have flowed, generation after generation, from the lapidary shops of China.
The Jade Kingdom is the first book to cover almost every aspect of jade—its occurrences worldwide, its mineralogy and geology, jade’s history, legend, and lore, the major cultures that have made use of it, and the techniques they have developed to master it. Specific areas covered include comparisons of true and false jades, the various methods of testing jade, from simple field tests to sophisticated laboratory analyses, and the known sources of jade, both ancient and modern.
The book also explores China’s centuries—old love of jade, discussing the origins and meanings of symbolic jade carvings as well as the clues to past Chinese culture, philosophy, and technology that are revealed by existing jade objects. The history of jade in the New World is surveyed as well, from the earliest Olmec times to the conquest of the Aztecs by Spanish adventurers. Other jade-using cultures covered in The Jade Kingdom include Europe, New Zealand, South-central Asia, India, Russia, and Japan. Dozens of photographs of nephrite and jadeite—the two main types of jade—as well as ancient and modern artifacts complete this handsome reference work.
Gemologists, collectors, anthropologists, archeologists, and jade dealers will welcome this first-time synthesis of new and old information about jade.
About the author
Paul E Desautels is the author of four other books—The Mineral Kingdom, The Gem Kingdom, Rocks and Minerals, and Gems in the Smithsonian—and has contributed many articles to such magazines as the Smithsonian, Mineralogical Record, Natural History, and American Mineralogist.
Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc
1986 ISBN 0-442-21797-8
Van Nostrand Reinhold writes:
For more than 4000 years, jade has been a stone of legend and mystery, prized for its beauty and superiority as a hardstone carving material. The development of mineralogical and gemological knowledge of jade has been as fascinating as jade lore and history. Yet, until now, no book on jade has explored jade’s physical and chemical properties as well as the stone’s rich history. Instead, past literature has tended toward quick surveys of some of the more exotic carvings that have flowed, generation after generation, from the lapidary shops of China.
The Jade Kingdom is the first book to cover almost every aspect of jade—its occurrences worldwide, its mineralogy and geology, jade’s history, legend, and lore, the major cultures that have made use of it, and the techniques they have developed to master it. Specific areas covered include comparisons of true and false jades, the various methods of testing jade, from simple field tests to sophisticated laboratory analyses, and the known sources of jade, both ancient and modern.
The book also explores China’s centuries—old love of jade, discussing the origins and meanings of symbolic jade carvings as well as the clues to past Chinese culture, philosophy, and technology that are revealed by existing jade objects. The history of jade in the New World is surveyed as well, from the earliest Olmec times to the conquest of the Aztecs by Spanish adventurers. Other jade-using cultures covered in The Jade Kingdom include Europe, New Zealand, South-central Asia, India, Russia, and Japan. Dozens of photographs of nephrite and jadeite—the two main types of jade—as well as ancient and modern artifacts complete this handsome reference work.
Gemologists, collectors, anthropologists, archeologists, and jade dealers will welcome this first-time synthesis of new and old information about jade.
About the author
Paul E Desautels is the author of four other books—The Mineral Kingdom, The Gem Kingdom, Rocks and Minerals, and Gems in the Smithsonian—and has contributed many articles to such magazines as the Smithsonian, Mineralogical Record, Natural History, and American Mineralogist.
Gem Show Tips
If you are planning to attend any gem shows for the first time, here are some things to keep in mind.
- Book in advance
Pre-registering for the shows you want to attend will help you avoid lines. The same applies to book accommodation in advance.
- Set a budget
If you hope to stay within your means, you need to establish a budget for the real stuff as well as for the fun stuff.
- Take notes
We are distracted all the time and worse—we have short memory so take notes. If you see an interesting piece and are thinking of coming back to see it, write down the location you saw it. Otherwise, chances are you will either forget about it or, more likely, forget where you saw it.
- Be comfortable
Dress comfortably. Don’t even think about doing the shows in high heels or clothes that don’t breathe. Drink plenty of water to stay refreshed and to avoid dehydration.
- Talk to people
People are always eager to learn about new things. So when you need help, ask in a sweet language. They will always remember you. Gem shows are unique cultural experiences. Asking others what they have seen and which shows they have visited is a good way to start a conversation. The password is— have the right attitude.
- Book in advance
Pre-registering for the shows you want to attend will help you avoid lines. The same applies to book accommodation in advance.
- Set a budget
If you hope to stay within your means, you need to establish a budget for the real stuff as well as for the fun stuff.
- Take notes
We are distracted all the time and worse—we have short memory so take notes. If you see an interesting piece and are thinking of coming back to see it, write down the location you saw it. Otherwise, chances are you will either forget about it or, more likely, forget where you saw it.
- Be comfortable
Dress comfortably. Don’t even think about doing the shows in high heels or clothes that don’t breathe. Drink plenty of water to stay refreshed and to avoid dehydration.
- Talk to people
People are always eager to learn about new things. So when you need help, ask in a sweet language. They will always remember you. Gem shows are unique cultural experiences. Asking others what they have seen and which shows they have visited is a good way to start a conversation. The password is— have the right attitude.
Coated Diamonds
The first step in examining any diamond is to observe the whole diamond. Well-informed consumers start with visual observation. This gives the buyer the chance to examine and classify all aspects of the physical appearance of the diamond.
Natural colored diamonds are available in all mainstream colors, but certain colors are rare. Top quality pinks, reds, blues and other shades are extremely rare and expensive. Many colored diamonds are sold by dealers and jewelers to consumers who crave for rarity, beauty and status. Consumers with disposable income buy them because they like it. A few may be aware of treatments, but they tend to forget it. Many consumers don’t know about it.
Today diamonds can be coated with yellow, orange, pink, purplish pink, blue and green to look like the natural ones. Well-trained buyers look for iridescent film-like coating with proper magnification and lighting. But again this may not be always easy and practical. The treatment is not permanent. If in doubt always consult a reputed gem testing laboratory.
Natural colored diamonds are available in all mainstream colors, but certain colors are rare. Top quality pinks, reds, blues and other shades are extremely rare and expensive. Many colored diamonds are sold by dealers and jewelers to consumers who crave for rarity, beauty and status. Consumers with disposable income buy them because they like it. A few may be aware of treatments, but they tend to forget it. Many consumers don’t know about it.
Today diamonds can be coated with yellow, orange, pink, purplish pink, blue and green to look like the natural ones. Well-trained buyers look for iridescent film-like coating with proper magnification and lighting. But again this may not be always easy and practical. The treatment is not permanent. If in doubt always consult a reputed gem testing laboratory.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Catch Me If You Can Movie
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Frank Abagnale Sr. (Christopher Walken): Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. Gentlemen, as of this moment, I am that second mouse.
Frank Abagnale Sr. (Christopher Walken): Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. Gentlemen, as of this moment, I am that second mouse.
The Physics And Chemistry Of Color
By Kurt Nassau
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
1983 ISBN 0-471-86776-4
John Wiley & Sons writes:
How does an organic pigment such as chlorophyll interact with white light to produce a green color? Why is the sky blue, a ruby red? To what processes does gold owes its yellow color? Here is the first comprehensive investigation of all the causes of color derived from their physical and chemical origins. Requiring no specialized knowledge since all fundamental concepts are discussed, this fascinating work explores fifteen separate causes of color and their varied and often subtle occurrences in biology, geology, mineralogy, the atmosphere, technology, and the visual arts.
Beginning with a basic introduction to the nature of light and color and quantum theory in Part 1, the book goes on to discuss the colors caused by incandescent objects, flames, and vapor excitation light sources, including auroras and lasers (Part 2). Part 3 explores the effect on electronic energy levels of transition elements in the ligand field, a phenomenon that explains the colors in most inorganic paint pigments and in many minerals and gems, such as red ruby and green emerald.
Colors caused by molecular orbitals and their interaction with light are discussed in Part 4. These include the colors of most organic substances and such minerals and gemstones as lapis lazuli and blue sapphire, where charge transfer is at work. Part 5 examines the colors caused by energy band theory, such as those in gold, copper, and brass, as well as color centers, as in amethysts. Part 6 investigates the wide range of colors involving geometrical and physical optics theory—including those derived from dispersion, scattering, interference and diffraction. This leads to the colors of the rainbow and of butterfly wings, the blue of the sky, the red of the sunset. A final section discusses a variety of color-related topics, such as lasers, art preservation, and vision.
Over 200 drawings, 30 tables, and 31 color photographs aid in the visualization of the concepts discussed. A detailed bibliography keyed to individual chapters permits readers to pursue areas of particular interest. Also included are end-of-chapter problems and a series of appendices which cover advanced topics and thus serve as a bridge to more esoteric texts and monographs.
The Physics And Chemistry of Color will prove equally useful to specialist and non-specialist alike, and to those with interests as varied as optics and art history.
About the author
Kurt Nassau is the author of Gems Made By Man.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
1983 ISBN 0-471-86776-4
John Wiley & Sons writes:
How does an organic pigment such as chlorophyll interact with white light to produce a green color? Why is the sky blue, a ruby red? To what processes does gold owes its yellow color? Here is the first comprehensive investigation of all the causes of color derived from their physical and chemical origins. Requiring no specialized knowledge since all fundamental concepts are discussed, this fascinating work explores fifteen separate causes of color and their varied and often subtle occurrences in biology, geology, mineralogy, the atmosphere, technology, and the visual arts.
Beginning with a basic introduction to the nature of light and color and quantum theory in Part 1, the book goes on to discuss the colors caused by incandescent objects, flames, and vapor excitation light sources, including auroras and lasers (Part 2). Part 3 explores the effect on electronic energy levels of transition elements in the ligand field, a phenomenon that explains the colors in most inorganic paint pigments and in many minerals and gems, such as red ruby and green emerald.
Colors caused by molecular orbitals and their interaction with light are discussed in Part 4. These include the colors of most organic substances and such minerals and gemstones as lapis lazuli and blue sapphire, where charge transfer is at work. Part 5 examines the colors caused by energy band theory, such as those in gold, copper, and brass, as well as color centers, as in amethysts. Part 6 investigates the wide range of colors involving geometrical and physical optics theory—including those derived from dispersion, scattering, interference and diffraction. This leads to the colors of the rainbow and of butterfly wings, the blue of the sky, the red of the sunset. A final section discusses a variety of color-related topics, such as lasers, art preservation, and vision.
Over 200 drawings, 30 tables, and 31 color photographs aid in the visualization of the concepts discussed. A detailed bibliography keyed to individual chapters permits readers to pursue areas of particular interest. Also included are end-of-chapter problems and a series of appendices which cover advanced topics and thus serve as a bridge to more esoteric texts and monographs.
The Physics And Chemistry of Color will prove equally useful to specialist and non-specialist alike, and to those with interests as varied as optics and art history.
About the author
Kurt Nassau is the author of Gems Made By Man.
Minerals On Postage Stamps
(via Mineral Digest Vol. 1, 1972) Franklin R Bruns, Jr writes:
In the fall of 1594 the Spanish galleon San Pedro, en route home with treasure from the New World, was wrecked on the north Bermuda reefs, and went down to the bottom. There it lay for more than three hundred years, until Teddy Tucker, a Bermudian diver, salvaged much of the treasure, including jewels, gold and artifacts. Valued at more than US $560000, the treasure was sold to the Bermuda government in 1961. Part of it is now on display at the Museum of Natural History in Flatts Village.
The finest single item from Tucker’s salvage is an emerald-studded gold cross that is three inches long, with a 11/4 inch traverse bar set with seven Colombian emeralds, the cross alone is valued at US$75000. One Dutch jewelry expert said it might take ten years to match at set of perfect emeralds like these, if indeed they could be matched at all. Colombian emeralds are, of course, at their best, second to none. It is believed that the jeweled cross was made by South American Indians, probably under the supervision of a Spanish jewelsmith.
In 1969, Bermuda issued a set of four colorful stamps portraying the emerald-studded cross from the San Pedro. Each stamp bore the identifying legend. “1594 Treasure from the sea.” The four postal items were in denominations of 4d, 1s/3d, 2s, and 2s/6d.
Since the cross was recovered from the sea, it seemed rather fitting that artist V Whiteley should have used a sea fan background for two of the stamps and coral reefs on the others. Of course, Bermuda was not the only country to feature emeralds on its postal issues. A Colombian airmail stamp of 1932-39 showed a large emerald on two high values. In the same period Colombia released a regular postage set with an emerald mine, a platinum mine, gold mining scene, and a scene of oil wells.
However, with thousands of new postage stamps released each year, it is rather surprising that so few designs relate to, or picture, minerals. Plainly, this area has not been exploited philatelically, as have flowers, birds and fishes.
With the technological advances in stamp printing, and the increasing output of brilliantly colored issues by many nations, it should not be long before a number of well awaken and stress the breadth of their mineral resources on their postage stamps. The United States, for example, has not issued a single stamp with a mineral design, or even a mineral theme, unless one considers the commemoration of the first American oil well as celebrating a national mineral asset.
A few years ago, there was a move to persuade the post office to issue mineral stamp to mark the presence of a mineralogy convention in Washington D.C. The design was to feature a brooch that was mounted with gems from each of the states. Unfortunately the move was unsuccessful, although the brooch was made and was presented to Lady Bird Johnson, later to be turned over to the Smithsonian Institution.
Perhaps the closest the United States has come to include any mineral or gem on a stamp is the instance of the $1.00 value stamp in the 1893 Columbian Exposition series which shows Queen Isabella pledging her jewels. Items of jewelry may also be seen in the illustrations on other stamps in this series: Columbus Soliciting Columbus Describing his Third Voyage.
