Another interesting perspective from a business pro.
(via Business Standard) Sriniketh Chakravarthi writes:
What they don't teach you at Business School.
It was many summers ago that I walked out of the campus of a well-known business school wearing the label of confidence that results from poring over numerous case studies, taking umpteen quizzes on management tools and techniques, sitting through myriad presentations on the latest management ideas, and living off the ration of instant noodles and chai customary at most B-schools.
In retrospect, my stint at B-school taught me several things, most important of which was the ability to develop a systematic approach to analysis and problem-solving. The B-school milieu also helped me develop skills to manage time, stress and the tyranny of percentile competition.
While B-schools do a great job of imparting hard technical skills, the emphasis on areas such as people management and everyday execution doesn’t seem to be adequate. However, the one key area where B-schools need to get their act together is around nurturing and developing a mindset oriented towards risk, entrepreneurship and creativity.
One indelible B-school memory that underscores the templatised mindset it creates in most students concerns campus placements. The whole ritual borders on mass hysteria. With students unwilling to walk on anything but the beaten path, choices get determined by a systematic caste system of grades and placement-day rankings that show scant regard for individual choices.
Why does this happen? One reason is that the competitive and unidirectional environment in B-schools offers little room for serious thought on making individual choices along various vectors such as the level of responsibility, goals and aspirations, social and family needs and so on.
Nor is there any emphasis on developing value systems around personal success, social role and integrity. Further, the enormity of focus in B-schools on the conventional rules of the game is entirely devoid of specific incentives for risk-taking and creativity.
Contrast that with the reality of the business environment, where big success is far more correlated to the ability to take entrepreneurial risks, even within the context of large organisations.
For instance, the recent successes of both entrepreneurs and managers in emerging businesses such as retail, telecom, BPO and media can be attributed to their ability to take early risks. Successful organisations want entrepreneurial leaders who are able to lead from the front and create value amidst uncertainty. In the context of risk-taking, learning to manage failure is also very important.
Indeed, B-schools produce very good analysts, number-crunchers and consultants. However, their transformation into entrepreneurial managers is tantamount to Darwinian evolution on the corporate planet, contingent on the right environment and, of course, the hunger to survive!
Sriniketh Chakravarthi graduated from IIM, Calcutta, in 1996
More info @ http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=288100&leftnm=6&subLeft=0&chkFlg=
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
MMTC To Set Up Jewellery SEZ
(via PTI) Economic Times writes:
Country's (India) largest gold importer MMTC Ltd has decided to join the SEZ bandwagon by setting up a gems and jewellery park in joint venture with a private player in the tax-free enclave. The company, which is under the Commerce Ministry, has started the hunt for a partner and initiated the process of a feasibility study.
"The location for the park is being finalised and it could come up at one of the sites in Orissa, West Bengal, Karnataka, Haryana or Delhi," a high level source told media.
For conducting the feasibility study, the company is in advanced stage of hiring a consultant who will establish the economic and technical viability of the project. For its gems and jewellery SEZ the company would require at least 10 hectares of land as per the Commerce Ministry guidelines.
As India's premier trader for precious metal, MMTC handles more than 100 tonnes of gold and 500 tonnes of silver. Its precious metals business contributes significantly to the total turnover of over three billion dollars. It also imports platinum, rough diamonds and coloured stones. The company is also planning to float another joint venture for its retail business. MMTC retail activities include franchise outlets, its own showrooms, selling medallions, jewellery and silver under Sanchi brand name.
It plans to launch Sanchi silverware in the export market as well, company sources said.
More info @ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Cons_Products/Fashion__CosmeticsJewellery/MMTC_to_set_up_jewellery_SEZ/articleshow/2125768.cms
Country's (India) largest gold importer MMTC Ltd has decided to join the SEZ bandwagon by setting up a gems and jewellery park in joint venture with a private player in the tax-free enclave. The company, which is under the Commerce Ministry, has started the hunt for a partner and initiated the process of a feasibility study.
"The location for the park is being finalised and it could come up at one of the sites in Orissa, West Bengal, Karnataka, Haryana or Delhi," a high level source told media.
For conducting the feasibility study, the company is in advanced stage of hiring a consultant who will establish the economic and technical viability of the project. For its gems and jewellery SEZ the company would require at least 10 hectares of land as per the Commerce Ministry guidelines.
As India's premier trader for precious metal, MMTC handles more than 100 tonnes of gold and 500 tonnes of silver. Its precious metals business contributes significantly to the total turnover of over three billion dollars. It also imports platinum, rough diamonds and coloured stones. The company is also planning to float another joint venture for its retail business. MMTC retail activities include franchise outlets, its own showrooms, selling medallions, jewellery and silver under Sanchi brand name.
It plans to launch Sanchi silverware in the export market as well, company sources said.
More info @ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Cons_Products/Fashion__CosmeticsJewellery/MMTC_to_set_up_jewellery_SEZ/articleshow/2125768.cms
Imitation Jewellery Continues To Shine Bright
(via Economic Times) Tapash Talukdar writes:
Lalabhai looks happy earning more than Rs 300-400 per day by making imitation jewellery. He, who has been making gold jewellery a year back, has joined an imitation jewellery unit. Thanks to the surging demand of imitation jewellery in the country and few overseas customers.
Like him, a large section of workers working at gold and silver jewellery units, have shifted their focus towards imitation jewellery. The fancy items have not only facilitated better wages for the workers, but also invited more family members into the growing business. Most of the 300-odd units of imitation jewellery, based at Ranchodnagar in Rajkot have found new business opportunities to display their creativity in making various kinds of products like necklace, bangles, chains, bracelets and other regular items. The daily wages for a worker has gone up significantly and has been decided on the basis of the day’s output. On an average, a worker earns Rs 10,000-20,000 per month against their regular income of around Rs 5,000.
Nearly 5,000 workers, including family members, are involved in making fancy items for their regular customers in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and other northern parts of India. More than 40 per cent of the total workforce comprises of women and the number is growing. The workers have been coming from various parts of the country, especially from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
Narendra Mehta of Mahavir Jewellers said: “The product goes through five to six stages of manufacturing which is bound to give employment to as many units”.
More info @ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Cons_Products/Fashion__CosmeticsJewellery/Imitation_jewellery_continues_to_shine_bright/articleshow/2107511.cms
Lalabhai looks happy earning more than Rs 300-400 per day by making imitation jewellery. He, who has been making gold jewellery a year back, has joined an imitation jewellery unit. Thanks to the surging demand of imitation jewellery in the country and few overseas customers.
Like him, a large section of workers working at gold and silver jewellery units, have shifted their focus towards imitation jewellery. The fancy items have not only facilitated better wages for the workers, but also invited more family members into the growing business. Most of the 300-odd units of imitation jewellery, based at Ranchodnagar in Rajkot have found new business opportunities to display their creativity in making various kinds of products like necklace, bangles, chains, bracelets and other regular items. The daily wages for a worker has gone up significantly and has been decided on the basis of the day’s output. On an average, a worker earns Rs 10,000-20,000 per month against their regular income of around Rs 5,000.
Nearly 5,000 workers, including family members, are involved in making fancy items for their regular customers in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and other northern parts of India. More than 40 per cent of the total workforce comprises of women and the number is growing. The workers have been coming from various parts of the country, especially from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
Narendra Mehta of Mahavir Jewellers said: “The product goes through five to six stages of manufacturing which is bound to give employment to as many units”.
More info @ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Cons_Products/Fashion__CosmeticsJewellery/Imitation_jewellery_continues_to_shine_bright/articleshow/2107511.cms
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Life's Values
(Founder, Infosys Foundation) Sudha Murthy writes:
In life's journey, we all meet strange people and undergo many experiences that touch us and sometimes even change us. If you have a sensitive mind, you will see your life too in the vast storehouse of stories. For me, it is something closest to my heart. Initially, I was a mother to it but somewhere along the line, it has become the mother and I the child.
Useful link:
www.infosys.com
In life's journey, we all meet strange people and undergo many experiences that touch us and sometimes even change us. If you have a sensitive mind, you will see your life too in the vast storehouse of stories. For me, it is something closest to my heart. Initially, I was a mother to it but somewhere along the line, it has become the mother and I the child.
Useful link:
www.infosys.com
India’s Gem Of A Challenge To Belgium & Israel
(via Times News Network) K G Narendranath writes:
A committee comprising the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the commerce ministry is working on a tax regime that will address the complex valuation issues peculiar to the $17.5-billion gems and jewellery industry that thrive on exports.
However, the exercise, which follows a Budget 2007 announcement, is likely to fall short of a complete shift to turnover-based taxation, as was mooted by the commerce ministry and the industry earlier. According to sources, what is being considered is a “simpler tax assessment scheme” which will factor in the reality that it is difficult to lay down standard input-output norms for this industry.
In the last Budget, the import duty on cut and polished diamonds was knocked off, with a view to giving a fillip to the efforts to make India a global diamond trading hub like Belgium and Israel. Currently, even as India’s diamond cutting and polishing abilities are doubtless the best in the world and cost of such processing is one-fifth of diamond-rich South Africa’s, the country’s huge dependence on imports for rough diamond is preventing it from becoming a trading hub.
Also, the present tax on income is onerous because of grossly fallible assessment. The Budget decision to let duty-free import of cut and polished stones has proved to be a shot in the arm for the sector. A shift to turnover-based tax is the next logical step, which would go a long way in developing India as a global diamond trading hub.
Countries which are serious players in diamonds have tax regimes compatible with this industry’s inherent disinclination to stick to standard value addition norms for tax purposes. It is globally appreciated that it is difficult to gauge value addition in diamonds. Dubai and China keep very low taxes on diamonds. Many other countries, including Belgium, which is the largest diamond trading hub with exports of $23 billion a year, have turnover tax instead of income tax on diamond businesses.
There are countries which tax diamond traders’ income based on presumptive valuation to avoid the rigorous and erroneous valuation that could stifle the industry. It is clear that turnover-based taxation addresses valuation issues better than income tax. As India’s policymakers envision the country becoming as global diamond trading hub, they don’t need to worry about a revenue drain. A sudden increase in the industry’s turnover (the sector is growing at a CAGR of 20% even now) would enhance tax revenue.
Even though global diamond companies like Rio Tinto and De Beers operate in India and are keen to tap India’s cheap and highly skilled processing ability, they still don’t augment their investments in great measure, as the country is yet to be a trading hub. Traditionally, the domestic industry has confined itself to processing of rough diamonds imported from Australia and SA into cuts and polished diamonds, and exporting these items to a large number of countries including the US and the EU. Cheaper imports of cut diamonds have now enabled greater product differentiation and augmented trade with or without major value addition.
More info @ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Indias_gem_of_a_challenge_to_Belgium__Israel/articleshow/2129877.cms
A committee comprising the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the commerce ministry is working on a tax regime that will address the complex valuation issues peculiar to the $17.5-billion gems and jewellery industry that thrive on exports.
However, the exercise, which follows a Budget 2007 announcement, is likely to fall short of a complete shift to turnover-based taxation, as was mooted by the commerce ministry and the industry earlier. According to sources, what is being considered is a “simpler tax assessment scheme” which will factor in the reality that it is difficult to lay down standard input-output norms for this industry.
In the last Budget, the import duty on cut and polished diamonds was knocked off, with a view to giving a fillip to the efforts to make India a global diamond trading hub like Belgium and Israel. Currently, even as India’s diamond cutting and polishing abilities are doubtless the best in the world and cost of such processing is one-fifth of diamond-rich South Africa’s, the country’s huge dependence on imports for rough diamond is preventing it from becoming a trading hub.
Also, the present tax on income is onerous because of grossly fallible assessment. The Budget decision to let duty-free import of cut and polished stones has proved to be a shot in the arm for the sector. A shift to turnover-based tax is the next logical step, which would go a long way in developing India as a global diamond trading hub.
Countries which are serious players in diamonds have tax regimes compatible with this industry’s inherent disinclination to stick to standard value addition norms for tax purposes. It is globally appreciated that it is difficult to gauge value addition in diamonds. Dubai and China keep very low taxes on diamonds. Many other countries, including Belgium, which is the largest diamond trading hub with exports of $23 billion a year, have turnover tax instead of income tax on diamond businesses.
There are countries which tax diamond traders’ income based on presumptive valuation to avoid the rigorous and erroneous valuation that could stifle the industry. It is clear that turnover-based taxation addresses valuation issues better than income tax. As India’s policymakers envision the country becoming as global diamond trading hub, they don’t need to worry about a revenue drain. A sudden increase in the industry’s turnover (the sector is growing at a CAGR of 20% even now) would enhance tax revenue.
Even though global diamond companies like Rio Tinto and De Beers operate in India and are keen to tap India’s cheap and highly skilled processing ability, they still don’t augment their investments in great measure, as the country is yet to be a trading hub. Traditionally, the domestic industry has confined itself to processing of rough diamonds imported from Australia and SA into cuts and polished diamonds, and exporting these items to a large number of countries including the US and the EU. Cheaper imports of cut diamonds have now enabled greater product differentiation and augmented trade with or without major value addition.
More info @ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Indias_gem_of_a_challenge_to_Belgium__Israel/articleshow/2129877.cms
Identification Of Chocolate Pearls Treated By Ballerina Pearl Co
Cultured pearls with a chocolate color have entered the market from several sources. Analytical tests indicate that the organic components in black cultured pearls may have been partially bleached to create the brown color. The treated cultured pearls can be identified by visual observation, unusual coloration, fluorescence, UV-Vis-NIR reflectance and Raman spectroscopy + trace element composition.
Useful link:
http://ballerinapearl.com
Useful link:
http://ballerinapearl.com
Blue Quartz From Minas Gerais, Brazil
The amethyst mine of Montezuma in the northern part of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais produces amethyst which can be modified to green by heat treatment. In the trade the treated gems are sold as prasiolite. If the stones are exposed to gamma ray treatment, the stones may turn blue.
The Elphick Factor
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about Clifford Elphick + the acquisition of a small diamond mine in Lesotho + behind the scene developments at the Oppenheimer family + Elphick's rising star status on the South African national business scene @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27155
Useful link:
www.gemdiamonds.com
Useful link:
www.gemdiamonds.com
Diamonds By Linares, Gemesis May Cut De Beers, Rio Tinto Sales
Danielle Rossingh writes about laboratory-created diamonds and its impact + the natural diamond industry concerns @ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ax6nfaTs6FKg&refer=home
Monday, June 18, 2007
Schindler's List
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson): Look, All you have to do is tell me what it's worth to you. What's a person worth to you?
Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes): No, no, no, No. What's one worth to you!
Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson): Look, All you have to do is tell me what it's worth to you. What's a person worth to you?
Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes): No, no, no, No. What's one worth to you!
Vanity Fair Wants You To Love Diamonds And Africa
A correspondent from the UK notes that this month's Bono-produced pro-Africa issue comes bundled with a separate 74-page magazine devoted to diamonds and other "jewellery." It appears to be a UK exclusive. More info @ http://gawker.com/news/diamonds-are-a-magazine.s-best-friend/vanity-fair-wants-you-to-love-diamonds-and-africa-268830.php
The Synthetic Controversy
I really like the analogies. The fact of the matter is synthetic gemstones or created gemstones are going to be with us forever.
Thomas Chatham shares his views:
No other recent discovery has been given so many obstacles to overcome as gems made by man. Yet I can think of really few other commodities and contributions to our field that have given so many people so much pleasure than the millions upon millions of stones that are made by man that are used in jewelry.
The controversy really revolves around those in the business of selling natural stones. They are a bit nervous about what the synthetics may mean to their future. Will the bottom fall out? Will the value of their inventory be reduced to pennies? Should they get into this market or let it pass them by? Can natural and quality synthetics be sold side by side effectively?
There was a suggestion to declare an outright ban on the product. It is my opinion that this would only make the product much more desirable to the undesirables. The industry would go underground and the gems would find their way into natural parcels around the world more frequently with no attempt being made to market them as they are being marketed today with full disclosure as to origin.
It’s not the gemstone that cheats people, it’s the people who cheat people.
The next suggestion was to require producers to add a tell-tale element into the crystal growth that would fluoresce under ultraviolet and signal the observer as to the nature of the material. This is noble concept and one which initially satisfied the fairness of disclosure but violates the 50 + years that Chatham spent in accurately reproducing nature. To include a substance deliberately alien to the natural chemistry of that species is to the purist and the Chatham family a sacrilege. To the part time gemologist-jeweler-appraiser it would be a godsend.
Let's compare the cultivation of flowers with cultivation of crystals. The idea is that when man plants seeds and intervenes in the natural process of growing by supplying special food, adequate water, light, and ideal growing conditions in order to achieve the very best possible results and then reaps a harvest of superior flowers, ‘do you then consider these flowers to be man-made? Or are they synthetic? This is the very problem that has faced all of us with man-made gems for the last 50 years.’ What do you think?
My feelings are that the two are the same in essence, but we have other factors to consider. Should flower shows be only for those flowers plucked from the hillsides and meadows where man has not intervened? Do wild natural flowers command a higher price than those grown by the horticulturists? Is man to be denied the artistic endeavor of trying to improve upon nature by making this world a little better place than he found it? Is that not why man was put upon this earth after all? Certainly the Chatham family has come a long way in fulfilling this dream and in an ethical way.
Thomas Chatham shares his views:
No other recent discovery has been given so many obstacles to overcome as gems made by man. Yet I can think of really few other commodities and contributions to our field that have given so many people so much pleasure than the millions upon millions of stones that are made by man that are used in jewelry.
The controversy really revolves around those in the business of selling natural stones. They are a bit nervous about what the synthetics may mean to their future. Will the bottom fall out? Will the value of their inventory be reduced to pennies? Should they get into this market or let it pass them by? Can natural and quality synthetics be sold side by side effectively?
There was a suggestion to declare an outright ban on the product. It is my opinion that this would only make the product much more desirable to the undesirables. The industry would go underground and the gems would find their way into natural parcels around the world more frequently with no attempt being made to market them as they are being marketed today with full disclosure as to origin.
It’s not the gemstone that cheats people, it’s the people who cheat people.
The next suggestion was to require producers to add a tell-tale element into the crystal growth that would fluoresce under ultraviolet and signal the observer as to the nature of the material. This is noble concept and one which initially satisfied the fairness of disclosure but violates the 50 + years that Chatham spent in accurately reproducing nature. To include a substance deliberately alien to the natural chemistry of that species is to the purist and the Chatham family a sacrilege. To the part time gemologist-jeweler-appraiser it would be a godsend.
Let's compare the cultivation of flowers with cultivation of crystals. The idea is that when man plants seeds and intervenes in the natural process of growing by supplying special food, adequate water, light, and ideal growing conditions in order to achieve the very best possible results and then reaps a harvest of superior flowers, ‘do you then consider these flowers to be man-made? Or are they synthetic? This is the very problem that has faced all of us with man-made gems for the last 50 years.’ What do you think?
My feelings are that the two are the same in essence, but we have other factors to consider. Should flower shows be only for those flowers plucked from the hillsides and meadows where man has not intervened? Do wild natural flowers command a higher price than those grown by the horticulturists? Is man to be denied the artistic endeavor of trying to improve upon nature by making this world a little better place than he found it? Is that not why man was put upon this earth after all? Certainly the Chatham family has come a long way in fulfilling this dream and in an ethical way.
The Science, Not Art, Of Management
(via Business Standard) Suman Srivastava writes:
What don’t they teach you at B-school? I have a two-word answer to this question: street smartness.
Business school taught me how to read balance sheets, but didn’t tell me how to motivate people to give their best. It taught me how to structure the organisation for maximum productivity, but not how to deal with a person who thinks her boss is a creep. My management degree taught me how to create an excellent marketing strategy, but not how to sell it to a client who is insecure about his job.
Business schools tend to be very left-brained. Very analytical, quantitative and structured. Which is a good thing because the Indian education system is not very good at teaching us to be analytical, quantitative or structured. The school system basically teaches us to learn by rote. The best business schools force you to unlearn that.
In the process, they tend to put the quantitative approach to a problem on a pedestal, ignoring the qualitative and “feel” aspects of managing people. If management is both a science and an art, then B-schools teach the science but ignore the art.
Life, unfortunately, is all about art. Success comes to those who learn to deal with people best. Those who learn to understand the fears and motivations that people have, understand their joys and sorrows. The role of a leader is to inspire, provide direction and keep people motivated. Other professional skills are taken for granted.
One can argue, perhaps with justification, that nobody can teach the art. That may be true, but where business schools tend to err is in leaving their management students with a feeling that the art doesn’t really matter.
I had to wait until my hair turned grey before I understood that the art does matter. But perhaps, I am just a slow learner.
Suman Srivastava graduated from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, in 1987
I think it was an inspiring article. I liked it.
What don’t they teach you at B-school? I have a two-word answer to this question: street smartness.
Business school taught me how to read balance sheets, but didn’t tell me how to motivate people to give their best. It taught me how to structure the organisation for maximum productivity, but not how to deal with a person who thinks her boss is a creep. My management degree taught me how to create an excellent marketing strategy, but not how to sell it to a client who is insecure about his job.
Business schools tend to be very left-brained. Very analytical, quantitative and structured. Which is a good thing because the Indian education system is not very good at teaching us to be analytical, quantitative or structured. The school system basically teaches us to learn by rote. The best business schools force you to unlearn that.
In the process, they tend to put the quantitative approach to a problem on a pedestal, ignoring the qualitative and “feel” aspects of managing people. If management is both a science and an art, then B-schools teach the science but ignore the art.
Life, unfortunately, is all about art. Success comes to those who learn to deal with people best. Those who learn to understand the fears and motivations that people have, understand their joys and sorrows. The role of a leader is to inspire, provide direction and keep people motivated. Other professional skills are taken for granted.
One can argue, perhaps with justification, that nobody can teach the art. That may be true, but where business schools tend to err is in leaving their management students with a feeling that the art doesn’t really matter.
I had to wait until my hair turned grey before I understood that the art does matter. But perhaps, I am just a slow learner.
Suman Srivastava graduated from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, in 1987
I think it was an inspiring article. I liked it.
No Bonnie and Clyde
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about US$28 million worth of stolen rough, cut and polished diamonds from ABN AMRO bank by an imposter named Carlos Hector Flomenbaum + the identity theft in diamond business @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27199
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Ocean's Eleven
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Basher (Don Cheadle): Hang on a minute, hang on... we could use a pinch.
Danny (George Clooney): What's a "pinch"?
Basher (Don Cheadle): A pinch is a device which creates, like, a cardiac arrest for any broadband electrical circuitry. Better yet, a pinch is a bomb - now, but without the bomb. See, when a nuclear weapon detonates, it unleashes an electromagnetic pulse which shuts down any power source within its blast radius. Now that tends not to matter in most cases, because the nuclear weapon usually destroys anything you might need power for anyway. But see, a pinch creates a similar electromagnetic pulse, but without the fuss of mass destruction and death. So instead of Hiroshima, you'd be getting the seventeenth century.
Basher (Don Cheadle): Hang on a minute, hang on... we could use a pinch.
Danny (George Clooney): What's a "pinch"?
Basher (Don Cheadle): A pinch is a device which creates, like, a cardiac arrest for any broadband electrical circuitry. Better yet, a pinch is a bomb - now, but without the bomb. See, when a nuclear weapon detonates, it unleashes an electromagnetic pulse which shuts down any power source within its blast radius. Now that tends not to matter in most cases, because the nuclear weapon usually destroys anything you might need power for anyway. But see, a pinch creates a similar electromagnetic pulse, but without the fuss of mass destruction and death. So instead of Hiroshima, you'd be getting the seventeenth century.
IDEX Online Research: A Very Savvy Investor Validates Jewelry Industry Future
Ken Gassman writes about Warren Buffett and his highly successful Berkshire Hathaway investment company + the purchase of retail jewelers Borsheim’s Jewelry, Helzberg Diamond Shops and Ben Bridge Jeweler, and now, Aurafin and Bel-Oro, both major gold jewelry suppliers + Buffett's investment philosophy @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullNews.asp?id=27675
New York’s Rapaport Seeks Approval For Trading In Diamond Futures
Saijel Kishan writes about the Rapaport Group, a New York-based provider of diamond prices, who is seeking approval from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to start the world’s first diamond futures contracts @ http://www.livemint.com/2007/06/12011419/NYs-Rapaport-seeks-approval-f.html
Alas, Poor Art Market: A Multimillion-Dollar Head Case
Alan Riding writes about British artist Damien Hirst's platinum human skull covered in 8,601 diamonds + its value: £50 million, or close to $100 million @
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/arts/design/13skul.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/arts/design/13skul.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin
The Capping Mechanism In Name Only
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the rising sense of frustration regarding DTC sight application processes + the ceiling on an applicant's sight allocation + the misunderstandings of the rules of the game @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Ocean's Thirteen
Memorable quote (s) from the movie:
Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon): He owns all of the air south of Beijing.
Abigail Sponder (Ellen Barkin): The air?
Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon): Let me put it to you this way: try building something taller than three feet in the Tiangjin province, and see if his name comes up.
Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon): He owns all of the air south of Beijing.
Abigail Sponder (Ellen Barkin): The air?
Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon): Let me put it to you this way: try building something taller than three feet in the Tiangjin province, and see if his name comes up.
Marketing In The 21st Century
The author highlights the competitive nature of new version of gem and jewelry businesses + ways to improve customer satisfaction + challenges in maintaining high standards + reaching specialized and niche markets.