In 1898, the United States also showed a Western Mining Prospector; the “Golden Spike Ceremony” marking the completion of the trans-continental railroad systems; the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill; a gold miner; and one for silver.
Now that Postmaster General Winton M Blount has approved a revival of the conservation stamp program, perhaps there may, one day, be stamps that depict our rich mineral resources. The conservation stamp program, initiated under former Postmaster General Arthur E Summerfield, employed pictures of wildlife, soil, forest, water and range conservation.
Stressing the importance of water conservation, France and Andorra, incidentally, recently released single stamps with a droplet that is a diamond to indicate the preciousness of water. Although Canada has immense mineral wealth, she, too has been remiss here in the field of philatelics. One Canadian stamp shows a miner with pneumatic drill and another miner panning gold. But there have been no Canadian stamps to call attention to the incredible variety of her minerals, not even her asbestos or uranium sources.
Of course, Canada, with its British heritage and association, has often shown jewel bedecked royalty and the great crowns of Britain frequently have appeared on her stamps. Indeed, there have been crowns aplenty on postage stamps. For Canada alone, one can cite the ‘young and old Victoria’ jubilee design of 1897; the Princess and Prince of Wales, later King George V and Queen Mary; Queen Alexandra and King Edward VII; King George V and Queen Elizabeth; and Queen Elizabeth II.
The British crowns naturally appear on postal issues of the United Kingdom and the countries within the Commonwealth. However, other bejeweled items in the state regalia, including those that hundreds of thousands have seen and marveled over at the exhibit in the Tower of London, have not been featured on British issues. Bejeweled crowns have, of course, been utilized widely in stamp designs of other lands. Two instances are Czechoslovakia’s altarpiece with the 14th century crown of St. Wenceslas, and far for Iran the coronation attire of Queen Farak of Persia. The great crowns worn by royalty have been adorned with fabulous gems from various parts of the world. Since these were generally mined before they were cut and polished, it is fitting that the part played by mining should be recognized. The collector of minerals on postage stamps may therefore include mining, and also metallurgy. Victor J Van Lint of the American Topical Association, specialist in mining on postage stamps provided the data for the following:
Surface mining, as depicted by a miner panning gold, for example, on a Canadian stamp is the first step in the many processes concerned with the wrestling of wealth from the earth. Next comes placering. Here water supplies are required, since, gold, platinum or precious stones, are caught behind riffles in a sluice box while a swift current of water carries off the dirt, clay, and gravel. Such a sluice is shown on a British Guiana (now Guyana) stamp. Dredge mining is shown on a Malaya stamp.
Underground mining may be pursued via three methods: by tunnels, inclined shafts, and vertical shafts. An example of a tunnel mine is on a Bolivian stamp, while a Chilean stamp shows an inclined shaft. A vertical shaft appears on a Czechoslovakian stamp.
Other postage stamps illustrate equipment used in mining. On stamps from Austria, Germany, the Saar, and Russia are shown headframes over mines, lamps used by miners, loaders, and, of course, miners with hammer, chisel and pickaxe, as well as the more modern pneumatic airpick. The Federal Republic of Germany recently issued a quartet of stamps that covered the mining operation graphically: a young miner and lamp, a miner with drill, a miner and conveyor, and a miner and coal elevator.
Romania has issued stamps showing a miner in dress uniform and also in work uniform. In 1949, Czechoslovakia marked the 700th anniversary of its mining industry, and the 150th anniversary of its miner’s laws by featuring early miners, a contemporary miner, and a mining machine. In 1952, it marked Miner’s Day—Sept. 14—with a 17th century mining tower.
While fairly comprehensive collections can be formed on mines and mining, the same cannot be said of gems and minerals. Happily for the mineral collector who is not particularly interested in postage stamps except as they feature minerals, there are a number of postal issues that present attractive minerals in crystals or groups. Here Switzerland has been the leader, natural in a sense because the Swiss have always valued the fine specimens found in their Alps. Over a four year period, from 1958 to 1961, this country issued numerous semi-postal stamps, showing fine minerals. (Semi-postal stamps have two values, one for the postage; the other to indicate the amount set aside for some worthy cause, in this instance, to benefit needy mothers.)
The first Swiss minerals set, released in 1958, displayed Fluorite, Garnet and Rock Crystal. The set also included Ammonite. Ammonite, of course, is a fossil, but it is not unusual for fossils to be included in postal issues devoted to minerals, not because so many mineral collectors also acquire fossils but because fossils, too, are found in the earth.
In 1959, Switzerland’s second set showed Agate, Tourmaline, Amethyst and Fossilized Salamander. In 1960, the subjects were Smoky Quartz, Feldspar, Gryphaea Fossil and Azurite. In 1961, to close the Swiss mineral program, came Fluorite, Petrified fish, Lazulite and Petrified fern. Also in 1961, Southwest Africa showed Tourmaline and Topaz. And, in 1963, Mexico, which has vast mineral resources, pictured Crystals.
In a set marking the bicentennial of the famous Mining Academy in Freiburg, the German Democratic Republic included stamps showing splendid Proustite crystals and Sulphur crystals. Other values showed an old furnace and ancient miners, both illustrations based on early woodcuts. More minerals appeared on a fine set of six stamps issued by the German Democratic Republic in mid-1969. The subjects were: Fluorite from Halsbrucke, Erythrite from Schneeberg, Galena from Neudorf, Smoky Quartz from Lichtenberg, Calcite from Niederrabenstein and Silver from Freiburg.
The most striking of the Russian issues relating to mineralogy appeared in 1963. Naturally, they emphasized the precious stones from the mineral-rich Ural mountains. Shown were Topaz, Jasper, Amethyst, Emerald, Rhodonite, and Malachite. In 1968, the USSR offered a 6 kopek stamp with a Crystal and the emblem of the 8th Congress for Mineral Research.
In 1969, Hungary issued a fine series featuring both fossils and minerals. Four portrayed, individually, native Copper coated with Malachite, Cuprite, a group displaying Calcite and Sphalerite with the uncommon Greenockite, and a fine Quartz crystal group. South Rhodesia pictured emeralds in 1964, but a large number of postage stamps have featured the Diamond. Sierra Leone, especially, has emphasized its role as the Land of Iron & Diamonds. Incidentally, this West African country utilizes printed and embossed self-adhesive stamps that are cut in various shapes, and are attached to peelable paper backing which may carry different advertisements.
A faceted pear-shaped Diamond was chosen for the design when Sierra Leone marked the 75th anniversary of its Bay Scout movement with a special postage stamp. This self-adhesive commemorative was released December 3, 1969. Late in 1965 Sierra Leone released three airmail stamps in unique form. The self-adhesive stamp was cut in the shape of a faceted Diamond, with a reverse-embossed design of an elaborate Diamond necklace. The name of the famous American jeweler Harry Winston was on either side of the bottom apex of the Diamond.
Other self-adhesive issues from the Land of Iron & Diamond appeared in 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967. These had the shapes of a map of Sierra Leone, a cola nut, an eagle and a round coin. In 1961, when statehood was attained, one of the first traditional Sierra Leone stamps showed a Diamond miner. In 1961, Tanganyika featured a Rose Diamond and a mine. In 1966, Central African Republic depicted a Diamond grade. Other stamps showing Diamonds were issued by Southwest Africa in 1961-62, and South Africa in 1965.
Twice Belgium featured Diamonds. A handicrafts issue included a Diamond in 1960. In 1965, a commemorative stamp featured a woman’s hand with a large round Diamond on one finger and a huge pear-shaped Diamond held between two fingers. The latter was issued to publicize Diamontexpo, a Diamond exposition held in Antwerp July 10-28, 1965. In 1954, France linked jewelry with goldsmith’s work on a stamp. In 1966, Dahomey featured jewelry, as Czechoslovakia had done in 1956 and 1965. The first of the Czech stamps marked that country’s second 5-year plan, the other publicized a costume jewelry exhibit at Jablonec.
Israel has not emphasized minerals on its stamps, but in 1968 it did issue one high value airmail stamp with a large faceted diamond to celebrate its important export trade in cut stones. The same set also included postage stamps as a major Israeli export. Earlier postal issues in Israel showed ancient glass vessels from the 1st to 3rd centuries A.D., a bronze panther of the 1st century B.C., a gold calf’s head earring of Ashdod from the 6th to 4th centuries B.C., and a gold ram’s head drinking horn of Persia from the 5th century B.C. Such archaeological treasures are becoming more common in philatelics. The collector of minerals on postage stamps may include them, if he chooses, as examples of ancient metals.
Russia, too, depicted its ancient treasures on postage stamps. In 1964, one issue showing items from the Kremlin Museum included a helmet, a saddle, a jeweled fur crown, a gold ladle, and a bowl. Two years later, the USSR presented treasures from the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad; a 6th century B.C golden stag from Scythia, a Persian silver jug, and a Malachite vase from the Urals.
The above indicates how far governments have gone in celebrating their minerals and mineral wealth on their postage stamps. Collectors who limit themselves to the mineral area have only the Geology Unit of the American Topical Association to guide them. This Geology Unit has been dubbed Geolately or Geo-Philately. Whatever it may be called, it covers minerals, waterfalls, volcanoes and the oil industry.
So, minerals available on postage stamps are relatively few. However, the increased worldwide interest in minerals will undoubtedly influence many governments, including perhaps our own, to pay more attention to the design possibilities for their postal issues.
In the fall of 1594 the Spanish galleon San Pedro, en route home with treasure from the New World, was wrecked on the north Bermuda reefs, and went down to the bottom. There it lay for more than three hundred years, until Teddy Tucker, a Bermudian diver, salvaged much of the treasure, including jewels, gold and artifacts. Valued at more than US $560000, the treasure was sold to the Bermuda government in 1961. Part of it is now on display at the Museum of Natural History in Flatts Village.
The finest single item from Tucker’s salvage is an emerald-studded gold cross that is three inches long, with a 11/4 inch traverse bar set with seven Colombian emeralds, the cross alone is valued at US$75000. One Dutch jewelry expert said it might take ten years to match at set of perfect emeralds like these, if indeed they could be matched at all. Colombian emeralds are, of course, at their best, second to none. It is believed that the jeweled cross was made by South American Indians, probably under the supervision of a Spanish jewelsmith.
In 1969, Bermuda issued a set of four colorful stamps portraying the emerald-studded cross from the San Pedro. Each stamp bore the identifying legend. “1594 Treasure from the sea.” The four postal items were in denominations of 4d, 1s/3d, 2s, and 2s/6d.
Since the cross was recovered from the sea, it seemed rather fitting that artist V Whiteley should have used a sea fan background for two of the stamps and coral reefs on the others. Of course, Bermuda was not the only country to feature emeralds on its postal issues. A Colombian airmail stamp of 1932-39 showed a large emerald on two high values. In the same period Colombia released a regular postage set with an emerald mine, a platinum mine, gold mining scene, and a scene of oil wells.
However, with thousands of new postage stamps released each year, it is rather surprising that so few designs relate to, or picture, minerals. Plainly, this area has not been exploited philatelically, as have flowers, birds and fishes.
With the technological advances in stamp printing, and the increasing output of brilliantly colored issues by many nations, it should not be long before a number of well awaken and stress the breadth of their mineral resources on their postage stamps. The United States, for example, has not issued a single stamp with a mineral design, or even a mineral theme, unless one considers the commemoration of the first American oil well as celebrating a national mineral asset.
A few years ago, there was a move to persuade the post office to issue mineral stamp to mark the presence of a mineralogy convention in Washington D.C. The design was to feature a brooch that was mounted with gems from each of the states. Unfortunately the move was unsuccessful, although the brooch was made and was presented to Lady Bird Johnson, later to be turned over to the Smithsonian Institution.
Perhaps the closest the United States has come to include any mineral or gem on a stamp is the instance of the $1.00 value stamp in the 1893 Columbian Exposition series which shows Queen Isabella pledging her jewels. Items of jewelry may also be seen in the illustrations on other stamps in this series: Columbus Soliciting Columbus Describing his Third Voyage.
In 1898, the United States also showed a Western Mining Prospector; the “Golden Spike Ceremony” marking the completion of the trans-continental railroad systems; the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill; a gold miner; and one for silver.
Now that Postmaster General Winton M Blount has approved a revival of the conservation stamp program, perhaps there may, one day, be stamps that depict our rich mineral resources. The conservation stamp program, initiated under former Postmaster General Arthur E Summerfield, employed pictures of wildlife, soil, forest, water and range conservation.
Stressing the importance of water conservation, France and Andorra, incidentally, recently released single stamps with a droplet that is a diamond to indicate the preciousness of water. Although Canada has immense mineral wealth, she, too has been remiss here in the field of philatelics. One Canadian stamp shows a miner with pneumatic drill and another miner panning gold. But there have been no Canadian stamps to call attention to the incredible variety of her minerals, not even her asbestos or uranium sources.
Of course, Canada, with its British heritage and association, has often shown jewel bedecked royalty and the great crowns of Britain frequently have appeared on her stamps. Indeed, there have been crowns aplenty on postage stamps. For Canada alone, one can cite the ‘young and old Victoria’ jubilee design of 1897; the Princess and Prince of Wales, later King George V and Queen Mary; Queen Alexandra and King Edward VII; King George V and Queen Elizabeth; and Queen Elizabeth II.
The British crowns naturally appear on postal issues of the United Kingdom and the countries within the Commonwealth. However, other bejeweled items in the state regalia, including those that hundreds of thousands have seen and marveled over at the exhibit in the Tower of London, have not been featured on British issues. Bejeweled crowns have, of course, been utilized widely in stamp designs of other lands. Two instances are Czechoslovakia’s altarpiece with the 14th century crown of St. Wenceslas, and far for Iran the coronation attire of Queen Farak of Persia. The great crowns worn by royalty have been adorned with fabulous gems from various parts of the world. Since these were generally mined before they were cut and polished, it is fitting that the part played by mining should be recognized. The collector of minerals on postage stamps may therefore include mining, and also metallurgy. Victor J Van Lint of the American Topical Association, specialist in mining on postage stamps provided the data for the following:
Surface mining, as depicted by a miner panning gold, for example, on a Canadian stamp is the first step in the many processes concerned with the wrestling of wealth from the earth. Next comes placering. Here water supplies are required, since, gold, platinum or precious stones, are caught behind riffles in a sluice box while a swift current of water carries off the dirt, clay, and gravel. Such a sluice is shown on a British Guiana (now Guyana) stamp. Dredge mining is shown on a Malaya stamp.
Underground mining may be pursued via three methods: by tunnels, inclined shafts, and vertical shafts. An example of a tunnel mine is on a Bolivian stamp, while a Chilean stamp shows an inclined shaft. A vertical shaft appears on a Czechoslovakian stamp.
Other postage stamps illustrate equipment used in mining. On stamps from Austria, Germany, the Saar, and Russia are shown headframes over mines, lamps used by miners, loaders, and, of course, miners with hammer, chisel and pickaxe, as well as the more modern pneumatic airpick. The Federal Republic of Germany recently issued a quartet of stamps that covered the mining operation graphically: a young miner and lamp, a miner with drill, a miner and conveyor, and a miner and coal elevator.
Romania has issued stamps showing a miner in dress uniform and also in work uniform. In 1949, Czechoslovakia marked the 700th anniversary of its mining industry, and the 150th anniversary of its miner’s laws by featuring early miners, a contemporary miner, and a mining machine. In 1952, it marked Miner’s Day—Sept. 14—with a 17th century mining tower.
While fairly comprehensive collections can be formed on mines and mining, the same cannot be said of gems and minerals. Happily for the mineral collector who is not particularly interested in postage stamps except as they feature minerals, there are a number of postal issues that present attractive minerals in crystals or groups. Here Switzerland has been the leader, natural in a sense because the Swiss have always valued the fine specimens found in their Alps. Over a four year period, from 1958 to 1961, this country issued numerous semi-postal stamps, showing fine minerals. (Semi-postal stamps have two values, one for the postage; the other to indicate the amount set aside for some worthy cause, in this instance, to benefit needy mothers.)
The first Swiss minerals set, released in 1958, displayed Fluorite, Garnet and Rock Crystal. The set also included Ammonite. Ammonite, of course, is a fossil, but it is not unusual for fossils to be included in postal issues devoted to minerals, not because so many mineral collectors also acquire fossils but because fossils, too, are found in the earth.
In 1959, Switzerland’s second set showed Agate, Tourmaline, Amethyst and Fossilized Salamander. In 1960, the subjects were Smoky Quartz, Feldspar, Gryphaea Fossil and Azurite. In 1961, to close the Swiss mineral program, came Fluorite, Petrified fish, Lazulite and Petrified fern. Also in 1961, Southwest Africa showed Tourmaline and Topaz. And, in 1963, Mexico, which has vast mineral resources, pictured Crystals.
In a set marking the bicentennial of the famous Mining Academy in Freiburg, the German Democratic Republic included stamps showing splendid Proustite crystals and Sulphur crystals. Other values showed an old furnace and ancient miners, both illustrations based on early woodcuts. More minerals appeared on a fine set of six stamps issued by the German Democratic Republic in mid-1969. The subjects were: Fluorite from Halsbrucke, Erythrite from Schneeberg, Galena from Neudorf, Smoky Quartz from Lichtenberg, Calcite from Niederrabenstein and Silver from Freiburg.
The most striking of the Russian issues relating to mineralogy appeared in 1963. Naturally, they emphasized the precious stones from the mineral-rich Ural mountains. Shown were Topaz, Jasper, Amethyst, Emerald, Rhodonite, and Malachite. In 1968, the USSR offered a 6 kopek stamp with a Crystal and the emblem of the 8th Congress for Mineral Research.
In 1969, Hungary issued a fine series featuring both fossils and minerals. Four portrayed, individually, native Copper coated with Malachite, Cuprite, a group displaying Calcite and Sphalerite with the uncommon Greenockite, and a fine Quartz crystal group. South Rhodesia pictured emeralds in 1964, but a large number of postage stamps have featured the Diamond. Sierra Leone, especially, has emphasized its role as the Land of Iron & Diamonds. Incidentally, this West African country utilizes printed and embossed self-adhesive stamps that are cut in various shapes, and are attached to peelable paper backing which may carry different advertisements.
A faceted pear-shaped Diamond was chosen for the design when Sierra Leone marked the 75th anniversary of its Bay Scout movement with a special postage stamp. This self-adhesive commemorative was released December 3, 1969. Late in 1965 Sierra Leone released three airmail stamps in unique form. The self-adhesive stamp was cut in the shape of a faceted Diamond, with a reverse-embossed design of an elaborate Diamond necklace. The name of the famous American jeweler Harry Winston was on either side of the bottom apex of the Diamond.
Other self-adhesive issues from the Land of Iron & Diamond appeared in 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967. These had the shapes of a map of Sierra Leone, a cola nut, an eagle and a round coin. In 1961, when statehood was attained, one of the first traditional Sierra Leone stamps showed a Diamond miner. In 1961, Tanganyika featured a Rose Diamond and a mine. In 1966, Central African Republic depicted a Diamond grade. Other stamps showing Diamonds were issued by Southwest Africa in 1961-62, and South Africa in 1965.
Twice Belgium featured Diamonds. A handicrafts issue included a Diamond in 1960. In 1965, a commemorative stamp featured a woman’s hand with a large round Diamond on one finger and a huge pear-shaped Diamond held between two fingers. The latter was issued to publicize Diamontexpo, a Diamond exposition held in Antwerp July 10-28, 1965. In 1954, France linked jewelry with goldsmith’s work on a stamp. In 1966, Dahomey featured jewelry, as Czechoslovakia had done in 1956 and 1965. The first of the Czech stamps marked that country’s second 5-year plan, the other publicized a costume jewelry exhibit at Jablonec.
Israel has not emphasized minerals on its stamps, but in 1968 it did issue one high value airmail stamp with a large faceted diamond to celebrate its important export trade in cut stones. The same set also included postage stamps as a major Israeli export. Earlier postal issues in Israel showed ancient glass vessels from the 1st to 3rd centuries A.D., a bronze panther of the 1st century B.C., a gold calf’s head earring of Ashdod from the 6th to 4th centuries B.C., and a gold ram’s head drinking horn of Persia from the 5th century B.C. Such archaeological treasures are becoming more common in philatelics. The collector of minerals on postage stamps may include them, if he chooses, as examples of ancient metals.
Russia, too, depicted its ancient treasures on postage stamps. In 1964, one issue showing items from the Kremlin Museum included a helmet, a saddle, a jeweled fur crown, a gold ladle, and a bowl. Two years later, the USSR presented treasures from the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad; a 6th century B.C golden stag from Scythia, a Persian silver jug, and a Malachite vase from the Urals.
The above indicates how far governments have gone in celebrating their minerals and mineral wealth on their postage stamps. Collectors who limit themselves to the mineral area have only the Geology Unit of the American Topical Association to guide them. This Geology Unit has been dubbed Geolately or Geo-Philately. Whatever it may be called, it covers minerals, waterfalls, volcanoes and the oil industry.
So, minerals available on postage stamps are relatively few. However, the increased worldwide interest in minerals will undoubtedly influence many governments, including perhaps our own, to pay more attention to the design possibilities for their postal issues.
Ray Movie
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): Who is it?
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): Mr. Charles, my name is Ahmet Ertegun. May I have a moment of your time?
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): What do you want? I'm at church.
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): I'm sorry. I'll come back later.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): You're here now, what do you want?
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): Mr. Charles, my company, Atlantic Records, has just acquired your contract from Swingtime. I'd like to discuss your future.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): Hold on, man. Don't jive me now. I ain't for sale.
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): May I sit down? You see, Mr. Charles, it seems that Jack Lauderdale has found himself, shall we say, a little over extended and has had to unload some of his talent. When your name came up I jumped at the chance to work with you. I'm a big fan.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): What if I want to go to another company? There's a guy out there right now that'll pay me seven cents a record. Can you do that?
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): Man, I could promise you fifteen cents a record but you won't get it. Anymore than he'll pay you seven. What I will do is promise you five cents a record and pay you five cents a record. You think pennies, Mr. Charles, you get pennies. You think dollars, you get dollars.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): I like the way you put things together. Omlet, you're alright with me.
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): Ahmet.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): Ahmet. What kind of a name is that anyway.
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): I'm Turkish.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): Well, Ahmet, it looks like Jack Lauderdale's bad luck is my good fortune. I always knew Atlantic was bigger than Swingtime. You do great work there. I dig Atlantic.
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): You could have fooled me.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): Well, I gotta keep my eye on you city boys. Back home they call it country dumb.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): Who is it?
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): Mr. Charles, my name is Ahmet Ertegun. May I have a moment of your time?
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): What do you want? I'm at church.
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): I'm sorry. I'll come back later.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): You're here now, what do you want?
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): Mr. Charles, my company, Atlantic Records, has just acquired your contract from Swingtime. I'd like to discuss your future.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): Hold on, man. Don't jive me now. I ain't for sale.
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): May I sit down? You see, Mr. Charles, it seems that Jack Lauderdale has found himself, shall we say, a little over extended and has had to unload some of his talent. When your name came up I jumped at the chance to work with you. I'm a big fan.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): What if I want to go to another company? There's a guy out there right now that'll pay me seven cents a record. Can you do that?
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): Man, I could promise you fifteen cents a record but you won't get it. Anymore than he'll pay you seven. What I will do is promise you five cents a record and pay you five cents a record. You think pennies, Mr. Charles, you get pennies. You think dollars, you get dollars.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): I like the way you put things together. Omlet, you're alright with me.
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): Ahmet.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): Ahmet. What kind of a name is that anyway.
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): I'm Turkish.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): Well, Ahmet, it looks like Jack Lauderdale's bad luck is my good fortune. I always knew Atlantic was bigger than Swingtime. You do great work there. I dig Atlantic.
Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong): You could have fooled me.
Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx): Well, I gotta keep my eye on you city boys. Back home they call it country dumb.
Pearl Diver’s Luck
By Clarence Benham
W W Norton & Company Inc
1950
Clarence Benham writes:
This is a story of pearl diving, as experienced by me, during a brief period of my life, in the waters of Torres Straits, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Solomon Islands. It depicts the nature of the work, the rough conditions, rude men, and some of the dangers that may be met.
The principal pearl fisheries of the world are those of the Persian Gulf and Ceylon (Sri Lanka); the Gulf of California, once fished by the Aztecs; the Paumotus; and Australia. The greatest pearl production is that of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), but the shell is the most valuable, and the largest of all pearlshell, one kind (Pinctada maxima) growing to a diameter of twelve inches and a weight of seven pounds.
Captain Banner, in the brig Julia Percy, is reputed to be the first to bring the news of the Torres Strait pearl beds to Sydney some time in the sixties of the nineteenth century. For a long time all the vessels out and sailed from that town, simply because there was no other suitable place nearer at hand.
All of the divers were swimmers in those days, the dress not being introduced until 1874. The divers and crews were brought from various South Sea Islands, and from the northern parts of the continent. Very often the natives were shanghaied. In any case they were paid only a few shillings worth of trashy trade goods a month, and were forced to work willy-nilly. In 1872 an Imperial Act was passed for the protection of the natives and in order to show that the government meant business, several vessels were seized and forfeited. Thursday Island was selected as the seat of authority and settled in 1878, but the conditions generally continued to be very tough for a long time afterwards.
When the dress was introduced many white divers, and sometimes white crews, were employed. Shell brought up to 400 pounds a ton in Sydney, and white divers commonly earned 500 pounds a year. Gradually, as more shell came on the market, and the price dropped accordingly, the earnings of the white divers decreased so that they were no longer attracted to the life. At the time when I was there, some forty years ago, no more than half a dozen remained.
Thursday Island s about thirty miles nor’-west of Cape York, the most northerly point of the great continent of Australia, and is the one of the many other islands in Torres Straits. With the exception of the soldiers in the Fort, and a few gold miners on neighboring islands, the resident population depend upon those engaged in fishing, of one kind or another, in the same way as people in a goldfields town live on the earnings of the miners and the production of the mines.
It will be incomprehensible to many people that any normal young man should voluntarily submit himself to the privation and discomfort, apart from the dangers, experienced by the writer and described in this book. On the other hand, it is difficult for others to comprehend how any healthy young fellow can put up with a pampered, petted life in town, meeting the same people, and doing the same things day after day for the whole of his life.
Today, as throughout the history of mankind, and as I hope it ever will be, young fellows seek the untrodden wilds, or the unusual. It is not easy not to do something that no other has done, but the spirit of adventure beckons and heedlessly we plunge into something that has excited our imagination. When whalers call at Hobart they have no difficulty in signing on additional hands for a voyage to the bitter Antarctic. There will always be volunteers to go anywhere and do anything, no matter how perilous and rough the task may be. If they were called, thousands would offer themselves for a journey to the moon, or into the space; in fact, they would proffer big sums of money for the privilege of being one of the lunatic crew.