Pam Welborn (The Color Source, Texas, USA) writes:
In the 21st century, successful companies will have to bring their products to market efficiently. In the jewelry industry, this trend will favor those companies whose capabilities include gem rough sourcing, as well as in-house cutting, design, and manufacturing operations, and even distribution channels. Such companies can control quality and cost at every stage of production and will provide savings in terms of lower per-unit costs. Also, by controlling the design function and by associating with trusted partners in foreign markets, such companies can tailor their jewelry products to reflect the distinctive cultural designs of those markets for greater acceptance and sales. The Internet can also be used to post an online catalog of jewelry items, sell the products, and facilitate a rapid delivery service to the targeted market.
The increased efficiency of all these efforts will shorten the delivery time from the manufacturing center to the end consumer. A higher level of contact with the consumer using the Internet and call centers, located in favorable labor countries, will decrease response time and increase customer satisfaction.
Such companies are Internet savvy, computer driven, and focused on high quality standards of manufacturing. They are able to produce jewelry items for a specialized, niche market as well as produce a limited edition or an exclusive design for a national market. Global opportunities are limited for most companies. Therefore, a major upheaval in the next 10 years is likely as the jewelry industry adapts to this new paradigm.
Pam Welborn (The Color Source, Texas, USA) writes:
In the 21st century, successful companies will have to bring their products to market efficiently. In the jewelry industry, this trend will favor those companies whose capabilities include gem rough sourcing, as well as in-house cutting, design, and manufacturing operations, and even distribution channels. Such companies can control quality and cost at every stage of production and will provide savings in terms of lower per-unit costs. Also, by controlling the design function and by associating with trusted partners in foreign markets, such companies can tailor their jewelry products to reflect the distinctive cultural designs of those markets for greater acceptance and sales. The Internet can also be used to post an online catalog of jewelry items, sell the products, and facilitate a rapid delivery service to the targeted market.
The increased efficiency of all these efforts will shorten the delivery time from the manufacturing center to the end consumer. A higher level of contact with the consumer using the Internet and call centers, located in favorable labor countries, will decrease response time and increase customer satisfaction.
Such companies are Internet savvy, computer driven, and focused on high quality standards of manufacturing. They are able to produce jewelry items for a specialized, niche market as well as produce a limited edition or an exclusive design for a national market. Global opportunities are limited for most companies. Therefore, a major upheaval in the next 10 years is likely as the jewelry industry adapts to this new paradigm.
The Emerald Business In South America
Here is an interesting overview on the state of emerald mines and the new business model for the industry.
Andrew Lucas (GIA), Eric Welch (GIA), Jean Claude Michelou (ICA, Colombia), Marcelo Ribeiro (Belmont LTDA, Brazil), Luiz Martins (Stone World, Brazil), Pedro Padua (GIA) and Sergio Martins (Stone World, Brazil) writes:
South America is considered by many in the gemstone industry to be the most important continent for emerald production. Colombia is the number one exporter of emeralds to the United States, and Brazil is also a highly important commercial source of emeralds. This information was obtained during two trips to the mining areas organized by the International Colored Gemstone Association and subsequent correspondence with ICA members.
The techniques used to explore and develop new mines, such as the Piteiras mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil, are typically more common for diamond mines than for colored stone mines. Emerald cutter and wholesaler Stone World of Sao Paulo, Brazil, formed a joint venture with Seahawk Minerals to vertically integrate the operation from mine to cutter to wholesale office. The Belmont mine, also in Minas Gerais, began in a more traditional process for colored stone mines. Emeralds were found on this property, which still operates as a cattle ranch. The Belmont mine began as a highly successful open pit operation, which continues today. The most advanced resources in geological modeling and mine planning have led to the opening of an underground mine to complement the open-pit operation. Belmont has an extensive sorting operation for their rough to meet the needs of their customers.
The La Pita area in Colombia has become the major commercial emerald-producing area in the country, with most production coming from the Consorcio mine. A number of other productive underground mines also exist in this area by the Rio Minero, including the La Pita Tunnel, Cunas, El Totumo, and Polveros mines. The Puerto Arturo mine in Muzo is still in production and under control of the Carranza group, which also has a minor partnership in the Consorcio mine and an influential stake in the Cunas mine. Many of the mine stakeholders in Colombia, whether they have interests in the La Pita, Muzo, Coscuez, or Chivor areas, are also involved in cutting and wholesale sales of polished goods.
Andrew Lucas (GIA), Eric Welch (GIA), Jean Claude Michelou (ICA, Colombia), Marcelo Ribeiro (Belmont LTDA, Brazil), Luiz Martins (Stone World, Brazil), Pedro Padua (GIA) and Sergio Martins (Stone World, Brazil) writes:
South America is considered by many in the gemstone industry to be the most important continent for emerald production. Colombia is the number one exporter of emeralds to the United States, and Brazil is also a highly important commercial source of emeralds. This information was obtained during two trips to the mining areas organized by the International Colored Gemstone Association and subsequent correspondence with ICA members.
The techniques used to explore and develop new mines, such as the Piteiras mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil, are typically more common for diamond mines than for colored stone mines. Emerald cutter and wholesaler Stone World of Sao Paulo, Brazil, formed a joint venture with Seahawk Minerals to vertically integrate the operation from mine to cutter to wholesale office. The Belmont mine, also in Minas Gerais, began in a more traditional process for colored stone mines. Emeralds were found on this property, which still operates as a cattle ranch. The Belmont mine began as a highly successful open pit operation, which continues today. The most advanced resources in geological modeling and mine planning have led to the opening of an underground mine to complement the open-pit operation. Belmont has an extensive sorting operation for their rough to meet the needs of their customers.
The La Pita area in Colombia has become the major commercial emerald-producing area in the country, with most production coming from the Consorcio mine. A number of other productive underground mines also exist in this area by the Rio Minero, including the La Pita Tunnel, Cunas, El Totumo, and Polveros mines. The Puerto Arturo mine in Muzo is still in production and under control of the Carranza group, which also has a minor partnership in the Consorcio mine and an influential stake in the Cunas mine. Many of the mine stakeholders in Colombia, whether they have interests in the La Pita, Muzo, Coscuez, or Chivor areas, are also involved in cutting and wholesale sales of polished goods.
The Missed Boom...
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the contraction of the rough diamond supply sources + pros and cons of present acquisitions and mergers in the mining world + explanations on non-diamond boom, especially in copper, cobalt, gold, zinc and nickel @
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27576
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27576
Gemstones Of The Future
Joel Arem writes:
Jewelry store is where the public learns about stones. And the typical jeweler’s business in colored stones is only 10% +/- of his overall trade. Because of this most jewelers are not well informed about colored stones and cannot effectively promote them. A cyclical chain of events begins here at the jewelry store and ends there as well. What is not offered to the public, the public has no chance to discover, and without awareness there is no demand. Therefore obviously without demand, there will be no sales or increased sales. The break in this vicious circle will come only through education. As we all know, education in the form of advertising is expensive but this is what is needed to change the direction of the gemstone market. The best example of this is the classic success story of the diamond industry on a grand scale and the familiar story of tanzanite on an impressive smaller scale. We, the gemologist, jeweler and gem dealer, have the responsibility to educate the public about what gems are available. This can be accompanied by increasing the varieties displayed and more importantly knowing all there is to know about each and every one of them. Of the 259 mineral + species only 30-40 are durable enough for us in jewelry and of the remainder about 15 are seen with regularity and are considered commercial. The rest are either too soft or fragile and should be classified as what he terms the ‘collector’ stones or ‘exotics’.
It is necessary to consider some of the reasons why diamonds are so popular. The first consideration is supply. There is sufficient quantity available to be marketed on a large scale. The market was created and maintained brilliantly. What the public buys is what the public sees. If gems are not shown to the public through the jewelry stores and if they are not promoted at this level, they will never become popular. There is also a fine balance between supply and demand. Some gemstones have disappeared from the marketplace due to exhausted sources. Gems are like oil wells, when they are depleted that’s the end. You go to some place else.
The real excitement will come when the gemologists can convince the jewelers to learn, to promote and to teach the public. This will achieve a ground swell of interests that will result in exposure, high prices, more enthusiasm and mining + new localities. It will all start to happen. It’s our job and our challenge.
Jewelry store is where the public learns about stones. And the typical jeweler’s business in colored stones is only 10% +/- of his overall trade. Because of this most jewelers are not well informed about colored stones and cannot effectively promote them. A cyclical chain of events begins here at the jewelry store and ends there as well. What is not offered to the public, the public has no chance to discover, and without awareness there is no demand. Therefore obviously without demand, there will be no sales or increased sales. The break in this vicious circle will come only through education. As we all know, education in the form of advertising is expensive but this is what is needed to change the direction of the gemstone market. The best example of this is the classic success story of the diamond industry on a grand scale and the familiar story of tanzanite on an impressive smaller scale. We, the gemologist, jeweler and gem dealer, have the responsibility to educate the public about what gems are available. This can be accompanied by increasing the varieties displayed and more importantly knowing all there is to know about each and every one of them. Of the 259 mineral + species only 30-40 are durable enough for us in jewelry and of the remainder about 15 are seen with regularity and are considered commercial. The rest are either too soft or fragile and should be classified as what he terms the ‘collector’ stones or ‘exotics’.
It is necessary to consider some of the reasons why diamonds are so popular. The first consideration is supply. There is sufficient quantity available to be marketed on a large scale. The market was created and maintained brilliantly. What the public buys is what the public sees. If gems are not shown to the public through the jewelry stores and if they are not promoted at this level, they will never become popular. There is also a fine balance between supply and demand. Some gemstones have disappeared from the marketplace due to exhausted sources. Gems are like oil wells, when they are depleted that’s the end. You go to some place else.
The real excitement will come when the gemologists can convince the jewelers to learn, to promote and to teach the public. This will achieve a ground swell of interests that will result in exposure, high prices, more enthusiasm and mining + new localities. It will all start to happen. It’s our job and our challenge.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Deal Cut On Elephants And Ivory
Richard Black writes about the deal made by South African nations on the immediate future of the ivory trade @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6751853.stm
Blue Nile Blues
Rob Bates writes about Blue Nile, the thriving dot-com company that has been around for only eight years with striking sales of US$300 +/- million @ http://jckonline.com/article/CA6447692.html
Blood On The Stone
The documentary "Blood on a Stone" traces the diamonds to legitimate mining companies in the Kono region of Sierra Leone and show that living conditions are primitive, with no schools for the worker's children, no electricity for their homes, and no hospitals. Like company-employed miners, illegitimate diamond miners, who may find a diamond every two or three years, have never heard of the Kimberly Process and have no idea of the eventual value of the diamonds for which they live and die --- and they do die. The Kimberly Process is a start, but the lives of Sierra Leone's poor still receive no benefit from even the legitimate diamond industry.
More info @ http://www.cnnasiapacific.com/programs/en/program/54/
More info @ http://www.cnnasiapacific.com/programs/en/program/54/
When The Music Stops
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the musical chair-like scenario, the game currently in progress in the diamond industry @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27534
Synthetic Stones
There are many in the industry with different views on how to describe a synthetic gemstone. I totally agree with Tom Chatham. He has been misunderstood + he has every right to air his views on his product. The world is changing and people are buying Chatham created stones.
Thomas Chatham writes:
Profit is the best test of created gems and over the years of my association with the Chatham emeralds and rubies, I have most often heard the following question: “How can I sell something not real? Or the statement: “I only sell natural gemstones in my store.”
When I hear those declarations of allegiance to natural stones, my reaction is swift, after muttering a silent prayer for the soul of the retailer who has just uttered those fateful words. “It’s not you the retailers lack of understanding,” I tell them, “It’s the marketing philosophy that has been projected to you that is directly opposed to every rule I know about retail store management.”
It can be difficult to comprehend that we actually grow emerald and ruby crystals that are the same as those nature grows. I realize not everybody is an FGA or GIA graduate. After all, to suggest to anyone that you can do exactly what nature does is a little hard to swallow. But that’s exactly what my father did learn how to do over fifty + years ago. However, it was not the equivalent of re-inventing the wheel when his results were emeralds. He only discovered the right door and the right combination to unlock that door through which emeralds would flow. Carroll Chatham discovered not a process which produces emeralds and rubies, but a set of conditions which duplicates the environment in which nature will grow an emerald or ruby crystal for him.
Chatham does not manufacture the emerald or rubies—nature does, under conditions controlled by Chatham. There is nothing artificial about the emeralds or rubies sold by Chatham.
Now back to the retailer who has just told me he sells natural stones only. AS he flicks an imaginary piece of lint from his lapel, I can’t help but see the four carat stone in his pinky ring.
‘Coke bottle,’ I think myself.
‘Aha…beautiful Peridot,’ I purposely misidentify.
‘That’s a natural emerald,’ he immediately retorts. (I look for the aura to form around him.) What has offended my ear is not his lack of chemistry background (why should he have any?) but his lack of business sense. The jewelry industry today is one of the last trades that is struggling through the process of evaluating its purpose and direction.
And it’s not good business for a jewelry store owner or buyer to say that he won’t sell something that should be right in the middle of his inventory. I don’t care what an individual like or dislikes personally. It’s not important whether he’s white or black, French or Chinese. Or if he will only wear 18K gold or insist on chrysoberyl cat’s eye for his personal jewelry. What he should care about is why we’re all in this business. We’re in it to make a profit—not convert to our own personal likes and dislikes. You and I serve the public. Some things they like, some they don’t. That’s the system and the public will decide. Up until now, the public decided it wanted everything you showed them. As a matter of fact, there were so many people out there eager to buy that you could show them only what you liked and still have a good business. But not any more.
Things have changed a little. And they’re still changing. Gold has gone crazy in price, and you can’t profit from it. Diamond prices are momentarily unstable, and the price of decent-looking emeralds not within everyone’s reach and good rubies has skyrocketed out of sight. Discount houses are moving in right and left. Department stores are upgrading their lines.
“How can they do this?” you ask yourself, “Why would anybody buy fine jewelry in a discount house? I have fine jewelry.”
The answer is that discount houses and department stores are into marketing. They’re in the business to make a profit and they have to sell merchandise. They know there is no room in their marketing philosophy for personal preference in products. They feel the public is out. If they see a winner they go all out. Sure, they have their likes and dislikes, but not to the extent of eliminating an entire section of their inventory. It’s that attitude that makes me want to climb the showcase at a trade show. They buyer that announces their store will sell only natural stones is telling me:
“We limit ourselves.”
“We actually turn away business.”
Now, just so you don’t think Chatham is just chewing on sour grapes, I’ll share a little inside information with you.
Please keep this confidential.
Our yield of cut stones, with maximum success in the lab (no goof-ups by Mother Nature—a common occurrence) would only supply three one carat stones to each jewelry store in the US. But we don’t even come close to doing this. We still have set backs in the laboratory and we are constantly short of material.
Expand? Sorry, but we have no more family members available to help in the lab. Anyway, why grow more emeralds when I hear people at trade shows making proclamations of abstaining from purchasing all but the stones found in the ground?
“If Chatham would make a big splash at the public with national advertising in all the major consumer books, a direct campaign four or five times a year, or perhaps sponsor a TV special like the Osmonds, we’d love to handle your stones,” says the retailer.
Well, I couldn’t pay for it. Nor could I justify it in view of our limited supply. It would create a market that I could not supply. Don’t get confused with the idea that selling the finest natural gemstones should mean that’s the only thing you should sell. It’s not so much what you sell that is responsible for building the reputation you seek, but how you sell and represent the products you offer.
The way we live and the consumer goods we consume reflect the highest standard of living in the world. To achieve this luxury we have all had to re-evaluate what is acceptable to give us the overall ‘Best of Life’ conditions. Our clothing is derived all from natural fibers grown in artificial environments or just plain made from scratches with nylon or rayon.
The jewelry industry today is one of the last trades that is struggling through the process of evaluating its purpose and direction. In the beginning, only royalty had the wherewithal to possess jewelry with precious stones. Over the years, spectacular economic growth has led to sales of fine jewelry the average person can afford. However, that progression is now in danger. Due to a multitude of reasons, the cost of the basic materials in jewelry has risen at an unprecedented rate, which, if it continues, will once again put fine jewelry as we know it today, in the reach of only the wealthy. Man-made gemstones may help answer that dilemma, since they do not cost as much as natural gemstones. That lower price means that the beautiful gemstones do not have to move beyond the reach of the middle class.
What will happen to natural stones? Will their value fall? How can the jeweler sell something he may not be able to separate from a stone found in the ground? As with the reaction to other advances in chemistry, those who think they will be adversely affected by these advancements have a natural inclination to mistrust or outright disbelieve the assurances of the ones who made the discoveries.
After all, these discoveries may make them obsolete. But just as there will always be the customer for a Rolls Royce, there will always be that customer for the $50000 per carat emerald or ruby. As for the separation between the stone grown in the ground and the one grown in the laboratory, reputable dealers and gemologists will solve the problem.
I hope man-made gemstones will soon arrive at the same position of prestige in the eyes of both the trade and the general public as cultured pearls enjoy today. There was once a preoccupation with the separation of natural pearls and cultured pearls. By the time the experts determined a method on separation, no one cared. Somebody finally said, “Hey, what’s the big deal?”
Sure some people were hurt in the transition. But, today there are more pearls than ever being sold. Although exclusivity has been traded for volume, natural pearls still command high prices. True synthetic gemstones are an opportunity for everyone to enjoy and possess the original beauty responsible for gemstones becoming so sought after in the first place.
Thomas Chatham writes:
Profit is the best test of created gems and over the years of my association with the Chatham emeralds and rubies, I have most often heard the following question: “How can I sell something not real? Or the statement: “I only sell natural gemstones in my store.”
When I hear those declarations of allegiance to natural stones, my reaction is swift, after muttering a silent prayer for the soul of the retailer who has just uttered those fateful words. “It’s not you the retailers lack of understanding,” I tell them, “It’s the marketing philosophy that has been projected to you that is directly opposed to every rule I know about retail store management.”
It can be difficult to comprehend that we actually grow emerald and ruby crystals that are the same as those nature grows. I realize not everybody is an FGA or GIA graduate. After all, to suggest to anyone that you can do exactly what nature does is a little hard to swallow. But that’s exactly what my father did learn how to do over fifty + years ago. However, it was not the equivalent of re-inventing the wheel when his results were emeralds. He only discovered the right door and the right combination to unlock that door through which emeralds would flow. Carroll Chatham discovered not a process which produces emeralds and rubies, but a set of conditions which duplicates the environment in which nature will grow an emerald or ruby crystal for him.
Chatham does not manufacture the emerald or rubies—nature does, under conditions controlled by Chatham. There is nothing artificial about the emeralds or rubies sold by Chatham.
Now back to the retailer who has just told me he sells natural stones only. AS he flicks an imaginary piece of lint from his lapel, I can’t help but see the four carat stone in his pinky ring.
‘Coke bottle,’ I think myself.
‘Aha…beautiful Peridot,’ I purposely misidentify.
‘That’s a natural emerald,’ he immediately retorts. (I look for the aura to form around him.) What has offended my ear is not his lack of chemistry background (why should he have any?) but his lack of business sense. The jewelry industry today is one of the last trades that is struggling through the process of evaluating its purpose and direction.
And it’s not good business for a jewelry store owner or buyer to say that he won’t sell something that should be right in the middle of his inventory. I don’t care what an individual like or dislikes personally. It’s not important whether he’s white or black, French or Chinese. Or if he will only wear 18K gold or insist on chrysoberyl cat’s eye for his personal jewelry. What he should care about is why we’re all in this business. We’re in it to make a profit—not convert to our own personal likes and dislikes. You and I serve the public. Some things they like, some they don’t. That’s the system and the public will decide. Up until now, the public decided it wanted everything you showed them. As a matter of fact, there were so many people out there eager to buy that you could show them only what you liked and still have a good business. But not any more.
Things have changed a little. And they’re still changing. Gold has gone crazy in price, and you can’t profit from it. Diamond prices are momentarily unstable, and the price of decent-looking emeralds not within everyone’s reach and good rubies has skyrocketed out of sight. Discount houses are moving in right and left. Department stores are upgrading their lines.
“How can they do this?” you ask yourself, “Why would anybody buy fine jewelry in a discount house? I have fine jewelry.”
The answer is that discount houses and department stores are into marketing. They’re in the business to make a profit and they have to sell merchandise. They know there is no room in their marketing philosophy for personal preference in products. They feel the public is out. If they see a winner they go all out. Sure, they have their likes and dislikes, but not to the extent of eliminating an entire section of their inventory. It’s that attitude that makes me want to climb the showcase at a trade show. They buyer that announces their store will sell only natural stones is telling me:
“We limit ourselves.”
“We actually turn away business.”
Now, just so you don’t think Chatham is just chewing on sour grapes, I’ll share a little inside information with you.
Please keep this confidential.
Our yield of cut stones, with maximum success in the lab (no goof-ups by Mother Nature—a common occurrence) would only supply three one carat stones to each jewelry store in the US. But we don’t even come close to doing this. We still have set backs in the laboratory and we are constantly short of material.
Expand? Sorry, but we have no more family members available to help in the lab. Anyway, why grow more emeralds when I hear people at trade shows making proclamations of abstaining from purchasing all but the stones found in the ground?
“If Chatham would make a big splash at the public with national advertising in all the major consumer books, a direct campaign four or five times a year, or perhaps sponsor a TV special like the Osmonds, we’d love to handle your stones,” says the retailer.
Well, I couldn’t pay for it. Nor could I justify it in view of our limited supply. It would create a market that I could not supply. Don’t get confused with the idea that selling the finest natural gemstones should mean that’s the only thing you should sell. It’s not so much what you sell that is responsible for building the reputation you seek, but how you sell and represent the products you offer.
The way we live and the consumer goods we consume reflect the highest standard of living in the world. To achieve this luxury we have all had to re-evaluate what is acceptable to give us the overall ‘Best of Life’ conditions. Our clothing is derived all from natural fibers grown in artificial environments or just plain made from scratches with nylon or rayon.
The jewelry industry today is one of the last trades that is struggling through the process of evaluating its purpose and direction. In the beginning, only royalty had the wherewithal to possess jewelry with precious stones. Over the years, spectacular economic growth has led to sales of fine jewelry the average person can afford. However, that progression is now in danger. Due to a multitude of reasons, the cost of the basic materials in jewelry has risen at an unprecedented rate, which, if it continues, will once again put fine jewelry as we know it today, in the reach of only the wealthy. Man-made gemstones may help answer that dilemma, since they do not cost as much as natural gemstones. That lower price means that the beautiful gemstones do not have to move beyond the reach of the middle class.
What will happen to natural stones? Will their value fall? How can the jeweler sell something he may not be able to separate from a stone found in the ground? As with the reaction to other advances in chemistry, those who think they will be adversely affected by these advancements have a natural inclination to mistrust or outright disbelieve the assurances of the ones who made the discoveries.
After all, these discoveries may make them obsolete. But just as there will always be the customer for a Rolls Royce, there will always be that customer for the $50000 per carat emerald or ruby. As for the separation between the stone grown in the ground and the one grown in the laboratory, reputable dealers and gemologists will solve the problem.
I hope man-made gemstones will soon arrive at the same position of prestige in the eyes of both the trade and the general public as cultured pearls enjoy today. There was once a preoccupation with the separation of natural pearls and cultured pearls. By the time the experts determined a method on separation, no one cared. Somebody finally said, “Hey, what’s the big deal?”
Sure some people were hurt in the transition. But, today there are more pearls than ever being sold. Although exclusivity has been traded for volume, natural pearls still command high prices. True synthetic gemstones are an opportunity for everyone to enjoy and possess the original beauty responsible for gemstones becoming so sought after in the first place.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Mikimoto's South Sea Pearl Grading System
The pearl house Mikimoto has created a proprietary grading system for its South Sea cultured pearls collection similar to its Akoya grading system established in 1974.
Useful links:
www.mikimoto.com
www.mikimotoamerica.com
Useful links:
www.mikimoto.com
www.mikimotoamerica.com
DTC Sights For Rough Producers
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about DTC sight application + Mining Competitive Policy + Supplier of Choice assessment process + the DTC policy implications @
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27497
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27497
The Gilson Opal Triplet And How To Make It
Julius Lippa and Pierre Gilson writes:
The opal triplet is a three piece gemstone made by cementing together a thin piece of precious opal sandwiched between a backing piece and a layer of optical quartz or other hard clear material.
Gilson opal: Gilson 'T'Quality opal is specifically made for triplets. It was created to satisfy the wishes and desires of countless opal lovers for the ideal material.
No matrix: Gilson opal is 100% usable since it is solid opal with no matrix.
Toughness: Gilson opal is tougher, harder and can withstand more heat than most opal. However, as with any fine gem material it deserves to be handled with care.
Material list
Opal: Triplet grade precious opal.
Cap material: Optical quartz, (natural or synthetic), sapphire or hard optical glass.
Base material: Jade, opal potch, agate, jasper, basenite, obsidian, glass or plastic.
Epoxy: Two part epoxy which dries water clear.
Lampblack: Lampblack for backing if needed or desired.
Lapidary equipment: Equipment necessary to make flat surfaces and to finish a cabochon.
Steps to follow
1. Color: Wet opal with clean water to show color pattern.
2. Orient: Orient opal for best color pattern for sawing.
3. Sawing: Use thin saw blade to avoid wasting opal in saw cut. Use a saw vise or a steady rest rather than trying to do this freehand (see # 7 opal thickness)
4. Grinding: Assuming that your saw blade leaves smooth areas on the sawed materials start with # 220 abrasive, then go to # 600 abrasive. It usually is not necessary to go beyond # 600. The perfectionist who continues to finer finishes such as # 1200 or finer (a semi-polish) will then have the brightest triplets.