Acknowledgment is hereby made to the Melbourne Herald, which has printed some parts of this story, and to Mr Simmonds, the Editor, for his kindly encouragement. All the characters in this book are now dead, or fictitious, or both, except me.
W W Norton & Company Inc
1950
Clarence Benham writes:
This is a story of pearl diving, as experienced by me, during a brief period of my life, in the waters of Torres Straits, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Solomon Islands. It depicts the nature of the work, the rough conditions, rude men, and some of the dangers that may be met.
The principal pearl fisheries of the world are those of the Persian Gulf and Ceylon (Sri Lanka); the Gulf of California, once fished by the Aztecs; the Paumotus; and Australia. The greatest pearl production is that of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), but the shell is the most valuable, and the largest of all pearlshell, one kind (Pinctada maxima) growing to a diameter of twelve inches and a weight of seven pounds.
Captain Banner, in the brig Julia Percy, is reputed to be the first to bring the news of the Torres Strait pearl beds to Sydney some time in the sixties of the nineteenth century. For a long time all the vessels out and sailed from that town, simply because there was no other suitable place nearer at hand.
All of the divers were swimmers in those days, the dress not being introduced until 1874. The divers and crews were brought from various South Sea Islands, and from the northern parts of the continent. Very often the natives were shanghaied. In any case they were paid only a few shillings worth of trashy trade goods a month, and were forced to work willy-nilly. In 1872 an Imperial Act was passed for the protection of the natives and in order to show that the government meant business, several vessels were seized and forfeited. Thursday Island was selected as the seat of authority and settled in 1878, but the conditions generally continued to be very tough for a long time afterwards.
When the dress was introduced many white divers, and sometimes white crews, were employed. Shell brought up to 400 pounds a ton in Sydney, and white divers commonly earned 500 pounds a year. Gradually, as more shell came on the market, and the price dropped accordingly, the earnings of the white divers decreased so that they were no longer attracted to the life. At the time when I was there, some forty years ago, no more than half a dozen remained.
Thursday Island s about thirty miles nor’-west of Cape York, the most northerly point of the great continent of Australia, and is the one of the many other islands in Torres Straits. With the exception of the soldiers in the Fort, and a few gold miners on neighboring islands, the resident population depend upon those engaged in fishing, of one kind or another, in the same way as people in a goldfields town live on the earnings of the miners and the production of the mines.
It will be incomprehensible to many people that any normal young man should voluntarily submit himself to the privation and discomfort, apart from the dangers, experienced by the writer and described in this book. On the other hand, it is difficult for others to comprehend how any healthy young fellow can put up with a pampered, petted life in town, meeting the same people, and doing the same things day after day for the whole of his life.
Today, as throughout the history of mankind, and as I hope it ever will be, young fellows seek the untrodden wilds, or the unusual. It is not easy not to do something that no other has done, but the spirit of adventure beckons and heedlessly we plunge into something that has excited our imagination. When whalers call at Hobart they have no difficulty in signing on additional hands for a voyage to the bitter Antarctic. There will always be volunteers to go anywhere and do anything, no matter how perilous and rough the task may be. If they were called, thousands would offer themselves for a journey to the moon, or into the space; in fact, they would proffer big sums of money for the privilege of being one of the lunatic crew.
Acknowledgment is hereby made to the Melbourne Herald, which has printed some parts of this story, and to Mr Simmonds, the Editor, for his kindly encouragement. All the characters in this book are now dead, or fictitious, or both, except me.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Bling'd: Blood, Diamonds and Hip Hop
"Bling'd: Blood, Diamonds and Hip Hop", is a new diamond documentary produced by Article 19 Films in co-production with Raquel Cepeda, director, for Djali Rancher Productions and in association with VH1 and UNDP.
The movie highlights the diamond trade in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and the poverty in the mining communities; the evolution of diamond-obsessed hip-hop community and their unintentional link in the country’s civil war.
More info @ http://www.vh1.com
The movie highlights the diamond trade in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and the poverty in the mining communities; the evolution of diamond-obsessed hip-hop community and their unintentional link in the country’s civil war.
More info @ http://www.vh1.com
Inexperienced Gem Dealers In Gem Markets
New findings suggest that gem dealers if they are young and inexperienced can be fooled and laminated. Younger generations are always lured in because the perception is gemstones always bring in money. They are overconfident with little or no product knowledge, tech savvy with low attention span, laidback with less patience and perseverance; ignorant, fearful, absentminded, greedy and more likely tend to be deficient in CS (commonsense). The younger gem dealers deviate from established concepts by luring in the inexperienced consumers and general public creating more bubbles. Trust and values are replaced with bluff and deceit. With time underperformance gets worse. The gem market is never compassionate. Gem dealers come and go, but gemstones live on. Somewhat surprisingly the older gem dealers know how to avoid the gas bubble trap. They have had more experience and lived through bad years. They keep a low profile and chose customers and friends selectively. They live a simple life. This tends to make them more cautious. Unfortunately the general public and consumers do not take time to look at history. They have short memory. Learning comes by doing. At the peak, the inexperienced consumers in gemstones end up stocking a significant portion of gemstones and may have the leverage to sway prices. The concept of gemstone business is a combined behavior of millions of people responding to information, disinformation and misinformation.
American Splendor Movie
Memorable quotes from the movie:
Harvey Pekar: My name is Harvey Pekar - that's an unusual name - Harvey Pekar. 1960 was the year I got my first apartment and my first phone book. Now imagine my surprise when I looked up my name and saw that in addition to me, another Harvey Pekar was listed. Now I was listed as "Harvey L. Pekar", my middle name is Lawrence, and he was listed as "Harvey Pekar" therefore his was a - was a pure listing. Then in the '70s, I noticed that a third Harvey Pekar was listed in the phone book, now this filled me with curiousity. How can there be three people with such an unusual name in the world, let alone in one city? Then one day, a person I work with, expressed her sympathy with me, concerning what she thought, was the death of my father, and she pointed out an obituary notice in the newspaper for a man named Harvey Pekar. And one of his sons was named Harvey. And these were the other Harvey Pekar's. And six months later, Harvey Pekar Jr. died. And although I've met neither man, I was filled with sadness, 'what were they like?', I thought, it seemed that our lives had been linked in some indefineable way. But the story does not end there, for two years later, another 'Harvey Pekar' appeared in the phone book. Who are these people? Where do they come from? What do they do? What's in a name? Who is "Harvey Pekar"?
Harvey Pekar: My name is Harvey Pekar - that's an unusual name - Harvey Pekar. 1960 was the year I got my first apartment and my first phone book. Now imagine my surprise when I looked up my name and saw that in addition to me, another Harvey Pekar was listed. Now I was listed as "Harvey L. Pekar", my middle name is Lawrence, and he was listed as "Harvey Pekar" therefore his was a - was a pure listing. Then in the '70s, I noticed that a third Harvey Pekar was listed in the phone book, now this filled me with curiousity. How can there be three people with such an unusual name in the world, let alone in one city? Then one day, a person I work with, expressed her sympathy with me, concerning what she thought, was the death of my father, and she pointed out an obituary notice in the newspaper for a man named Harvey Pekar. And one of his sons was named Harvey. And these were the other Harvey Pekar's. And six months later, Harvey Pekar Jr. died. And although I've met neither man, I was filled with sadness, 'what were they like?', I thought, it seemed that our lives had been linked in some indefineable way. But the story does not end there, for two years later, another 'Harvey Pekar' appeared in the phone book. Who are these people? Where do they come from? What do they do? What's in a name? Who is "Harvey Pekar"?
Hug Your Customer Philosophy
Europa Star writes:
Jack Mitchell, CEO of Mitchells of Westport & Richards in Greenwich, California, USA, and author of best selling book “Hug Your Customer, The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results,” explains why customers are very important in any business.
The US$65 million third generational business is now run by his 7 sons and nephews. He explains, “We get to know each and every one of our customers individually, we know their birth dates, their anniversaries, and we let them know every chance we can, how much we appreciate them.”
He also explains how his sales associates, his tailors and his office staff go above and beyond what other retailers are doing. “They give out “hugs” both physical and emotional ones. It’s the little things from remembering a birthday to sending a personalized note of thanks from the CEO to sending an unexpected give like an orchid plant. By building personalized relationships, we have been able to expand our business,” added Mitchell.
“We know that we could not grow our business without the people who truly believe in our philosophy. We hire people who are honest and open, have positive attitudes, are competent and self confident, have passion and are genuinely nice people,” said Mitchell. “I know this sounds basic – but so many retailers don’t follow these rules.”
More info @ http://europastar.com/europastar/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003542135
Jack Mitchell, CEO of Mitchells of Westport & Richards in Greenwich, California, USA, and author of best selling book “Hug Your Customer, The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results,” explains why customers are very important in any business.
The US$65 million third generational business is now run by his 7 sons and nephews. He explains, “We get to know each and every one of our customers individually, we know their birth dates, their anniversaries, and we let them know every chance we can, how much we appreciate them.”
He also explains how his sales associates, his tailors and his office staff go above and beyond what other retailers are doing. “They give out “hugs” both physical and emotional ones. It’s the little things from remembering a birthday to sending a personalized note of thanks from the CEO to sending an unexpected give like an orchid plant. By building personalized relationships, we have been able to expand our business,” added Mitchell.
“We know that we could not grow our business without the people who truly believe in our philosophy. We hire people who are honest and open, have positive attitudes, are competent and self confident, have passion and are genuinely nice people,” said Mitchell. “I know this sounds basic – but so many retailers don’t follow these rules.”
More info @ http://europastar.com/europastar/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003542135
Semi Precious Stones
(via Mineral Digest) Louis Zara writes:
Semi precious stones don’t exist. This is contrary to one of the jewelry industry’s most cherished myths. Nevertheless, it’s true: there are no semi-precious stones. Every gemstone, if it deserves the name at all, is either precious or it is not precious—as simple as that. Semi-precious is as meaningless as semi-attractive or semi-honest.
Consider the criteria applied to gemstones: value; hardness; scarcity; beauty. This order is such that what can he had easily is not valued highly. If diamonds were only fifty cents a carat, how many girls would want one for the engagement ring? If rubies were as plenty as raisins, would anyone care to wear them? I believe, no matter how hard or rare or valuable a gemstone may be, its beauty come first.
Today the diamond is accepted as the king because it is the hardest, and therefore the most durable, of gemstones. The jeweler likes diamonds because he can, or at least in sizes under five carats, always get more for his customers. Yet, except in larger sizes, diamonds are common. Beautiful rubies, even in smaller sizes, are harder to obtain, and emeralds without flaw are almost impossible to find. Diamond outranks them for hardness and brilliance, but, to many, rubies and emeralds are more beautiful.
If hardness is the only criterion, where should we rank opal, which has such flashing red, blue, and green fire that no lover of beauty can look at it without admiration? Each individual opal displays an exquisiteness of its own: Far easier to match diamonds than to match opals. Yet compared to diamond, ruby or sapphire, the opal is soft and must be worn with care. Are opals then to be dismissed as semi-precious?
What shall we say about jade, which in the imperial green quality is as fine as the elegant emerald and even scarcer, so that a great jade necklace must rank among the world’s splendid jewels? Jade cannot be compared to diamond, ruby or sapphire, but should it therefore be called semi-precious?
The average jeweler may resent these statements; his primary aim is to sell, and he can sell diamonds more readily than rubies, sapphires, opals or jade. Yet to those of us who are interested in educating the public, opals and jade, and the many other gems now blandly classed as semi-precious, deserve more intelligent appreciation, especially since their remarkable beauty delights the millions of new gem lovers.
Another example: red garnets have been plentiful since antiquity. Yet clear red garnets of appealing size are not common, the orange garnet hessonite is scarce in large sizes, and the rare green demantoid garnet, hardly known to the public, has an appeal that rivals the emerald. Fine demantoids or rhodolites, make truly impressive gemstones. Shall these, too, be labeled semi-precious?
No gem mineral displays a broader range of colors than the tourmaline. The greens have been relatively abundant. But large reds are scarce, and sapphire blues even scarcer, while the splendid watermelon tourmalines (greens and red together) are most unusual. Are such gems, too, semi-precious?
What about the alexandrite, that astonishing variety of chrysoberyl which is green in daylight and raspberry red by artificial light? It is harder than emerald. No gem is scarcer in sizes over four or five carats. Should the alexandrite, too, be put down as semi-precious?
What of aquamarine, which is a beryl and so is kin to the emerald? What of the amethyst, plentiful to be sure, but in truly lovely violet-purples and dark reds amazingly handsome?
What we seem to come down to is an economic criterion. If a gemstone is scarce, or an artificial demand has been created, that gemstone goes up in value, and is hailed as precious. If a gemstone is abundant, it is branded semi-precious.
Maybe that was acceptable when gems were chiefly status symbols. The rich dominated the market, and the rich must have only the precious. But in the last generation or so, with wider knowledge of Nature’s large family of gemstones becoming available, the emphasis has been less on status and more on beauty—and beauty is not restricted to the traditional Big Four: diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald.
Today young people, whose horizons on gemstones have broadened, turn more and more to garnets, tourmalines, and topazes of all colors, to amethysts, and to many other gems little appreciated by their fathers. Try to sell this new generation of gem lovers that a rich blue lapis lazuli or a remarkable green jade or a delicate peach morganite is merely semi-precious!