5. Method: The individual method of grinding flat surfaces depends upon available equipment, personal preferences or techniques such as:
a) Abrasives of various sizes used on a sheet of flat glass. (use entire surface area so low spots do not develop)
b) Wet or dry abrasive paper used on flat surface.
c) Faceting laps. (highly recommended and used by Gilson Labs)
d) Flat-faced diamond discs. (highly recommended and used by Gilson Labs)
6. Cleanliness: Wash hands and material being worked on after each step to avoid contamination.
7. Opal thickness: How thin to grind the opal depends upon personal preference in color. Usually the thinner the opal the darker the color. As a starting point begin at 0.20mm (.008 inch) slices and if you feel it is necessary work the opal thinner until color suits you. (See # 16)
8. Base thickness: Base thickness 1/16 inch (1.6mm) or as desired to fit mounting. Put a 30 to 45 degree angle on base to clear mounting.
9. Cap thickness: Cap thickness can vary from 1/16th inch to ¼ inch (1.6 to 6mm). This is an area where the size of the triplet and personal tastes dictate the answer. The thicker the cap the more the magnification effect, but also the heavier the triplet becomes.
10. Components: The base and cap materials receive similar treatment as the opal to get to a finished surface. The exception would be when caps in their finished state are cemented to the opal and are not formed from an original piece of rough material.
11. Cleanliness: Before cementing any triplet components together we come to a very important subject; Cleanliness which is the secret of a good bond. Clean all surfaces which are glued together with acetone. Let dry, then clean with alcohol.
12. Cleaners: Cleaners cementing leave residue, therefore freshly ground surfaces after step 11 above can be rinsed with clean water and allowed to dry on clean paper or rags without ever again touching the ground surfaces with your fingers or anything else prior to joining together.
13. Heat: Dry opal, cap and base materials at temperatures under 180 degrees Fahrenheit (82 degrees centigrade) in oven, or on top of oven near pilot light or under an electric light bulb. Bring up to drying temperatures gradually ( see # 20)
14. Three parts: When all three parts of the triplet (flat surfaces) have been prepared they then are joined together, two pieces at a time, with a two part epoxy which dries water clear. (see # 19 for use of lampblack)
15. Handling: For ease in handling after one surface of the opal has been finished glue finished surface to backing or cap to grind opal thin enough to get best color (see # 19 for use of lampblack)
16. Checking for color: Wet the opal cemented to cap and place on a shiny black surface such as a piece of glazed tile to judge when color is clear and bright. If color does not suit your tastes, grind thinner until it meets with your approval, alternating between grinding and checking until you are satisfied. Repeat same method of checking and grinding for opal mounted on backing.
17. Assembly: Mix epoxy gently to avoid air bubbles and apply epoxy in thin layer to both surfaces which you join together. These two components should be warm when put together. Put the two pieces together with firm finger pressure and a sliding motion to squeeze out air bubbles and surplus epoxy. Use little clamps, clothes pins, weights, etc. to hold parts together until epoxy sets properly (24 hours).
18. Surfaces: All surfaces which are joined together must be flat, clean, dry and scratch free. Any uneven area between surfaces may capture air and be visible as air bubbles or opaque spots.
19. Lampblack: The use of lampblack in the epoxy gives a bright black shiny surface to the backing material and also permits the use of base materials which are not black originally. The amount of lampblack to use in epoxy is about .5mm in diameter for a 10 x 12 mm stone. It is a trial and error method easily learned after a few trials on test materials.
Note: Using too much lampblack degrades the epoxy resulting in a weak bond and using too little lampblack results in epoxy not being dark enough. Most black materials become sufficiently reflective with use of clear epoxy and addition of lampblack is not needed.
20. Water: Use plenty of water when working with the opal to keep it cool. Do not lean the hard way that overheated opal may crack or craze.
21. Clarity: Everything possible should be done for utmost clarity and a part of this process is to use an epoxy which dries water clear. Any coloring in the epoxy between the cap and the opal will dull the color of the opal.
22. Cap: The cap used over the opal must be flawless and water clear since this domed crystal cover both magnifies and enhances the colors and patterns while at the same time protecting the opal.
23. Color change: Experimentation with various base materials revealed that the red and pink colors in an occasional piece of opal from any source would be greatly improved when backed with a bright red material. In opal which exhibits this phenomena the red and pink colors are already visible. These make up into very pleasant stones when backed with black, however, some people think the red backing produces a great improvement.
24. Base: Almost any strong material can be used which expands and contracts at approximately the same rate as opal. (avoid brittle materials)
25. Durability: Opal like glass is six on the Moh’s scale of hardness. Cementing a quartz cover on top of the opal increases the hardness to seven plus or to nine with a clear sapphire cover.
26. Free forms: Free form triplets with their unique charm are especially adaptable to modern jewelry, lending themselves to great variety of design.
27. Good food: You well may ask how <> gets into an instruction sheet on triplets. It was inserted to remind you that like good food the triplets you make can only be as good as the ingredients used and the skill and craftsmanship of the worker.
28. Black opal: The opal triplet probably was created by an unknown genius to save and use thin bands of precious opal. He little realized that his brain child often leads to confusion between genuine black opal and very good triplets even amongst those in the jewelry trade. This sort of confusion can occur when a thin cap is used and the juncture of cap to opal can not be seen when hidden in a mounting.
29. Magnifying lens: A magnifying lens is a handy item to use when assembling triplets so you can look for air bubbles and if any are objectionable to you then slide the parts apart and wash off with alcohol, dry and try again.
30. Other opal: Precious opal suitable as triplet material from any of the world’s sources may also be processed with these instructions.
31. Lapidary: It is assumed that the reader has mastered the techniques of lapidary. Finishing the triplet is simply the process of making a cabochon.
These are some mistakes people have made and things to avoid:
- Opal slices used so thick that black backing has no effect.
- Despite emphasis on using clear cap examples of window glass with all kinds of inclusions, bubbles, etc., as well as quartz with flaws and yellow discoloration have been used with poor results.
- Opal used in wedge shape so one end of triplet is dull and the other end bright.
- Epoxy mixed on a dirty surface resulting in triplet with a weak bond or visible dirt within.
- Using very old epoxy with the catalyst spoiled so the epoxy will not harden properly.
The opal triplet is a three piece gemstone made by cementing together a thin piece of precious opal sandwiched between a backing piece and a layer of optical quartz or other hard clear material.
Gilson opal: Gilson 'T'
No matrix: Gilson opal is 100% usable since it is solid opal with no matrix.
Toughness: Gilson opal is tougher, harder and can withstand more heat than most opal. However, as with any fine gem material it deserves to be handled with care.
Material list
Opal: Triplet grade precious opal.
Cap material: Optical quartz, (natural or synthetic), sapphire or hard optical glass.
Base material: Jade, opal potch, agate, jasper, basenite, obsidian, glass or plastic.
Epoxy: Two part epoxy which dries water clear.
Lampblack: Lampblack for backing if needed or desired.
Lapidary equipment: Equipment necessary to make flat surfaces and to finish a cabochon.
Steps to follow
1. Color: Wet opal with clean water to show color pattern.
2. Orient: Orient opal for best color pattern for sawing.
3. Sawing: Use thin saw blade to avoid wasting opal in saw cut. Use a saw vise or a steady rest rather than trying to do this freehand (see # 7 opal thickness)
4. Grinding: Assuming that your saw blade leaves smooth areas on the sawed materials start with # 220 abrasive, then go to # 600 abrasive. It usually is not necessary to go beyond # 600. The perfectionist who continues to finer finishes such as # 1200 or finer (a semi-polish) will then have the brightest triplets.
5. Method: The individual method of grinding flat surfaces depends upon available equipment, personal preferences or techniques such as:
a) Abrasives of various sizes used on a sheet of flat glass. (use entire surface area so low spots do not develop)
b) Wet or dry abrasive paper used on flat surface.
c) Faceting laps. (highly recommended and used by Gilson Labs)
d) Flat-faced diamond discs. (highly recommended and used by Gilson Labs)
6. Cleanliness: Wash hands and material being worked on after each step to avoid contamination.
7. Opal thickness: How thin to grind the opal depends upon personal preference in color. Usually the thinner the opal the darker the color. As a starting point begin at 0.20mm (.008 inch) slices and if you feel it is necessary work the opal thinner until color suits you. (See # 16)
8. Base thickness: Base thickness 1/16 inch (1.6mm) or as desired to fit mounting. Put a 30 to 45 degree angle on base to clear mounting.
9. Cap thickness: Cap thickness can vary from 1/16th inch to ¼ inch (1.6 to 6mm). This is an area where the size of the triplet and personal tastes dictate the answer. The thicker the cap the more the magnification effect, but also the heavier the triplet becomes.
10. Components: The base and cap materials receive similar treatment as the opal to get to a finished surface. The exception would be when caps in their finished state are cemented to the opal and are not formed from an original piece of rough material.
11. Cleanliness: Before cementing any triplet components together we come to a very important subject; Cleanliness which is the secret of a good bond. Clean all surfaces which are glued together with acetone. Let dry, then clean with alcohol.
12. Cleaners: Cleaners cementing leave residue, therefore freshly ground surfaces after step 11 above can be rinsed with clean water and allowed to dry on clean paper or rags without ever again touching the ground surfaces with your fingers or anything else prior to joining together.
13. Heat: Dry opal, cap and base materials at temperatures under 180 degrees Fahrenheit (82 degrees centigrade) in oven, or on top of oven near pilot light or under an electric light bulb. Bring up to drying temperatures gradually ( see # 20)
14. Three parts: When all three parts of the triplet (flat surfaces) have been prepared they then are joined together, two pieces at a time, with a two part epoxy which dries water clear. (see # 19 for use of lampblack)
15. Handling: For ease in handling after one surface of the opal has been finished glue finished surface to backing or cap to grind opal thin enough to get best color (see # 19 for use of lampblack)
16. Checking for color: Wet the opal cemented to cap and place on a shiny black surface such as a piece of glazed tile to judge when color is clear and bright. If color does not suit your tastes, grind thinner until it meets with your approval, alternating between grinding and checking until you are satisfied. Repeat same method of checking and grinding for opal mounted on backing.
17. Assembly: Mix epoxy gently to avoid air bubbles and apply epoxy in thin layer to both surfaces which you join together. These two components should be warm when put together. Put the two pieces together with firm finger pressure and a sliding motion to squeeze out air bubbles and surplus epoxy. Use little clamps, clothes pins, weights, etc. to hold parts together until epoxy sets properly (24 hours).
18. Surfaces: All surfaces which are joined together must be flat, clean, dry and scratch free. Any uneven area between surfaces may capture air and be visible as air bubbles or opaque spots.
19. Lampblack: The use of lampblack in the epoxy gives a bright black shiny surface to the backing material and also permits the use of base materials which are not black originally. The amount of lampblack to use in epoxy is about .5mm in diameter for a 10 x 12 mm stone. It is a trial and error method easily learned after a few trials on test materials.
Note: Using too much lampblack degrades the epoxy resulting in a weak bond and using too little lampblack results in epoxy not being dark enough. Most black materials become sufficiently reflective with use of clear epoxy and addition of lampblack is not needed.
20. Water: Use plenty of water when working with the opal to keep it cool. Do not lean the hard way that overheated opal may crack or craze.
21. Clarity: Everything possible should be done for utmost clarity and a part of this process is to use an epoxy which dries water clear. Any coloring in the epoxy between the cap and the opal will dull the color of the opal.
22. Cap: The cap used over the opal must be flawless and water clear since this domed crystal cover both magnifies and enhances the colors and patterns while at the same time protecting the opal.
23. Color change: Experimentation with various base materials revealed that the red and pink colors in an occasional piece of opal from any source would be greatly improved when backed with a bright red material. In opal which exhibits this phenomena the red and pink colors are already visible. These make up into very pleasant stones when backed with black, however, some people think the red backing produces a great improvement.
24. Base: Almost any strong material can be used which expands and contracts at approximately the same rate as opal. (avoid brittle materials)
25. Durability: Opal like glass is six on the Moh’s scale of hardness. Cementing a quartz cover on top of the opal increases the hardness to seven plus or to nine with a clear sapphire cover.
26. Free forms: Free form triplets with their unique charm are especially adaptable to modern jewelry, lending themselves to great variety of design.
27. Good food: You well may ask how <> gets into an instruction sheet on triplets. It was inserted to remind you that like good food the triplets you make can only be as good as the ingredients used and the skill and craftsmanship of the worker.
28. Black opal: The opal triplet probably was created by an unknown genius to save and use thin bands of precious opal. He little realized that his brain child often leads to confusion between genuine black opal and very good triplets even amongst those in the jewelry trade. This sort of confusion can occur when a thin cap is used and the juncture of cap to opal can not be seen when hidden in a mounting.