The time has come for the diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald to share the world precious with other stones. For in the world of gems, a stone is either precious or it is not precious. Semi-precious stones do not exist.
Semi precious stones don’t exist. This is contrary to one of the jewelry industry’s most cherished myths. Nevertheless, it’s true: there are no semi-precious stones. Every gemstone, if it deserves the name at all, is either precious or it is not precious—as simple as that. Semi-precious is as meaningless as semi-attractive or semi-honest.
Consider the criteria applied to gemstones: value; hardness; scarcity; beauty. This order is such that what can he had easily is not valued highly. If diamonds were only fifty cents a carat, how many girls would want one for the engagement ring? If rubies were as plenty as raisins, would anyone care to wear them? I believe, no matter how hard or rare or valuable a gemstone may be, its beauty come first.
Today the diamond is accepted as the king because it is the hardest, and therefore the most durable, of gemstones. The jeweler likes diamonds because he can, or at least in sizes under five carats, always get more for his customers. Yet, except in larger sizes, diamonds are common. Beautiful rubies, even in smaller sizes, are harder to obtain, and emeralds without flaw are almost impossible to find. Diamond outranks them for hardness and brilliance, but, to many, rubies and emeralds are more beautiful.
If hardness is the only criterion, where should we rank opal, which has such flashing red, blue, and green fire that no lover of beauty can look at it without admiration? Each individual opal displays an exquisiteness of its own: Far easier to match diamonds than to match opals. Yet compared to diamond, ruby or sapphire, the opal is soft and must be worn with care. Are opals then to be dismissed as semi-precious?
What shall we say about jade, which in the imperial green quality is as fine as the elegant emerald and even scarcer, so that a great jade necklace must rank among the world’s splendid jewels? Jade cannot be compared to diamond, ruby or sapphire, but should it therefore be called semi-precious?
The average jeweler may resent these statements; his primary aim is to sell, and he can sell diamonds more readily than rubies, sapphires, opals or jade. Yet to those of us who are interested in educating the public, opals and jade, and the many other gems now blandly classed as semi-precious, deserve more intelligent appreciation, especially since their remarkable beauty delights the millions of new gem lovers.
Another example: red garnets have been plentiful since antiquity. Yet clear red garnets of appealing size are not common, the orange garnet hessonite is scarce in large sizes, and the rare green demantoid garnet, hardly known to the public, has an appeal that rivals the emerald. Fine demantoids or rhodolites, make truly impressive gemstones. Shall these, too, be labeled semi-precious?
No gem mineral displays a broader range of colors than the tourmaline. The greens have been relatively abundant. But large reds are scarce, and sapphire blues even scarcer, while the splendid watermelon tourmalines (greens and red together) are most unusual. Are such gems, too, semi-precious?
What about the alexandrite, that astonishing variety of chrysoberyl which is green in daylight and raspberry red by artificial light? It is harder than emerald. No gem is scarcer in sizes over four or five carats. Should the alexandrite, too, be put down as semi-precious?
What of aquamarine, which is a beryl and so is kin to the emerald? What of the amethyst, plentiful to be sure, but in truly lovely violet-purples and dark reds amazingly handsome?
What we seem to come down to is an economic criterion. If a gemstone is scarce, or an artificial demand has been created, that gemstone goes up in value, and is hailed as precious. If a gemstone is abundant, it is branded semi-precious.
Maybe that was acceptable when gems were chiefly status symbols. The rich dominated the market, and the rich must have only the precious. But in the last generation or so, with wider knowledge of Nature’s large family of gemstones becoming available, the emphasis has been less on status and more on beauty—and beauty is not restricted to the traditional Big Four: diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald.
Today young people, whose horizons on gemstones have broadened, turn more and more to garnets, tourmalines, and topazes of all colors, to amethysts, and to many other gems little appreciated by their fathers. Try to sell this new generation of gem lovers that a rich blue lapis lazuli or a remarkable green jade or a delicate peach morganite is merely semi-precious!
The time has come for the diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald to share the world precious with other stones. For in the world of gems, a stone is either precious or it is not precious. Semi-precious stones do not exist.
Gem Identification Made Easy
By Antoinette L Matlins & A C Bonanno
Gemstone Press
1994/1989 ISBN 0-943763-03-7
Gemstone Press writes:
Today, knowing your gems, being absolutely sure about what you are buying and selling, is essential. Major changes in the gem world—new synthetic stones, new treatments to enhance and conceal, new gems, and more stones available in every hue and tone of color—make accurate gem identification more important than ever to both buyers and sellers.
Whether you are the owner of a large retail jewelry chain or small family-run business, someone who enjoys collecting or acquiring gems for personal pleasure, or a serious investor, insufficient knowledge can be costly. It can result in a bad purchase, damage to a reputation, and, equally significant, failure to recognize an opportunity.
With minimal effort and a nominal investment in several instruments, almost anyone can venture into the world of gemology and begin to experience the thrill and fun of discovery—learning just what a particular stone really is. You can learn to separate real from imitation, one look-alike from another, dyed from natural, and so on. Sometimes just a basic knowledge of how to use a simple instrument is all that is needed to avoid an expensive mistake or recognize a profitable opportunity.
Contrary to what many people believe, it isn’t necessary to spend $100000 (or more) for elaborate gem testing equipment. For less than $200, one can begin with just three pocket instruments: the loupe, Chelsea filter, and dichroscope. Use together, these three simple, portable instruments can enable one to identify almost 85% of the colored gemstone materials encountered today as well as diamonds and most diamond look-alikes. Once you have mastered these three, you can add other instruments to help you identify the remaining gemstone material and confirm identification made with pocket instruments.
While any one of these instruments alone is unusually insufficient to make a conclusive identification, a combination of two or more will usually be enough to tell you what you really have. The key, of course, is knowing how to use them and what to look for. That’s how Gem Identification Made Easy will help you. While years of training and experience are necessary to become qualified as a professional gemologist, with practice and a little hands-on work, you will find it takes surprisingly little time before you will feel more confident about what you are buying and selling.
Gemstone Press
1994/1989 ISBN 0-943763-03-7
Gemstone Press writes:
Today, knowing your gems, being absolutely sure about what you are buying and selling, is essential. Major changes in the gem world—new synthetic stones, new treatments to enhance and conceal, new gems, and more stones available in every hue and tone of color—make accurate gem identification more important than ever to both buyers and sellers.
Whether you are the owner of a large retail jewelry chain or small family-run business, someone who enjoys collecting or acquiring gems for personal pleasure, or a serious investor, insufficient knowledge can be costly. It can result in a bad purchase, damage to a reputation, and, equally significant, failure to recognize an opportunity.
With minimal effort and a nominal investment in several instruments, almost anyone can venture into the world of gemology and begin to experience the thrill and fun of discovery—learning just what a particular stone really is. You can learn to separate real from imitation, one look-alike from another, dyed from natural, and so on. Sometimes just a basic knowledge of how to use a simple instrument is all that is needed to avoid an expensive mistake or recognize a profitable opportunity.
Contrary to what many people believe, it isn’t necessary to spend $100000 (or more) for elaborate gem testing equipment. For less than $200, one can begin with just three pocket instruments: the loupe, Chelsea filter, and dichroscope. Use together, these three simple, portable instruments can enable one to identify almost 85% of the colored gemstone materials encountered today as well as diamonds and most diamond look-alikes. Once you have mastered these three, you can add other instruments to help you identify the remaining gemstone material and confirm identification made with pocket instruments.
While any one of these instruments alone is unusually insufficient to make a conclusive identification, a combination of two or more will usually be enough to tell you what you really have. The key, of course, is knowing how to use them and what to look for. That’s how Gem Identification Made Easy will help you. While years of training and experience are necessary to become qualified as a professional gemologist, with practice and a little hands-on work, you will find it takes surprisingly little time before you will feel more confident about what you are buying and selling.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Gemstone Market
In my opinion the gemstone market is definitely motivated by spontaneous human reactions, ignorance, fear and greed.
Gemstone Business
Think about it. Buying and selling gemstones is an art of passing gemstones from hand to hand until it finally disappears.
To Catch A Thief Movie
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): Doesn't it make you nervous to be in the same room with thousands of dollars worth of diamonds, and unable to touch them?
John Robie (Cary Grant): No.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): Like an alcoholic outside of a bar on Election Day?
John Robie (Cary Grant): Wouldn't know the feeling.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): I have a feeling that tonight you're going to see one of the Riviera's most fascinating sights. I was talking about the fireworks!
John Robie (Cary Grant): I never doubted it.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): The way you looked at my necklace, I didn't know... Even in this light, I can tell where your eyes are looking. Look, John. Hold them. Diamonds... The only thing in the world you can't resist. Then tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. Ever had a better offer in your whole life? One with everything?
John Robie (Cary Grant): I've never had a crazier one.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): Just as long as you're satisfied!
John Robie (Cary Grant): You know as well as I do: this necklace is imitation.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): Well, I'm not.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): Doesn't it make you nervous to be in the same room with thousands of dollars worth of diamonds, and unable to touch them?
John Robie (Cary Grant): No.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): Like an alcoholic outside of a bar on Election Day?
John Robie (Cary Grant): Wouldn't know the feeling.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): I have a feeling that tonight you're going to see one of the Riviera's most fascinating sights. I was talking about the fireworks!
John Robie (Cary Grant): I never doubted it.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): The way you looked at my necklace, I didn't know... Even in this light, I can tell where your eyes are looking. Look, John. Hold them. Diamonds... The only thing in the world you can't resist. Then tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. Ever had a better offer in your whole life? One with everything?
John Robie (Cary Grant): I've never had a crazier one.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): Just as long as you're satisfied!
John Robie (Cary Grant): You know as well as I do: this necklace is imitation.
Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly): Well, I'm not.
How To Buy And Sell Gems
By Benjamin Zucker
Times Books
1979 ISBN 0-8129-0903-8
Times Books writes:
Mr Zucker has used his intimate knowledge as a dealer in gems, as well as general investment counselor, to write the first book exclusively devoted to guiding the would be investor in gems.
Richly illustrating his text with photographs of gems (most of them in his own collection), Mr Zucker explains the geological origins of the various precious gems and their relative values. He offers a unique instructional guide to assessing the quality of a gem (the difference in color, for example, between a ruby from Burma and one from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and how to judge its present and likely future worth, with precise details on past and present prices.
The owner of what may be the most valuable sapphire in the world (it is on loan to the Museum of Natural History in New York City), Mr Zucker sketches the history of gem collecting through the voyages of Marco Polo, and great collection of Iran, to the Diamond Syndicate, explaining how it first developed and how it operates today. He takes the reader on a trip through the gem mining areas of the world in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Thailand, Burma, and Colombia, and lives his narrative throughout with anecdotes both personal and legendary, about custom, cutting, faceting, and dealing.
Most practically, several portfolios are suggested for the investor with $5000 to spend and the investor who is prepared to spend $20000 to $100000. With synthetic stones appearing more frequently on the market, Mr Zucker explains their introduction and methods, offers guidelines on how to determine if a gem is synthetic or genuine, and presents the latest discoveries in gemology.
Whether for the person interested only in the beauty and lore of these stones, or the person who wishes to buy gems for investment purposes, How To Buy And Sell Gems is an indispensable guide.
Times Books
1979 ISBN 0-8129-0903-8
Times Books writes:
Mr Zucker has used his intimate knowledge as a dealer in gems, as well as general investment counselor, to write the first book exclusively devoted to guiding the would be investor in gems.
Richly illustrating his text with photographs of gems (most of them in his own collection), Mr Zucker explains the geological origins of the various precious gems and their relative values. He offers a unique instructional guide to assessing the quality of a gem (the difference in color, for example, between a ruby from Burma and one from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and how to judge its present and likely future worth, with precise details on past and present prices.
The owner of what may be the most valuable sapphire in the world (it is on loan to the Museum of Natural History in New York City), Mr Zucker sketches the history of gem collecting through the voyages of Marco Polo, and great collection of Iran, to the Diamond Syndicate, explaining how it first developed and how it operates today. He takes the reader on a trip through the gem mining areas of the world in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Thailand, Burma, and Colombia, and lives his narrative throughout with anecdotes both personal and legendary, about custom, cutting, faceting, and dealing.
Most practically, several portfolios are suggested for the investor with $5000 to spend and the investor who is prepared to spend $20000 to $100000. With synthetic stones appearing more frequently on the market, Mr Zucker explains their introduction and methods, offers guidelines on how to determine if a gem is synthetic or genuine, and presents the latest discoveries in gemology.
Whether for the person interested only in the beauty and lore of these stones, or the person who wishes to buy gems for investment purposes, How To Buy And Sell Gems is an indispensable guide.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Understanding Gemstones
The general public has not by and large taken Understanding Gemstones 101, and those who did sit through it have probably forgotten much of what they learned.
Being There Movie
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
President "Bobby" (Jack Warden): Mr. Gardner, do you agree with Ben, or do you think that we can stimulate growth through temporary incentives?
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.
President "Bobby" (Jack Warden): In the garden.
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): Yes. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.
President "Bobby" (Jack Warden): Spring and summer.
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): Yes.
President "Bobby" (Jack Warden): Then fall and winter.
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): Yes.
Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas): I think what our insightful young friend is saying is that we welcome the inevitable seasons of nature, but we're upset by the seasons of our economy.
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): Yes! There will be growth in the spring!
Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas): Hmm!
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): Hmm!
President "Bobby" (Jack Warden): Hmm. Well, Mr. Gardner, I must admit that is one of the most refreshing and optimistic statements I've heard in a very, very long time. I admire your good, solid sense. That's precisely what we lack on Capitol Hill.
President "Bobby" (Jack Warden): Mr. Gardner, do you agree with Ben, or do you think that we can stimulate growth through temporary incentives?
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.
President "Bobby" (Jack Warden): In the garden.
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): Yes. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.
President "Bobby" (Jack Warden): Spring and summer.
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): Yes.
President "Bobby" (Jack Warden): Then fall and winter.
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): Yes.
Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas): I think what our insightful young friend is saying is that we welcome the inevitable seasons of nature, but we're upset by the seasons of our economy.
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): Yes! There will be growth in the spring!
Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas): Hmm!
Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers): Hmm!
President "Bobby" (Jack Warden): Hmm. Well, Mr. Gardner, I must admit that is one of the most refreshing and optimistic statements I've heard in a very, very long time. I admire your good, solid sense. That's precisely what we lack on Capitol Hill.
The Language Of Gemstones: 1
I speak two languages: Body and English.
-Mae West
I love people and gemstones. I work with people from around the world who want to learn about gemstones and their values so that they can make a living buying or selling gemstones. In a way people are like gemstones of mixed qualities. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors and disguises. I enjoy working with them.
No two people are alike. The amazing thing about people is: they have beauty, rarity, and complex behavioral traits, but not always durable. Every person is a unique species with its own chemical, physical and emotional properties. Under proper magnification most are emotionally complex gemstones. I have yet to find a flawless or near flawless person. Most are born with inclusions, live their lives one way or the other and die, but gemstones live on.
For some time I have been noticing a strange phenomenon. Most people have attention deficit traits. They see, but don’t see; they listen, but don’t listen, and they like gemstones. They won't admit it, but they are unique. They are good pretenders. At times I get more passionate about people than gemstones because gemstones don’t talk. Really.
I also like the silence and solitude of gemstones. They are spiritual and therapeutic. People always love to talk, all the time. Correct me if I am wrong? Gemstones have a strange way of connecting with people—by its color, shape, size, flashes and a good story. Gemstones have taught me to become a keen observer so that I am able to analyze complex situations and find solutions; sort of identifying gemstones and people without instruments. It’s not perfect science, but it works.
-Mae West
I love people and gemstones. I work with people from around the world who want to learn about gemstones and their values so that they can make a living buying or selling gemstones. In a way people are like gemstones of mixed qualities. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors and disguises. I enjoy working with them.
No two people are alike. The amazing thing about people is: they have beauty, rarity, and complex behavioral traits, but not always durable. Every person is a unique species with its own chemical, physical and emotional properties. Under proper magnification most are emotionally complex gemstones. I have yet to find a flawless or near flawless person. Most are born with inclusions, live their lives one way or the other and die, but gemstones live on.
For some time I have been noticing a strange phenomenon. Most people have attention deficit traits. They see, but don’t see; they listen, but don’t listen, and they like gemstones. They won't admit it, but they are unique. They are good pretenders. At times I get more passionate about people than gemstones because gemstones don’t talk. Really.
I also like the silence and solitude of gemstones. They are spiritual and therapeutic. People always love to talk, all the time. Correct me if I am wrong? Gemstones have a strange way of connecting with people—by its color, shape, size, flashes and a good story. Gemstones have taught me to become a keen observer so that I am able to analyze complex situations and find solutions; sort of identifying gemstones and people without instruments. It’s not perfect science, but it works.
Ruby and Sapphire
By Richard W Hughes
RWH Publishing
1997 ISBN 0-9645097-6-8
Richard Hughes writes:
Many in the gemological community take a dim view of non-scientific aspects of the subject. They question the need for details on mystical beliefs, history, even the gem business itself. In the author’s view, this is not only unfortunate, but unduly restrictive. Far too many gemological treatises are clinical heartless shells, with any trace of spirit sucked out in the name of science, proper diction or decorum. Considering we are fortunate to work with one of the most romantic products on the planet, this is all the more surprising.
Godehard Lenzen has rightly pointed out that gemology is not merely a subset of mineralogy, but simply knowledge of a certain type of merchandise. I subscribe to the Lenzen view. To my way of thinking, gemology is a rich tapestry of interwoven disciplines. It’s thread include not just mineralogy, physics, chemistry, crystallography and geology, but also history, trade, economics, decorative arts, religion, mysticism and magic. Yes, even magic.
Thus, what follows is not merely the science, but also the gemology of ruby and sapphire. I hope to convey its romance, its history, its beating heart, its spirit, its magic. If I have succeeded in capturing even a portion of that magic, then this book is a success.
More info @ RWH Publishing & Books, PO Box 2015, Fallbrook, CA 92088 USA
RWH Publishing
1997 ISBN 0-9645097-6-8
Richard Hughes writes:
Many in the gemological community take a dim view of non-scientific aspects of the subject. They question the need for details on mystical beliefs, history, even the gem business itself. In the author’s view, this is not only unfortunate, but unduly restrictive. Far too many gemological treatises are clinical heartless shells, with any trace of spirit sucked out in the name of science, proper diction or decorum. Considering we are fortunate to work with one of the most romantic products on the planet, this is all the more surprising.
Godehard Lenzen has rightly pointed out that gemology is not merely a subset of mineralogy, but simply knowledge of a certain type of merchandise. I subscribe to the Lenzen view. To my way of thinking, gemology is a rich tapestry of interwoven disciplines. It’s thread include not just mineralogy, physics, chemistry, crystallography and geology, but also history, trade, economics, decorative arts, religion, mysticism and magic. Yes, even magic.
Thus, what follows is not merely the science, but also the gemology of ruby and sapphire. I hope to convey its romance, its history, its beating heart, its spirit, its magic. If I have succeeded in capturing even a portion of that magic, then this book is a success.
More info @ RWH Publishing & Books, PO Box 2015, Fallbrook, CA 92088 USA
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Rainbow Calsilica
Rainbow calsilica is an eye-catching product that is suitable for beads, fetishes, cabochons, carvings and jewelry. Jewelry designers love to work with this material because of its beautiful color patterns, and it is perceived as work of art. Some gem dealers believe that the material is mined near Chihuahua, Mexico. The material is composed of calcite, but may be enhanced with artificial coloring substances and then stabilized with plastic. Rainbow silica is available in the marketplace for all to admire. If in doubt consult a reputed gem testing laboratory.
Doing Business In Brazil
World Bank / IFC writes:
Brazilian cities vary significantly in the ease of doing business, according to the new Doing Business in Brazil report. This report is the second state-level report (last year's Doing Business in Mexico was the first), and it highlights the increasing importance of state and city level reforms in a globalized world. Cities, as much as countries, are now competing for investments.
Points of interest
Compared with Mexico, Brazilian cities perform better when it comes to the cost of registering property. But despite identical regulations across Brazil, there is a wide variation in the time it takes to transfer property – less than a month in São Luís, almost three months in Campo Grande. Also difficult in Campo Grande is contract enforcement. It can take over four years, while São Paulo's 18 months is the easiest. Complying with business regulations is easiest in Brasilia, but in Belo Horizonte it takes a mere two days to create and register collateral, as compared to 45 days in Brasilia. The tax burden is heavy across Brazil, in terms of tax rates and administrative complexities. Businesses in Rio de Janeiro have one of the highest tax burdens in the world. Easing regulation and establishing a favorable business environment for entrepreneurs is key to creating jobs and equitable growth. Brazil has undertaken reforms at the national, state, and municipal level but this report suggests areas where further reforms are possible.
More info @ http://www.doingbusiness.org/main/brazil.aspx
Brazilian cities vary significantly in the ease of doing business, according to the new Doing Business in Brazil report. This report is the second state-level report (last year's Doing Business in Mexico was the first), and it highlights the increasing importance of state and city level reforms in a globalized world. Cities, as much as countries, are now competing for investments.
Points of interest
Compared with Mexico, Brazilian cities perform better when it comes to the cost of registering property. But despite identical regulations across Brazil, there is a wide variation in the time it takes to transfer property – less than a month in São Luís, almost three months in Campo Grande. Also difficult in Campo Grande is contract enforcement. It can take over four years, while São Paulo's 18 months is the easiest. Complying with business regulations is easiest in Brasilia, but in Belo Horizonte it takes a mere two days to create and register collateral, as compared to 45 days in Brasilia. The tax burden is heavy across Brazil, in terms of tax rates and administrative complexities. Businesses in Rio de Janeiro have one of the highest tax burdens in the world. Easing regulation and establishing a favorable business environment for entrepreneurs is key to creating jobs and equitable growth. Brazil has undertaken reforms at the national, state, and municipal level but this report suggests areas where further reforms are possible.
More info @ http://www.doingbusiness.org/main/brazil.aspx
The GodFather
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Jack Woltz (John Marley): Johnny Fontane never gets that movie. That part is perfect for him, it'll make him a big star, and I'm gonna run him out of the business - and let me tell you why: Johnny Fontane ruined one of Woltz International's most valuable proteges. For five years we had her under training - singing lessons, acting lessons, dancing lessons. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on her, I was gonna make her a big star. And let me be even more frank, just to show you that I'm not a hard-hearted man, and that it's not all dollars and cents: She was beautiful; she was young; she was innocent. She was the greatest piece of ass I've ever had, and I've had 'em all over the world. And then Johnny Fontane comes along with his olive oil voice and guinea charm, and she runs off. She threw it all away just to make me look ridiculous! And a man in my position can't afford to be made to look ridiculous! Now you listen to me, you smooth talking son-of-a-bitch. Let me lay it on the line for you and your boss, whoever he is. Johnny Fontane will never get that movie. I don't care how many dago guinea wop greaseball goombahs come out of the woodwork.
Jack Woltz (John Marley): Johnny Fontane never gets that movie. That part is perfect for him, it'll make him a big star, and I'm gonna run him out of the business - and let me tell you why: Johnny Fontane ruined one of Woltz International's most valuable proteges. For five years we had her under training - singing lessons, acting lessons, dancing lessons. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on her, I was gonna make her a big star. And let me be even more frank, just to show you that I'm not a hard-hearted man, and that it's not all dollars and cents: She was beautiful; she was young; she was innocent. She was the greatest piece of ass I've ever had, and I've had 'em all over the world. And then Johnny Fontane comes along with his olive oil voice and guinea charm, and she runs off. She threw it all away just to make me look ridiculous! And a man in my position can't afford to be made to look ridiculous! Now you listen to me, you smooth talking son-of-a-bitch. Let me lay it on the line for you and your boss, whoever he is. Johnny Fontane will never get that movie. I don't care how many dago guinea wop greaseball goombahs come out of the woodwork.
The Federal Trade Commission’s Guide for the Jewelry, Precious Metals and Pewter Industries
FTC writes:
23.26 Misuse of the words "flawless," "perfect," etc.
(a) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "flawless" as a quality description of any gemstone that discloses blemishes, inclusions, or clarity faults of any sort when examined under a corrected magnifier at 10-power, with adequate illumination, by a person skilled in gemstone grading.
(b) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "perfect" or any representation of similar meaning to describe any gemstone unless the gemstone meets the definition of "flawless" and is not of inferior color or make.
(c) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "flawless," "perfect," or any representation of similar meaning to describe any imitation gemstone.
Appendix--Exemptions Recognized in the Assay for Quality of Gold Alloy, Gold Filled, Gold Overlay, Rolled Gold Plate, Silver, and Platinum Industry Products.
(a) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a karat gold industry product include springs, posts, and separable backs of lapel buttons, posts and nuts for attaching interchangeable ornaments, metallic parts completely and permanently encased in a nonmetallic covering, field pieces and bezels for lockets,10 and wire pegs or rivets used for applying mountings and other ornaments, which mountings or ornaments shall be of the quality marked.
Note: Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a karat gold optical product include: the hinge assembly (barrel or other special types such as are customarily used in plastic frames); washers, bushings, and nuts of screw assemblies; dowels; springs for spring shoe straps; metal parts permanently encased in a non-metallic covering; and for oxfords,11 coil and joint springs.
(b) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a gold filled, gold overlay and rolled gold plate industry product, other than watchcases, include joints, catches, screws, pin stems, pins of scarf pins, hat pins, etc., field pieces and bezels for lockets, posts and separate backs of lapel buttons, bracelet and necklace snap tongues, springs, and metallic parts completely and permanently encased in a nonmetallic covering.
Note: Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a gold filled, gold overlay and rolled gold plate optical product include: screws; the hinge assembly (barrel or other special types such as are customarily used in plastic frames); washers, bushings, tubes and nuts of screw assemblies; dowels; pad inserts; springs for spring shoe straps, cores and/or inner windings of comfort cable temples; metal parts permanently encased in a non-metallic covering; and for oxfords, the handle and catch.
(c) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a silver industry product include screws, rivets, springs, spring pins for wrist watch straps; posts and separable backs of lapel buttons; wire pegs, posts, and nuts used for applying mountings or other ornaments, which mountings or ornaments shall be of the quality marked; pin stems (e.g., of badges, brooches, emblem pins, hat pins, and scarf pins, etc.); levers for belt buckles; blades and skeletons of pocket knives; field pieces and bezels for lockets; bracelet and necklace snap tongues; any other joints, catches, or screws; and metallic parts completely and permanently encased in a nonmetallic covering.
(d) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of an industry product of silver in combination with gold include joints, catches, screws, pin stems, pins of scarf pins, hat pins, etc., posts and separable backs of lapel buttons, springs, and metallic parts completely and permanently encased in a nonmetallic covering.