29. Magnifying lens: A magnifying lens is a handy item to use when assembling triplets so you can look for air bubbles and if any are objectionable to you then slide the parts apart and wash off with alcohol, dry and try again.
30. Other opal: Precious opal suitable as triplet material from any of the world’s sources may also be processed with these instructions.
31. Lapidary: It is assumed that the reader has mastered the techniques of lapidary. Finishing the triplet is simply the process of making a cabochon.
These are some mistakes people have made and things to avoid:
- Opal slices used so thick that black backing has no effect.
- Despite emphasis on using clear cap examples of window glass with all kinds of inclusions, bubbles, etc., as well as quartz with flaws and yellow discoloration have been used with poor results.
- Opal used in wedge shape so one end of triplet is dull and the other end bright.
- Epoxy mixed on a dirty surface resulting in triplet with a weak bond or visible dirt within.
- Using very old epoxy with the catalyst spoiled so the epoxy will not harden properly.
Jewelry Appraisals
Kathryn Barcham writes:
Jewelry appraisers are often asked to explain the service they offer and why this is necessary. An appraisal service is usually established for the purpose of:
1. Supplying estimates of replacement costs that will suffice for insurance purposes.
2. Estate appraising for tax purposes.
3. Advice on private sales between two or more persons.
4. Personal interest.
A jewelry appraisal may be offered by the jeweler when the item is purchased and is insured for the retail value. Appraisals may also be done by a gemologist or other person familiar with current prices. Appraisal of merchandise purchased elsewhere should not be attempted unless the appraiser has the training and equipment necessary to identify and classify according to quality all the materials and jewelry brought to this attention. Naturally any jeweler can appraise merchandise sold by his firm, since he knows its quality and retail price but appraising jewelry sold by another firm or brought in another country can cause problems since there is a rather wide variation in markup used by different types of firms for smaller merchandise. Their valuations must relay on fair market value which can best be described as the estimated cost of replacing each item through the firms own suppliers as of that date.
Estate appraisals or similar appraisals are usually considered on the basis of immediate or so called distress values i.e value of an article is determined by what it could be sold for immediately. Most appraisers determine this price by considering what they would be willing to pay for the item at that time or what they estimate it would bring at auction.
Accepting jewelry for appraisal
1. Ask the customer to state the reason for appraisal as it may influence the valuation, e.g. estate duty, personal insurance, personal interest etc.
2. Considerable caution should be exercised when accepting jewelry for appraisal particularly when it is to be retained for a considerable length of time. Most people are unfamiliar with the quality of their jewelry and are frequently under the impression that it is more valuable than it actually is. In such instances, if the jewelry is returned with an appraisal that lists the damages or imperfections that the customer was not aware of, the appraiser may be accused of substitution. The piece should also be examined closely under a lens, or preferable with a microscope, and the customer’s attention called to any serious imperfections or blemishes in the stones and any serious damage or wear to mounting. Many people assume that all antique pieces are genuine and are not aware that man-made rubies have been on the market since 1904, synthetic sapphires since 1910, synthetic spinel (primarily imitating aquamarine, sapphire and zircon) since 1920’s and synthetic emeralds have been commercially available since 1950’s. Although synthetic gem quality diamonds of cuttable size, have been manufactured, they are not something to worry about at this time since they cost more to produce synthetically than to mine the best quality natural material. On other hand, the market abounds with diamond simulants probably the best known being cubic zirconium (CZ, Gemeron, Blunco Counterfeit Diamonds, etc). A quick test with a Presidium thermal reaction tester or similar instrument will tell whether the stone is a diamond or a stimulant and prevent any embarrassment to customer and jeweler alike.
3. The customer should be issued with a receipt that lists:
a) A brief description of the piece.
b) The number and measurements of important stones and a general description of their quality. (Actual identity should not be listed unless they have been tested.)
c) A statement to the effect that ‘Acceptance of jewelry for appraisals or repair does not constitute an acknowledgment or confirmation of identity or quality of pieces claimed by the owner.” Often jewelers will photograph the piece and this allows for a more accurate reproduction of the item in the event of loss. Customers are often more satisfied with an appraisal that includes a photograph of their jewelry.
Appraisal form
If the customer, as well as the insurance company, is to be given maximum protection, an appraisal must include a complete description of the merchandise. Many jewelers do not abide by this precaution and continue to issued indefinite appraisals that are worded, e.g “One diamond ring retail value of which $ xxx. Insurance companies rarely reject such an appraisal. Should a claim be made on a lost stone, a much less expensive diamond may be substituted for such an imprecisely described ring. On the other hand, should the piece contain an imitation stone, they are liable for replacement with a genuine stone. Therefore the appraisal must include a complete description of the mounting (type of metal and style) together with exact measurements, imperfections, color grades, proportions and finish classifications of diamonds and other gems. A complete appraisal helps to assure the procurement of an exact duplicate of the item or another one of equal value. The appraisal form may be imprinted with the name of the appraising firm with space for the customers address and the date of appraisal. It should be signed by the appraiser.
Appraisal update
Sending annual reminders regarding cleaning, checking and reappraising can be helpful to the customer. Many tend to forget to check the items for damage to stones, worn prongs and shanks, which are the result of normal wear and tear, and to update their policies against inflation. Sometimes when examining jewelry that has been submitted for the purpose of bringing insurance coverage up to current market prices, incorrect grading or identification of stones have been discovered. The reappraisal should contain the correct identification, grading and valuation of the stones at the current market value; even if the value is less than the original appraisal. After checking the stones carefully, merely state what you believe the items would cost to replace in your store. You may find however that the appraisal value will not require change for several years.
Jewelry appraisers are often asked to explain the service they offer and why this is necessary. An appraisal service is usually established for the purpose of:
1. Supplying estimates of replacement costs that will suffice for insurance purposes.
2. Estate appraising for tax purposes.
3. Advice on private sales between two or more persons.
4. Personal interest.
A jewelry appraisal may be offered by the jeweler when the item is purchased and is insured for the retail value. Appraisals may also be done by a gemologist or other person familiar with current prices. Appraisal of merchandise purchased elsewhere should not be attempted unless the appraiser has the training and equipment necessary to identify and classify according to quality all the materials and jewelry brought to this attention. Naturally any jeweler can appraise merchandise sold by his firm, since he knows its quality and retail price but appraising jewelry sold by another firm or brought in another country can cause problems since there is a rather wide variation in markup used by different types of firms for smaller merchandise. Their valuations must relay on fair market value which can best be described as the estimated cost of replacing each item through the firms own suppliers as of that date.
Estate appraisals or similar appraisals are usually considered on the basis of immediate or so called distress values i.e value of an article is determined by what it could be sold for immediately. Most appraisers determine this price by considering what they would be willing to pay for the item at that time or what they estimate it would bring at auction.
Accepting jewelry for appraisal
1. Ask the customer to state the reason for appraisal as it may influence the valuation, e.g. estate duty, personal insurance, personal interest etc.
2. Considerable caution should be exercised when accepting jewelry for appraisal particularly when it is to be retained for a considerable length of time. Most people are unfamiliar with the quality of their jewelry and are frequently under the impression that it is more valuable than it actually is. In such instances, if the jewelry is returned with an appraisal that lists the damages or imperfections that the customer was not aware of, the appraiser may be accused of substitution. The piece should also be examined closely under a lens, or preferable with a microscope, and the customer’s attention called to any serious imperfections or blemishes in the stones and any serious damage or wear to mounting. Many people assume that all antique pieces are genuine and are not aware that man-made rubies have been on the market since 1904, synthetic sapphires since 1910, synthetic spinel (primarily imitating aquamarine, sapphire and zircon) since 1920’s and synthetic emeralds have been commercially available since 1950’s. Although synthetic gem quality diamonds of cuttable size, have been manufactured, they are not something to worry about at this time since they cost more to produce synthetically than to mine the best quality natural material. On other hand, the market abounds with diamond simulants probably the best known being cubic zirconium (CZ, Gemeron, Blunco Counterfeit Diamonds, etc). A quick test with a Presidium thermal reaction tester or similar instrument will tell whether the stone is a diamond or a stimulant and prevent any embarrassment to customer and jeweler alike.
3. The customer should be issued with a receipt that lists:
a) A brief description of the piece.
b) The number and measurements of important stones and a general description of their quality. (Actual identity should not be listed unless they have been tested.)
c) A statement to the effect that ‘Acceptance of jewelry for appraisals or repair does not constitute an acknowledgment or confirmation of identity or quality of pieces claimed by the owner.” Often jewelers will photograph the piece and this allows for a more accurate reproduction of the item in the event of loss. Customers are often more satisfied with an appraisal that includes a photograph of their jewelry.
Appraisal form
If the customer, as well as the insurance company, is to be given maximum protection, an appraisal must include a complete description of the merchandise. Many jewelers do not abide by this precaution and continue to issued indefinite appraisals that are worded, e.g “One diamond ring retail value of which $ xxx. Insurance companies rarely reject such an appraisal. Should a claim be made on a lost stone, a much less expensive diamond may be substituted for such an imprecisely described ring. On the other hand, should the piece contain an imitation stone, they are liable for replacement with a genuine stone. Therefore the appraisal must include a complete description of the mounting (type of metal and style) together with exact measurements, imperfections, color grades, proportions and finish classifications of diamonds and other gems. A complete appraisal helps to assure the procurement of an exact duplicate of the item or another one of equal value. The appraisal form may be imprinted with the name of the appraising firm with space for the customers address and the date of appraisal. It should be signed by the appraiser.
Appraisal update
Sending annual reminders regarding cleaning, checking and reappraising can be helpful to the customer. Many tend to forget to check the items for damage to stones, worn prongs and shanks, which are the result of normal wear and tear, and to update their policies against inflation. Sometimes when examining jewelry that has been submitted for the purpose of bringing insurance coverage up to current market prices, incorrect grading or identification of stones have been discovered. The reappraisal should contain the correct identification, grading and valuation of the stones at the current market value; even if the value is less than the original appraisal. After checking the stones carefully, merely state what you believe the items would cost to replace in your store. You may find however that the appraisal value will not require change for several years.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Actinolite
Crystallography: Monoclinic, bladed crystals, usually elongated; fibrous, columnar aggregates; massive; granular; twinned.
Colors: Light to dark green, blackish green
Luster: Vitreous
Hardness: 5.5
Specific gravity: 3.05 - 3.44
Cleavage: 2 directions, good, often fibrous nature; brittle, compact variety tough.
Refractive index: 1.619 –1.644
Birefringence: 0.022 – 0.026
Pleochroism: yellow to dark green.
Spectrum: faint line at 503nm
Luminescence: none due to presence of iron.
Occurrence: Contact metamorphic limestones and dolomites.
Madagascar: small, dark green crystals.
Tanzania: transparent crystals.
USA
Stone sizes: Actinolite is rarely facetable and usually in small fragments. Material from Chester, Vermont, USA could provide large stones.
Comments: Chatoyant material is cut to exhibit cat’s eye phenomena. Actinolite is a constituent of nephrite jade; easy to cleave and difficult to cut—for this reason it may not be an ideal stone for jewelry. Quartz cat’s eye, Apatite cat’s eye, Chrysoberyl cat’s eye, Cathay stone (man-made glass) may be confused for Actinolite cat’s eye.
Colors: Light to dark green, blackish green
Luster: Vitreous
Hardness: 5.5
Specific gravity: 3.05 - 3.44
Cleavage: 2 directions, good, often fibrous nature; brittle, compact variety tough.
Refractive index: 1.619 –1.644
Birefringence: 0.022 – 0.026
Pleochroism: yellow to dark green.
Spectrum: faint line at 503nm
Luminescence: none due to presence of iron.
Occurrence: Contact metamorphic limestones and dolomites.
Madagascar: small, dark green crystals.
Tanzania: transparent crystals.
USA
Stone sizes: Actinolite is rarely facetable and usually in small fragments. Material from Chester, Vermont, USA could provide large stones.
Comments: Chatoyant material is cut to exhibit cat’s eye phenomena. Actinolite is a constituent of nephrite jade; easy to cleave and difficult to cut—for this reason it may not be an ideal stone for jewelry. Quartz cat’s eye, Apatite cat’s eye, Chrysoberyl cat’s eye, Cathay stone (man-made glass) may be confused for Actinolite cat’s eye.
Minimalist Approach
"Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Coming Collapse Of The US Dollar
M R Venkatesh writes about global imbalance + orderly devaluation + the massive size of America's twin deficits: trade and budgetary @ http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jun/11dollar.htm
Who Owns Most Gold?
(via Commodity Online) If we take national gold reserves, then the most gold is owned by the United States, followed by Germany and the International Monetary Fund.