(e) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a platinum industry product include springs, winding bars, sleeves, crown cores, mechanical joint pins, screws, rivets, dust bands, detachable movement rims, hat-pin stems, and bracelet and necklace snap tongues. In addition, the following exemptions are recognized for products marked in accordance with section 23.8(b)(5) of these Guides (i.e., products that are less than 500 parts per thousand platinum): pin tongues, joints, catches, lapel button backs and the posts to which they are attached, scarf-pin stems, hat pin sockets, shirt-stud backs, vest-button backs, and ear-screw backs, provided such parts are made of the same quality platinum as is used in the balance of the article.
Footnotes
1. The Guides for the Watch Industry, 16 CFR part 245, address watchcases and permanently attached watchbands.
2. See 23.4(c) for examples of acceptable markings and descriptions.
3.The term substantial thickness means that all areas of the plating are of such thickness as to assure a durable coverage of the base metal to which it has been affixed. Since industry products include items having surfaces and parts of surfaces that are subject to different degrees of wear, the thickness of plating for all items or for different areas of the surface of individual items does not necessarily have to be uniform.
4. A product containing 1 micron (otherwise known as µ) of 12 karat gold is equivalent to one-half micron of 24 karat gold.
5. See footnote 3.
6. Under the National Stamping Act, articles or parts made of gold or of gold alloy that contain no solder have a permissible tolerance of three parts per thousand. If the part tested contains solder, the permissible tolerance is seven parts per thousand. For full text, see 15 U.S.C. 295, et seq.
7. See footnote 3.
8. See footnote 3.
9. Under the National Stamping Act, sterling silver articles or parts that contain no solder have a permissible tolerance of four parts per thousand. If the part tested contains solder, the permissible tolerance is ten parts per thousand. For full text, see 15 U.S.C. 294, et seq.
10. Field pieces of lockets are those inner portions used as frames between the inside edges of the locket and the spaces for holding pictures. Bezels are the separable inner metal rings to hold the pictures in place.
11. Oxfords are a form of eyeglasses where a flat spring joins the two eye rims and the tension it exerts on the nose serves to hold the unit in place. Oxfords are also referred to as pince nez.
More info @ http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/jewel-gd.htm
23.26 Misuse of the words "flawless," "perfect," etc.
(a) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "flawless" as a quality description of any gemstone that discloses blemishes, inclusions, or clarity faults of any sort when examined under a corrected magnifier at 10-power, with adequate illumination, by a person skilled in gemstone grading.
(b) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "perfect" or any representation of similar meaning to describe any gemstone unless the gemstone meets the definition of "flawless" and is not of inferior color or make.
(c) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "flawless," "perfect," or any representation of similar meaning to describe any imitation gemstone.
Appendix--Exemptions Recognized in the Assay for Quality of Gold Alloy, Gold Filled, Gold Overlay, Rolled Gold Plate, Silver, and Platinum Industry Products.
(a) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a karat gold industry product include springs, posts, and separable backs of lapel buttons, posts and nuts for attaching interchangeable ornaments, metallic parts completely and permanently encased in a nonmetallic covering, field pieces and bezels for lockets,10 and wire pegs or rivets used for applying mountings and other ornaments, which mountings or ornaments shall be of the quality marked.
Note: Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a karat gold optical product include: the hinge assembly (barrel or other special types such as are customarily used in plastic frames); washers, bushings, and nuts of screw assemblies; dowels; springs for spring shoe straps; metal parts permanently encased in a non-metallic covering; and for oxfords,11 coil and joint springs.
(b) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a gold filled, gold overlay and rolled gold plate industry product, other than watchcases, include joints, catches, screws, pin stems, pins of scarf pins, hat pins, etc., field pieces and bezels for lockets, posts and separate backs of lapel buttons, bracelet and necklace snap tongues, springs, and metallic parts completely and permanently encased in a nonmetallic covering.
Note: Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a gold filled, gold overlay and rolled gold plate optical product include: screws; the hinge assembly (barrel or other special types such as are customarily used in plastic frames); washers, bushings, tubes and nuts of screw assemblies; dowels; pad inserts; springs for spring shoe straps, cores and/or inner windings of comfort cable temples; metal parts permanently encased in a non-metallic covering; and for oxfords, the handle and catch.
(c) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a silver industry product include screws, rivets, springs, spring pins for wrist watch straps; posts and separable backs of lapel buttons; wire pegs, posts, and nuts used for applying mountings or other ornaments, which mountings or ornaments shall be of the quality marked; pin stems (e.g., of badges, brooches, emblem pins, hat pins, and scarf pins, etc.); levers for belt buckles; blades and skeletons of pocket knives; field pieces and bezels for lockets; bracelet and necklace snap tongues; any other joints, catches, or screws; and metallic parts completely and permanently encased in a nonmetallic covering.
(d) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of an industry product of silver in combination with gold include joints, catches, screws, pin stems, pins of scarf pins, hat pins, etc., posts and separable backs of lapel buttons, springs, and metallic parts completely and permanently encased in a nonmetallic covering.
(e) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a platinum industry product include springs, winding bars, sleeves, crown cores, mechanical joint pins, screws, rivets, dust bands, detachable movement rims, hat-pin stems, and bracelet and necklace snap tongues. In addition, the following exemptions are recognized for products marked in accordance with section 23.8(b)(5) of these Guides (i.e., products that are less than 500 parts per thousand platinum): pin tongues, joints, catches, lapel button backs and the posts to which they are attached, scarf-pin stems, hat pin sockets, shirt-stud backs, vest-button backs, and ear-screw backs, provided such parts are made of the same quality platinum as is used in the balance of the article.
Footnotes
1. The Guides for the Watch Industry, 16 CFR part 245, address watchcases and permanently attached watchbands.
2. See 23.4(c) for examples of acceptable markings and descriptions.
3.The term substantial thickness means that all areas of the plating are of such thickness as to assure a durable coverage of the base metal to which it has been affixed. Since industry products include items having surfaces and parts of surfaces that are subject to different degrees of wear, the thickness of plating for all items or for different areas of the surface of individual items does not necessarily have to be uniform.
4. A product containing 1 micron (otherwise known as µ) of 12 karat gold is equivalent to one-half micron of 24 karat gold.
5. See footnote 3.
6. Under the National Stamping Act, articles or parts made of gold or of gold alloy that contain no solder have a permissible tolerance of three parts per thousand. If the part tested contains solder, the permissible tolerance is seven parts per thousand. For full text, see 15 U.S.C. 295, et seq.
7. See footnote 3.
8. See footnote 3.
9. Under the National Stamping Act, sterling silver articles or parts that contain no solder have a permissible tolerance of four parts per thousand. If the part tested contains solder, the permissible tolerance is ten parts per thousand. For full text, see 15 U.S.C. 294, et seq.
10. Field pieces of lockets are those inner portions used as frames between the inside edges of the locket and the spaces for holding pictures. Bezels are the separable inner metal rings to hold the pictures in place.
11. Oxfords are a form of eyeglasses where a flat spring joins the two eye rims and the tension it exerts on the nose serves to hold the unit in place. Oxfords are also referred to as pince nez.
More info @ http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/jewel-gd.htm
The Complete Handbook For Gemstone Weight Estimation
By Charles I Carmona
Gemania Publishing Company
1998 ISBN 0-9666370-0-3
Richard Liddicoat writes:
A serious problem for all of those who are called upon to appraise or identify the gems set in various types of jewelry is first to ascertain not only the identity of the gems, but also the weight of the gems in rings, bracelets, necklaces—or other forms. Often, the nature of the mounting makes it difficult.
Charles Carmona has spent many years assembling and / or developing a remarkably comprehensive set of weight estimation formulae for mounted diamonds, colored stones and pearls—and used them to prepare detailed tables based on millimeter measurements. Those who appraise, buy, sell, insure or loan on used or estate jewelry depend on accuracy in weight estimation. Such individuals engaged in activities involving a need for accuracy in weight estimations for estate purposes, appraising, identification, pawnbroking of jewelry, or other needs should consider such detailed tables a major resource in their estimating process. Obviously most practitioners have some means of estimating the weight of common shapes, but the number of shapes included in Carmona’s tables is unusual.
Obviously, estimation tables are only substitutes for direct weighing, but when that is not an option, accurate tables become a vital tool. It is also obvious that no individual would have access to every size and shape of every gemstone included in comprehensive tables. Many sizes and shapes were measured in quartz or synthetics for the differences in specific gravity. Extrapolation was used to fill in between measured samples.
Frequent users are likely to make their own adjustments to various elements of the tables as they employ them, but their availability in such detail should prove to be exceptionally useful to many in the jewelry industry.
About the author
Charles I Carmona has been active in the mineral collecting hobby and the gem and jewelry trade for over 30 years, from prospecting and mining to gem cutting, wholesale and retail sales, and extensive experience in the appraisal of all types of gemstones and jewelry. As a consultant to attorneys, accountants, banks, government agencies and the gem and jewelry trade, his reputation as an expert has been well established. The need to accurately estimate the weights of mounted gemstones on a daily basis led to this compendium of formulas and tables.
Gemania Publishing Company
1998 ISBN 0-9666370-0-3
Richard Liddicoat writes:
A serious problem for all of those who are called upon to appraise or identify the gems set in various types of jewelry is first to ascertain not only the identity of the gems, but also the weight of the gems in rings, bracelets, necklaces—or other forms. Often, the nature of the mounting makes it difficult.
Charles Carmona has spent many years assembling and / or developing a remarkably comprehensive set of weight estimation formulae for mounted diamonds, colored stones and pearls—and used them to prepare detailed tables based on millimeter measurements. Those who appraise, buy, sell, insure or loan on used or estate jewelry depend on accuracy in weight estimation. Such individuals engaged in activities involving a need for accuracy in weight estimations for estate purposes, appraising, identification, pawnbroking of jewelry, or other needs should consider such detailed tables a major resource in their estimating process. Obviously most practitioners have some means of estimating the weight of common shapes, but the number of shapes included in Carmona’s tables is unusual.
Obviously, estimation tables are only substitutes for direct weighing, but when that is not an option, accurate tables become a vital tool. It is also obvious that no individual would have access to every size and shape of every gemstone included in comprehensive tables. Many sizes and shapes were measured in quartz or synthetics for the differences in specific gravity. Extrapolation was used to fill in between measured samples.
Frequent users are likely to make their own adjustments to various elements of the tables as they employ them, but their availability in such detail should prove to be exceptionally useful to many in the jewelry industry.
About the author
Charles I Carmona has been active in the mineral collecting hobby and the gem and jewelry trade for over 30 years, from prospecting and mining to gem cutting, wholesale and retail sales, and extensive experience in the appraisal of all types of gemstones and jewelry. As a consultant to attorneys, accountants, banks, government agencies and the gem and jewelry trade, his reputation as an expert has been well established. The need to accurately estimate the weights of mounted gemstones on a daily basis led to this compendium of formulas and tables.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Gem Artists Of North America
Gem Artists of North America is a forum for artists and professionals of the gem art industry. They offer information about gem carvers and their various techniques.
More info @ http://www.gemartists.org
More info @ http://www.gemartists.org
The Traveler
Pablo Neruda writes:
They are not so sad these stones.
Inside them lives the gold,
holding seeds of planets,
holding bells in their depths,
gauntlets of iron, marriage
of time with amethysts:
within they laugh with rubies!
they were nourished by lightning.
For what, traveler, beware
of the sadness of the road,
of the mysteries in the walls.
Much it cost me to learn
that not all is alive without,
and not all is dead within,
and that Age inscribes letters
with water and stone for no one,
so that none may know where,
so that none may understand.
They are not so sad these stones.
Inside them lives the gold,
holding seeds of planets,
holding bells in their depths,
gauntlets of iron, marriage
of time with amethysts:
within they laugh with rubies!
they were nourished by lightning.
For what, traveler, beware
of the sadness of the road,
of the mysteries in the walls.
Much it cost me to learn
that not all is alive without,
and not all is dead within,
and that Age inscribes letters
with water and stone for no one,
so that none may know where,
so that none may understand.
Manhattan Movie
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Isaac Davis (Woody Allen): This is so antiseptic. It's empty. Why do you think this is funny? You're going by audience reaction? This is an audience that's raised on television, their standards have been systematically lowered over the years. These guys sit in front of their sets and the gamma rays eat the white cells of their brains out!
Mary Wilke (Diane Keaton): I was tired of submerging my identity to a very brilliant, dominating man. He's a genius.
Isaac Davis (Woody Allen): Oh really, he was a genius, Helen's a genius and Dennis is a genius. You know a lot of geniuses, you know. You should meet some stupid people once in a while, you know, you could learn something.
Isaac Davis (Woody Allen): This is so antiseptic. It's empty. Why do you think this is funny? You're going by audience reaction? This is an audience that's raised on television, their standards have been systematically lowered over the years. These guys sit in front of their sets and the gamma rays eat the white cells of their brains out!
Mary Wilke (Diane Keaton): I was tired of submerging my identity to a very brilliant, dominating man. He's a genius.
Isaac Davis (Woody Allen): Oh really, he was a genius, Helen's a genius and Dennis is a genius. You know a lot of geniuses, you know. You should meet some stupid people once in a while, you know, you could learn something.
Doing Business In Mexico
World Bank / IFC writes:
Doing Business in Mexico 2007 is the second sub-national report in the series Doing Business in Mexico. Last year, quantitative indicators on business regulations and their enforcement were created for 12 cities and states. This year, Doing Business in Mexico 2007 covers all 31 states of the Mexican Republic and measures the progress of the 12 states analyzed last year. The report finds that some states compare well with the best of the world, while others need much reform to become globally competitive. Doing Business in Mexico 2007 gives federal, state, and local policymakers the ability to measure regulatory performance against other states and countries, learn from global and national best practices, and prioritize reforms.
Points of interest
Aguascalientes was the easiest state in which to do business last year. State and city officials have successfully used the benchmark as a promotional tool to compete for business at home and abroad. Simultaneously, they have continued to press ahead with reforms. As a result, Aguascalientes earned the top rank again this year. Querétaro, the lowest ranked overall performer last year, created a public-private task force dedicated to improving its benchmarks. The task force systematically studied bottlenecks, proposed reforms, and measured progress throughout the year. The reforms helped Querétaro climb nine ranks on the ease of doing business to number seven out of 31 states and Mexico City. In this year’s report, three of the top six performers are “new” states: Sonora, which ranks fourth, Campeche in fifth place, and Zacatecas in sixth. Sonora and Campeche are especially efficient when it comes to property registration, ranking first and second in that indicator. Zacatecas stands out both in the ease of registering collateral to access credit, as well as in the ease of enforcing contracts, where it is the top performer. Such state and city level reforms are becoming increasingly important in a globalized world, where specific locations as much as countries compete for investment – e.g. Monterrey versus Shanghai rather than Mexico versus China.
More info @ http://www.doingbusiness.org/main/Mexico.aspx
Doing Business in Mexico 2007 is the second sub-national report in the series Doing Business in Mexico. Last year, quantitative indicators on business regulations and their enforcement were created for 12 cities and states. This year, Doing Business in Mexico 2007 covers all 31 states of the Mexican Republic and measures the progress of the 12 states analyzed last year. The report finds that some states compare well with the best of the world, while others need much reform to become globally competitive. Doing Business in Mexico 2007 gives federal, state, and local policymakers the ability to measure regulatory performance against other states and countries, learn from global and national best practices, and prioritize reforms.
Points of interest
Aguascalientes was the easiest state in which to do business last year. State and city officials have successfully used the benchmark as a promotional tool to compete for business at home and abroad. Simultaneously, they have continued to press ahead with reforms. As a result, Aguascalientes earned the top rank again this year. Querétaro, the lowest ranked overall performer last year, created a public-private task force dedicated to improving its benchmarks. The task force systematically studied bottlenecks, proposed reforms, and measured progress throughout the year. The reforms helped Querétaro climb nine ranks on the ease of doing business to number seven out of 31 states and Mexico City. In this year’s report, three of the top six performers are “new” states: Sonora, which ranks fourth, Campeche in fifth place, and Zacatecas in sixth. Sonora and Campeche are especially efficient when it comes to property registration, ranking first and second in that indicator. Zacatecas stands out both in the ease of registering collateral to access credit, as well as in the ease of enforcing contracts, where it is the top performer. Such state and city level reforms are becoming increasingly important in a globalized world, where specific locations as much as countries compete for investment – e.g. Monterrey versus Shanghai rather than Mexico versus China.
More info @ http://www.doingbusiness.org/main/Mexico.aspx
The Federal Trade Commission’s Guide for the Jewelry, Precious Metals and Pewter Industries
FTC writes:
23.25 Misuse of the word "gem."
(a) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "gem" to describe, identify, or refer to a ruby, sapphire, emerald, topaz, or other industry product that does not possess the beauty, symmetry, rarity, and value necessary for qualification as a gem.
(b) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "gem" to describe any laboratory-created industry product unless the product meets the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section and unless such word is immediately accompanied, with equal conspicuousness, by the word "laboratory-grown," "laboratory-created," or "[manufacturer-name]-created," "synthetic," or by some other word or phrase of like meaning, so as to clearly disclose that it is not a natural gem.
Note to 23.25: In general, use of the word "gem" with respect to laboratory-created stones should be avoided since few laboratory-created stones possess the necessary qualifications to properly be termed "gems." Imitation diamonds and other imitation stones should not be described as "gems." Not all diamonds or natural stones, including those classified as precious stones, possess the necessary qualifications to be properly termed "gems."
More info @ http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/jewel-gd.htm
23.25 Misuse of the word "gem."
(a) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "gem" to describe, identify, or refer to a ruby, sapphire, emerald, topaz, or other industry product that does not possess the beauty, symmetry, rarity, and value necessary for qualification as a gem.
(b) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "gem" to describe any laboratory-created industry product unless the product meets the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section and unless such word is immediately accompanied, with equal conspicuousness, by the word "laboratory-grown," "laboratory-created," or "[manufacturer-name]-created," "synthetic," or by some other word or phrase of like meaning, so as to clearly disclose that it is not a natural gem.
Note to 23.25: In general, use of the word "gem" with respect to laboratory-created stones should be avoided since few laboratory-created stones possess the necessary qualifications to properly be termed "gems." Imitation diamonds and other imitation stones should not be described as "gems." Not all diamonds or natural stones, including those classified as precious stones, possess the necessary qualifications to be properly termed "gems."
More info @ http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/jewel-gd.htm
A Roman Book On Precious Stones
By Sydney H Ball
Gemological Institute of America
1950
Sydney H Ball writes:
Rightly or wrongly, I have for some years felt that the outstanding classical book on precious stones, the 37th book of Pliny’s Natural History, has never been edited by one well versed in the lore of precious stones.
After years of disuse, my Latin limps; consequently, I take the liberty, to save the reader’s busy time, of rendering into modern English what is generally considered to be at least one of the best English translations, that of Philemon Holland, published in London in 1601. (The Historie of the World, commonly called the Naturall Historie of C Plinius Secundus. Translated into English by Philemon Holland, Doctor of Physicks. Printed in London by Adam Islip, 1601).
Holland graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, and later received his M D from an unknown university. While practicing his profession, he translated a dozen Greek and Latin works. That he was not over paid is suggested by the fact that one such arduous task he received 4 pounds; for another 5 pounds. Referring to his translations, Fuller in his Worthies says, “These books alone of his turning into English will make a country gentleman a competent library.”
I have ventured, for easier reference, to disregard Holland’s rather inadequate chapter headings and have introduced the more numerous and more logical headings in the Latin edition of Jean Hardouin (Joannes Hardiunus, Paris, 1723).
No work is complete, and this one is far from it. For the shortcomings of my modest part in this book, I can only claim indulgence. As for Holland’s translation, my introductory chapters and notes were written in “those hours which might be spared from the practice of my profession and the necessarie cares of this life.” I am in great debt to Miss Kay Swindler who edited my manuscript.
Gemological Institute of America
1950
Sydney H Ball writes:
Rightly or wrongly, I have for some years felt that the outstanding classical book on precious stones, the 37th book of Pliny’s Natural History, has never been edited by one well versed in the lore of precious stones.
After years of disuse, my Latin limps; consequently, I take the liberty, to save the reader’s busy time, of rendering into modern English what is generally considered to be at least one of the best English translations, that of Philemon Holland, published in London in 1601. (The Historie of the World, commonly called the Naturall Historie of C Plinius Secundus. Translated into English by Philemon Holland, Doctor of Physicks. Printed in London by Adam Islip, 1601).
Holland graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, and later received his M D from an unknown university. While practicing his profession, he translated a dozen Greek and Latin works. That he was not over paid is suggested by the fact that one such arduous task he received 4 pounds; for another 5 pounds. Referring to his translations, Fuller in his Worthies says, “These books alone of his turning into English will make a country gentleman a competent library.”
I have ventured, for easier reference, to disregard Holland’s rather inadequate chapter headings and have introduced the more numerous and more logical headings in the Latin edition of Jean Hardouin (Joannes Hardiunus, Paris, 1723).
No work is complete, and this one is far from it. For the shortcomings of my modest part in this book, I can only claim indulgence. As for Holland’s translation, my introductory chapters and notes were written in “those hours which might be spared from the practice of my profession and the necessarie cares of this life.” I am in great debt to Miss Kay Swindler who edited my manuscript.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Where Do You Find Diamonds?
Diamonds are found in three types of deposits.
- alluvial
- glacial tills
- kimberlite / lamproite pipes
- alluvial
- glacial tills
- kimberlite / lamproite pipes
A Beautiful Mind Movie
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Alicia (Jennifer Connelly): How big is the universe?
Nash (Russell Crowe): Infinite.
Alicia (Jennifer Connelly): How do you know?
Nash (Russell Crowe): I know because all the data indicates it's infinite.
Alicia (Jennifer Connelly): But it hasn't been proven yet.
Nash (Russell Crowe): No.
Alicia (Jennifer Connelly): You haven't seen it.
Nash (Russell Crowe): No.
Alicia Jennifer Connelly): How do you know for sure?
Nash (Russell Crowe): I don't, I just believe it.
Alicia (Jennifer Connelly): It's the same with love I guess.
Alicia (Jennifer Connelly): How big is the universe?
Nash (Russell Crowe): Infinite.
Alicia (Jennifer Connelly): How do you know?
Nash (Russell Crowe): I know because all the data indicates it's infinite.
Alicia (Jennifer Connelly): But it hasn't been proven yet.
Nash (Russell Crowe): No.
Alicia (Jennifer Connelly): You haven't seen it.
Nash (Russell Crowe): No.
Alicia Jennifer Connelly): How do you know for sure?
Nash (Russell Crowe): I don't, I just believe it.
Alicia (Jennifer Connelly): It's the same with love I guess.
Doing Business In Africa
World Bank / IFC writes:
Last year and the year before, Africa lagged behind all other regions in the pace of reform. This year it ranks third, behind only Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the OECD high-income countries (figure 1.2). Two-thirds of African countries made at least one reform, and Tanzania and Ghana rank among the top 10 reformers.
Some examples of what African countries reformed include:
In Côte d’Ivoire registering property took 397 days in 2005. Reforms eliminated a requirement to obtain the urban minister’s consent to transfer property. Now it takes 32 days.
Burkina Faso cut the procedures for starting a business from 12 to 8 and the time from 45 days to 34.
Madagascar reduced the minimum capital for start-ups from 10 million francs to 2 million.
Tanzania introduced electronic data interchange and risk-based inspections at customs. The time to clear imports fell by 12 days.
Gambia, Nigeria, and Tanzania reduced delays in the courts. More improvements are under way, and these will be reflected in the Doing Business indicators next year.
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, and Zambia have all started to simplify business regulation. The easy reforms—what can be done by the stroke of a minister’s pen—are coming first. Small as these initial reforms may be, they can attract investors who seek the growth opportunities that will follow. India’s economic boom may have started with just such reforms in the 1980s.
Several African countries are more ambitious. Mauritius set a goal of reaching the top 10 on the ease of doing business by 2009. It has targeted numerous areas of reform: making labor regulation more flexible, reducing the burden of paying taxes and speeding business entry and property registration. One reform: starting in 2007 every business will receive a unique business registration number, and entrepreneurs will no longer have to register in person for the income tax, value added tax, customs and social security numbers. The aim is to have data move around inside the government, not to have entrepreneurs run around from one office to another.
More info @ http://www.doingbusiness.org/main/Africa_Reforms.aspx
Last year and the year before, Africa lagged behind all other regions in the pace of reform. This year it ranks third, behind only Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the OECD high-income countries (figure 1.2). Two-thirds of African countries made at least one reform, and Tanzania and Ghana rank among the top 10 reformers.
Some examples of what African countries reformed include:
In Côte d’Ivoire registering property took 397 days in 2005. Reforms eliminated a requirement to obtain the urban minister’s consent to transfer property. Now it takes 32 days.
Burkina Faso cut the procedures for starting a business from 12 to 8 and the time from 45 days to 34.
Madagascar reduced the minimum capital for start-ups from 10 million francs to 2 million.
Tanzania introduced electronic data interchange and risk-based inspections at customs. The time to clear imports fell by 12 days.
Gambia, Nigeria, and Tanzania reduced delays in the courts. More improvements are under way, and these will be reflected in the Doing Business indicators next year.
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, and Zambia have all started to simplify business regulation. The easy reforms—what can be done by the stroke of a minister’s pen—are coming first. Small as these initial reforms may be, they can attract investors who seek the growth opportunities that will follow. India’s economic boom may have started with just such reforms in the 1980s.
Several African countries are more ambitious. Mauritius set a goal of reaching the top 10 on the ease of doing business by 2009. It has targeted numerous areas of reform: making labor regulation more flexible, reducing the burden of paying taxes and speeding business entry and property registration. One reform: starting in 2007 every business will receive a unique business registration number, and entrepreneurs will no longer have to register in person for the income tax, value added tax, customs and social security numbers. The aim is to have data move around inside the government, not to have entrepreneurs run around from one office to another.
More info @ http://www.doingbusiness.org/main/Africa_Reforms.aspx
The Federal Trade Commission’s Guide for the Jewelry, Precious Metals and Pewter Industries
FTC writes:
23.24 Misuse of the words "real," "genuine," "natural," "precious," etc.
It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "real," "genuine," "natural," "precious," "semi-precious," or similar terms to describe any industry product that is manufactured or produced artificially.
More info @ http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/jewel-gd.htm
23.24 Misuse of the words "real," "genuine," "natural," "precious," etc.
It is unfair or deceptive to use the word "real," "genuine," "natural," "precious," "semi-precious," or similar terms to describe any industry product that is manufactured or produced artificially.
More info @ http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/jewel-gd.htm
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