But if we include jewelry ownership, then India is the largest repository of gold in terms of total gold within the national boundaries. In terms of personal ownership, it is not known who owns the most, but it is possibly a member of a ruling royal family in the East.
But if we include jewelry ownership, then India is the largest repository of gold in terms of total gold within the national boundaries. In terms of personal ownership, it is not known who owns the most, but it is possibly a member of a ruling royal family in the East.
The End Of 350 Years Of London’s Distribution Hegemony
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the current developments at Diamond Trading Company + the ancient diamond trade from India to Europe at various times + world's center of rough diamond: London @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27464
Predicting The Elusive Fourth C
Antwerp Facets (April 2007) writes:
A machine that will predict a diamond’s clarity has proven an elusive goal in the industry. Indeed, the difficulty in doing so left clarity as the only one of the 4C’s which could not be forecast by readily available technology.
An Antwerp company set up last year, however, believes it has created equipment that will give diamantaires the ultimate solution to diamond planning, since they will be able to see inclusions and their precise location.
Matrix Diamond Technology was established by Paul Van der Steen and Ziad Al-Ahmadi. Van der Steen, with 30 years of experience in the diamond manufacturing business, is responsible for the firm’s proprietary technology, while Al-Ahmadi, who has long experience in the cutting and manufacturing of stones, provides the hands-on diamond expertise.
Matrix Diamond Technology came about as the result of a relationship with a Russian company called Octanus. It involves a scanner that measures the outside geometry or topography of the diamond, and then enables the diamantaire, in Van der Steen’s words, ‘to look right into the stone and see what is inside. If you have the exact location of inclusions, this allows the full optimization of the rough stone so that the most highly efficient and high-yielding polished diamond can be produced. This is the ultimate dream, because this gives the diamantaire the map of the rough diamond. The only way currently to get a similar view is to polish little windows on the rough stone to look inside it. Our software shows you the best sawing plane, the best place to cut the diamond for optimal results. That’s why our slogan is ‘Ever dreamt of polishing the same stone twice.’
A built-in price list enables real time decisions on the best cuts and sizes by providing up-to-the minute prices. This means that the system can change the user’s original plans for how he planned to cut the stone. It shows how to cut the main stone and what type and size of satellite stones can be achieved. ‘The Matrix vision is that if you cannot get close enough commercially to the value of the diamond then you will not be able to compete in the market. We are bringing substantial added value,’ Van der Steen explained.
The system’s camera takes 800 shadow pictures as the basis for creating a 3-D model of the stone, and 200 images as the diamond is turned which allows the 3-D model to be placed on top of a picture of the rough. This allows the precise location of inclusions to be seen on the photograph of the diamond. ‘With a microscope you are not able to see as precisely where the inclusions are, but with our system you see its exact location,’ Van der Steen explained, adding that inclusions can be identified down to the level of VVS1.
Regarding the issue of increasing yields, he said there were three levels for achieving this, and thus improving margins. ‘The first one is key weights. There are certain situations where a small difference in weight equals a very large difference in price. Take two stones, one weighing 4.95 carats and the other 5.03 carats. That tiny difference in weight is very large in money terms. It is important to increase the key weights. If you have stones weighing 5.5 carats and 4.7 carats, our system finds solutions that allow for creating two stones of 5 carats each.’
Next, there is the problem associated with the classic approach to rough planning where a relatively large reserve is needed when sawing on the cutting plane for the main stone. This usually means the secondary stone is much smaller due to the need for a reserve. And then, after cutting, the reserve on the main stone is polished off which is clearly a waste of the rough. ‘Due to our precise capabilities, we reduce the reserve and save more of the diamond. Diamantaires want to raise their margins and these are classic ways to do so,’ Van den Steen said.
The third level relates to the optimizing of a stone being cut into two or more diamonds. ‘In the classic way, the main stone is cut, and only then one looks at the possibilities for the other stones. This optimization is important because in a 20 carat stone, for example, the satellite stones can be 3 carats each. Here, you can take an overview of the stone and see all the possibilities right from the beginning.’
Meanwhile, Al Ahmadi, the owner of United Cutting and Marketing, said Matrix is projecting itself to strategic partners such as serious rough suppliers. ‘All diamond companies want to add value to their stock. Miners, for example, are looking to add to their margins. I believe they are selling at a lower price than they could achieve if they knew more precisely what was in the diamond.’
He said the end game for Matrix is as a partner to a big brother and supplying them with high-tech equipment that has been unequivocally proven. ‘The system was born out of necessity since margins have become so small nowadays. A system like this would not have been developed 20 years ago because the margins then allowed all diamond firms, from sightholders to small and medium firms to manufacture and get away with healthy margins. Put simply: the business was easier then.’
Al Ahmadi said many diamantaires were barely making any profit. ‘We are offering solutions based on our knowledge of the industry. The miners supply their clients, but they do not know exactly what their clients are getting from the stones. With our system, we can tell them precisely what is in the stone. Sighholders, today more than ever, need results and our system helps them achieve that because we can eliminate mistakes. We are currently talking with two of the top 10 sightholders in the world about using our system. They are giving us diamonds to work on with them as partners.’
A machine that will predict a diamond’s clarity has proven an elusive goal in the industry. Indeed, the difficulty in doing so left clarity as the only one of the 4C’s which could not be forecast by readily available technology.
An Antwerp company set up last year, however, believes it has created equipment that will give diamantaires the ultimate solution to diamond planning, since they will be able to see inclusions and their precise location.
Matrix Diamond Technology was established by Paul Van der Steen and Ziad Al-Ahmadi. Van der Steen, with 30 years of experience in the diamond manufacturing business, is responsible for the firm’s proprietary technology, while Al-Ahmadi, who has long experience in the cutting and manufacturing of stones, provides the hands-on diamond expertise.
Matrix Diamond Technology came about as the result of a relationship with a Russian company called Octanus. It involves a scanner that measures the outside geometry or topography of the diamond, and then enables the diamantaire, in Van der Steen’s words, ‘to look right into the stone and see what is inside. If you have the exact location of inclusions, this allows the full optimization of the rough stone so that the most highly efficient and high-yielding polished diamond can be produced. This is the ultimate dream, because this gives the diamantaire the map of the rough diamond. The only way currently to get a similar view is to polish little windows on the rough stone to look inside it. Our software shows you the best sawing plane, the best place to cut the diamond for optimal results. That’s why our slogan is ‘Ever dreamt of polishing the same stone twice.’
A built-in price list enables real time decisions on the best cuts and sizes by providing up-to-the minute prices. This means that the system can change the user’s original plans for how he planned to cut the stone. It shows how to cut the main stone and what type and size of satellite stones can be achieved. ‘The Matrix vision is that if you cannot get close enough commercially to the value of the diamond then you will not be able to compete in the market. We are bringing substantial added value,’ Van der Steen explained.
The system’s camera takes 800 shadow pictures as the basis for creating a 3-D model of the stone, and 200 images as the diamond is turned which allows the 3-D model to be placed on top of a picture of the rough. This allows the precise location of inclusions to be seen on the photograph of the diamond. ‘With a microscope you are not able to see as precisely where the inclusions are, but with our system you see its exact location,’ Van der Steen explained, adding that inclusions can be identified down to the level of VVS1.
Regarding the issue of increasing yields, he said there were three levels for achieving this, and thus improving margins. ‘The first one is key weights. There are certain situations where a small difference in weight equals a very large difference in price. Take two stones, one weighing 4.95 carats and the other 5.03 carats. That tiny difference in weight is very large in money terms. It is important to increase the key weights. If you have stones weighing 5.5 carats and 4.7 carats, our system finds solutions that allow for creating two stones of 5 carats each.’
Next, there is the problem associated with the classic approach to rough planning where a relatively large reserve is needed when sawing on the cutting plane for the main stone. This usually means the secondary stone is much smaller due to the need for a reserve. And then, after cutting, the reserve on the main stone is polished off which is clearly a waste of the rough. ‘Due to our precise capabilities, we reduce the reserve and save more of the diamond. Diamantaires want to raise their margins and these are classic ways to do so,’ Van den Steen said.
The third level relates to the optimizing of a stone being cut into two or more diamonds. ‘In the classic way, the main stone is cut, and only then one looks at the possibilities for the other stones. This optimization is important because in a 20 carat stone, for example, the satellite stones can be 3 carats each. Here, you can take an overview of the stone and see all the possibilities right from the beginning.’
Meanwhile, Al Ahmadi, the owner of United Cutting and Marketing, said Matrix is projecting itself to strategic partners such as serious rough suppliers. ‘All diamond companies want to add value to their stock. Miners, for example, are looking to add to their margins. I believe they are selling at a lower price than they could achieve if they knew more precisely what was in the diamond.’
He said the end game for Matrix is as a partner to a big brother and supplying them with high-tech equipment that has been unequivocally proven. ‘The system was born out of necessity since margins have become so small nowadays. A system like this would not have been developed 20 years ago because the margins then allowed all diamond firms, from sightholders to small and medium firms to manufacture and get away with healthy margins. Put simply: the business was easier then.’
Al Ahmadi said many diamantaires were barely making any profit. ‘We are offering solutions based on our knowledge of the industry. The miners supply their clients, but they do not know exactly what their clients are getting from the stones. With our system, we can tell them precisely what is in the stone. Sighholders, today more than ever, need results and our system helps them achieve that because we can eliminate mistakes. We are currently talking with two of the top 10 sightholders in the world about using our system. They are giving us diamonds to work on with them as partners.’
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
New Diamond Newsletter
(via JCK) Diamond Finance describes itself as the only newsletter dedicated to finance and accounting in the diamond and jewelry industry. It includes an interview with HSBC's Jeff Pfeffer. Check out the first issue here (PDF).
The Keshi Pearl Issue
Nick Sturman (Directorate of Precious Metals and Gemstone Testing, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Bahrain) writes:
The word Keshi has traditionally been used to describe small natural saltwater pearls (seed pearls) as well as similarly sized pearls that resulted as a byproduct of the Japanese cultured pearl industry. Nowadays, the term is predominantly used to describe cultured pearls with sizes well above those that would be considered seed-like. Hence, Keshi is now used generically to describe any pearl byproduct without a bead nucleus that is produced by the culturing process regardless of the ocean in which the pearl farm is located.
The contentious aspect of Keshi cultured pearls revolved around the following questions: Can gemological laboratories differentiate between all Keshi cultured pearls and natural pearls? In our opinion and experience, the answer to this question is no. Some Keshi cultured pearls are instantly recognizable by their overall visual appearance, and their cultured origin can be further validated by their internal structural features, as revealed by X-radiography. In other cases, laboratories are faced with an identification issue that may either straightforward (i.e., the X-radiographic structures are quite distinct, classifying them as tissue-nucleated cultured pearls) or difficult (i.e., they exhibit natural-appearing structures).
Quantity testing of Keshi cultured pearls (i.e., in rows, necklaces, or parcels) may be thought of as less complicated because the test results are based on those samples that show the most evident structures. However, this is not always true, and we often have to issue mixture, majority/minority, or even natural reports on parcels of what appear to be Keshi cultured pearls. When individual pearls are submitted (i.e., for a full test as opposed to batch testing), the situation may be trickier since only the structure of a single sample, and not a group of pearls, is available to the gemologist. If the structure appears natural by X-radiography, then a natural report can be issued. In our experience, individual pearls with internal structures that are undoubtedly natural will pass as such in most, if not all, laboratories.
We do not have a solution to the differences in opinion that exist in the trade regarding what constitutes a Keshi pearl, and believe that a good deal of research still needs to be carried out on the subject.
The word Keshi has traditionally been used to describe small natural saltwater pearls (seed pearls) as well as similarly sized pearls that resulted as a byproduct of the Japanese cultured pearl industry. Nowadays, the term is predominantly used to describe cultured pearls with sizes well above those that would be considered seed-like. Hence, Keshi is now used generically to describe any pearl byproduct without a bead nucleus that is produced by the culturing process regardless of the ocean in which the pearl farm is located.
The contentious aspect of Keshi cultured pearls revolved around the following questions: Can gemological laboratories differentiate between all Keshi cultured pearls and natural pearls? In our opinion and experience, the answer to this question is no. Some Keshi cultured pearls are instantly recognizable by their overall visual appearance, and their cultured origin can be further validated by their internal structural features, as revealed by X-radiography. In other cases, laboratories are faced with an identification issue that may either straightforward (i.e., the X-radiographic structures are quite distinct, classifying them as tissue-nucleated cultured pearls) or difficult (i.e., they exhibit natural-appearing structures).
Quantity testing of Keshi cultured pearls (i.e., in rows, necklaces, or parcels) may be thought of as less complicated because the test results are based on those samples that show the most evident structures. However, this is not always true, and we often have to issue mixture, majority/minority, or even natural reports on parcels of what appear to be Keshi cultured pearls. When individual pearls are submitted (i.e., for a full test as opposed to batch testing), the situation may be trickier since only the structure of a single sample, and not a group of pearls, is available to the gemologist. If the structure appears natural by X-radiography, then a natural report can be issued. In our experience, individual pearls with internal structures that are undoubtedly natural will pass as such in most, if not all, laboratories.
We do not have a solution to the differences in opinion that exist in the trade regarding what constitutes a Keshi pearl, and believe that a good deal of research still needs to be carried out on the subject.
Emerald Crack-Up
Gary Roskin writes about a new development in the field of emerald enhancement that could mean trouble for retail jewelers @ http://www.jckonline.com/article/CA6447698.html
Tomorrow’s Dirty Diamonds
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about Alan Bond, the flamboyant entrepreneur and his contacts in southern Lebanon @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27430
What Percentage Of Gold Is Used In Jewelry, Industry And Investment?
(via Commodity Online) Around 70% of gold demand is jewelry, 11% is industrial (dental, electronics) and 13% is investment (institutional and individual, bars & coins). Gold jewelry has strong investment attributes in all countries, and in markets such as India and Middle East is sold by weight at the prevailing daily rate with a supplementary 'making charge' which varies according to the complexity of the piece.
Golden Amphibolite (GoldStone) From Near Port Hedland, W.A
I have seen the rough and cut specimens. The cut specimens are attractive. I also know that a famous temple in Thailand is buying the stones for making amulets and carvings. This goldstone is natural, but there is also man-made glass called goldstone which is a simulant/substitute for sunstone.
Dr Robert R Coenraads (Nikiticorp Australia Pty Ltd) writes:
Summary
Samples of a gem material called ‘Goldstone’ provided to Dr Coenraads by Nikiticorp for gemological testing have proved to be amphibolite, a rare metamorphic rock consisting almost entirely of the mineral amphibole. The amphibole mineral has now been largely altered to hematite, goethite and quartz and it displays a magnificent golden iridescence. This rare material is known only from two other localities in the world, Greenland and Wyoming, USA. Trial lapidary work carried out on this material shows it to be hard (approximately 6 of Moh’s scale) and capable of taking a high polish. The golden iridescence is best displayed at certain orientations so some care must be taken when cutting the rough material.
Introduction
Several kilograms of rough material being called ‘goldstone’ were provided to Dr Robert Coenraads by Nikiticorp Pty Ltd for examination. The material was sliced using a slabbing saw at the Wingala Lapidary Association in Sydney. The rough was sawn in three perpendicular directions, polished and photographed. This was to look for any observable difference in appearance of the material at different orientations. Cabochons were also prepared from some of the slices. A sample was provided to Mr Rad Flossman of the University of New South Wales in Sydney to prepare a microscope thin section for petrological study. Another sample was given to Dr Peter Williams for X-ray diffraction analysis at University of Western Sydney.
Description of the samples
The rough material is not particularly attractive being dull yellow or rusty red brown and powdery in appearance. The rough pieces provided were plate-like, that is larger in two dimensions than the third. When polished, however, the samples show a brilliant and unexpected golden iridescence. Noting the orientation of the cuts with respect to the shape of the material revealed that most beautiful iridescence was obtained when the sample was cut in one of the directions perpendicular to the large face of the rough material. In this direction almost all the grains will appear golden in polished surfaces. In the second direction at right angles and perpendicular to the large face, and in the third direction parallel to the large face of the rough most of the grains appear dark brown, although some show the golden iridescence.
X-ray diffraction analysis
The XRD work shows that the samples from Port Hedland are quite similar to those from Wyoming in that the original amphiboles have been largely altered to the iron oxide minerals, hematite and goethite, and quartz as a result of some form of secondary alteration process. This alteration is probably responsible for the iridescent color being so rich and golden. The XRF pattern also showed that traces of the original amphibole remain within the rock and identified them as either grunerite, manganogrunerite (dannemorite) or cummingtonite.
The thin section also reveals that the original amphibole crystals are oriented, probably as a result of directed pressure causing them to grow in that alignment during their metamorphic formation. It also appears that in some of the samples, the layers that were almost entirely made up of amphibole are interlayered with thin layers of almost pure quartz.
Gemological testing
The four ‘goldstone’ cabochons were tested at the Gemological Association of Australia laboratory. The material was found to be inert under LW and SW ultraviolet light, to have an indeterminate spot refractive index around 1.5 to 1.6, and a specific gravity around 2.60 to 2.80. Being a rock rather than a single mineral the tests for specific gravity and refractive index were considered not to be of use in identification of this gemstone. The binocular microscope and hand lens provide the most positive form of identification; that is this gem stunning visual appearance of the interlocking grains and distinctive golden iridescent sheen.
Previous studies
Amphibole is known from only two other localities in the world:
1. A gem quality iridescent orthoamphibole found near Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.
2. A gem quality iridescent orthoamphibole found near Douglas, in Converse County, Wyoming, USA.
The orthoamphiboles from Greenland were shown by Appel and Jensen (1987) to be solid solutions between the end members anthophyllite and gerdite. The iridescence colors are green, blue, through yellow to gold, red and violet (rare), and are caused by diffraction of light from lamellae of amphibole less than 0.2 um thick. The material has a hardness of 6 and an SG between 3.18 and 3.37. Refractive index is 1.64 to 1.66, with a birefringence of 0.02.
The material from Wyoming is different in that it now consists almost entirely of goethite and/or opaline silica which appears to be derived from weathering of the original ferroanthophyllite. The iridescence of the Wyoming material is mainly golden or dark brown with some red or silver gray.
Comparisons between the polished Western Australian ‘goldstone’ and photographs of polished samples from Greenland and USA suggest that the Western Australian material has a larger percentage of its surface displaying the golden iridescence and therefore it is a more attractive material.
Dr Robert R Coenraads (Nikiticorp Australia Pty Ltd) writes:
Summary
Samples of a gem material called ‘Goldstone’ provided to Dr Coenraads by Nikiticorp for gemological testing have proved to be amphibolite, a rare metamorphic rock consisting almost entirely of the mineral amphibole. The amphibole mineral has now been largely altered to hematite, goethite and quartz and it displays a magnificent golden iridescence. This rare material is known only from two other localities in the world, Greenland and Wyoming, USA. Trial lapidary work carried out on this material shows it to be hard (approximately 6 of Moh’s scale) and capable of taking a high polish. The golden iridescence is best displayed at certain orientations so some care must be taken when cutting the rough material.
Introduction
Several kilograms of rough material being called ‘goldstone’ were provided to Dr Robert Coenraads by Nikiticorp Pty Ltd for examination. The material was sliced using a slabbing saw at the Wingala Lapidary Association in Sydney. The rough was sawn in three perpendicular directions, polished and photographed. This was to look for any observable difference in appearance of the material at different orientations. Cabochons were also prepared from some of the slices. A sample was provided to Mr Rad Flossman of the University of New South Wales in Sydney to prepare a microscope thin section for petrological study. Another sample was given to Dr Peter Williams for X-ray diffraction analysis at University of Western Sydney.
Description of the samples
The rough material is not particularly attractive being dull yellow or rusty red brown and powdery in appearance. The rough pieces provided were plate-like, that is larger in two dimensions than the third. When polished, however, the samples show a brilliant and unexpected golden iridescence. Noting the orientation of the cuts with respect to the shape of the material revealed that most beautiful iridescence was obtained when the sample was cut in one of the directions perpendicular to the large face of the rough material. In this direction almost all the grains will appear golden in polished surfaces. In the second direction at right angles and perpendicular to the large face, and in the third direction parallel to the large face of the rough most of the grains appear dark brown, although some show the golden iridescence.
X-ray diffraction analysis
The XRD work shows that the samples from Port Hedland are quite similar to those from Wyoming in that the original amphiboles have been largely altered to the iron oxide minerals, hematite and goethite, and quartz as a result of some form of secondary alteration process. This alteration is probably responsible for the iridescent color being so rich and golden. The XRF pattern also showed that traces of the original amphibole remain within the rock and identified them as either grunerite, manganogrunerite (dannemorite) or cummingtonite.
The thin section also reveals that the original amphibole crystals are oriented, probably as a result of directed pressure causing them to grow in that alignment during their metamorphic formation. It also appears that in some of the samples, the layers that were almost entirely made up of amphibole are interlayered with thin layers of almost pure quartz.
Gemological testing
The four ‘goldstone’ cabochons were tested at the Gemological Association of Australia laboratory. The material was found to be inert under LW and SW ultraviolet light, to have an indeterminate spot refractive index around 1.5 to 1.6, and a specific gravity around 2.60 to 2.80. Being a rock rather than a single mineral the tests for specific gravity and refractive index were considered not to be of use in identification of this gemstone. The binocular microscope and hand lens provide the most positive form of identification; that is this gem stunning visual appearance of the interlocking grains and distinctive golden iridescent sheen.
Previous studies
Amphibole is known from only two other localities in the world:
1. A gem quality iridescent orthoamphibole found near Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.
2. A gem quality iridescent orthoamphibole found near Douglas, in Converse County, Wyoming, USA.
The orthoamphiboles from Greenland were shown by Appel and Jensen (1987) to be solid solutions between the end members anthophyllite and gerdite. The iridescence colors are green, blue, through yellow to gold, red and violet (rare), and are caused by diffraction of light from lamellae of amphibole less than 0.2 um thick. The material has a hardness of 6 and an SG between 3.18 and 3.37. Refractive index is 1.64 to 1.66, with a birefringence of 0.02.
The material from Wyoming is different in that it now consists almost entirely of goethite and/or opaline silica which appears to be derived from weathering of the original ferroanthophyllite. The iridescence of the Wyoming material is mainly golden or dark brown with some red or silver gray.
Comparisons between the polished Western Australian ‘goldstone’ and photographs of polished samples from Greenland and USA suggest that the Western Australian material has a larger percentage of its surface displaying the golden iridescence and therefore it is a more attractive material.
Coolomon Mining
A gem miner's life is tough with endless changes in all things. Here is the real story of a miner and his passion for stones.
(via Gemmology Queensland, Vol.8, Issue 5, May 2007) Jim Elliot writes:
It seems a very long time since my last report as there has been so much going on in our lives. We live in a world of seemingly endless change in all things—except, of course, the damned dry weather over most of the continent.
The Central Queensland Gemfields had sufficient rain over the summer months to bring up a body of grass, which has now dried off and is likely to pose a serious fire threats in the winter months. However, there was only very patchy heavy rain and, as a result, our mine dams are either very low or empty—thus preventing a start up of mining operations once again.
Our cattle property at Calliope is in a belt of very badly droughted country and like many others, we are forced to continue hand feeding our stock and are finding it continually harder to source any supplies of hay for this purpose.
On the other extreme, we have still not been able to commence mining this year at our Lava Plains operation in North Queensland, because it will not stop raining. Once you get north of a line roughly west from the Mackay—Bowen area, everything is green, the creeks have water in them and the cattle are fat. It is only eighteen months since we put a very expensive deep bore down at Lava Plains because it was so dry there, and it worked well—it has rained ever since.
The Gemfields
The Gemfields is just awakening from its quiet time during the hotter months, and there appears to be a steady stream of tourists and hand miners returning to the area, which augurs well for the coming winter season.
By all the reports received, the local jewelers and tourist outlets enjoyed a good season last year despite the dire predictions that people would not travel because of the high fuel prices, and I expect that this year might even improve on the last one. The Sunday markets are well patronized and there are a number of new stalls among the familiar faces.
The very dry conditions will make life difficult for a lot of miners, especially as the Emerald Shire Council has not relented on its decision not to provide the reticulated water to mining claims, but miners are a determined lot and will overcome most difficulties thrown up by bureaucracy.
Our mining operations
Our plans to cut back our activities in order to make life easier do not seem to be working. The demand for quality natural Australian sapphires has grown to the point that, while we are prevented from actual mining by dry conditions in Central Queensland and by wet weather at Lava Plains, we are busier than ever.
We had already moved our Lava Plains mine to the new area on the east side of the Kennedy Highway and were producing very high grade blue sapphire. Just when we were considering selling the Lava Plains operation, our supervisor John Fischer moved the mining pit area and found what we believe to be some of the nicest sapphire that has ever been found anywhere in Australia. It is still mainly of smaller size, but quite the most beautiful blue.
We are also in the process of relocating our Gemfields operation from the ‘Rush’ and ‘Ricebowl’ areas at the Sapphire end, where we have mined for several years, back to the 50 acres of lease area we hold in the ‘The Scrub’ at the Rubyvale end. The Scrub area is famous for its larger and most beautiful blue and particolor stones and was one of the first areas to be worked by the machine miners. We have hung on to this area, waiting for the market conditions to support the increased costs resulting from the more difficult treatment process, and the lower amount of sapphire recovered from the very clay-bound wash.
While the ‘Rush’ and ‘Ricebowl’ areas produce a greater amount of sapphire, it is mostly of a quality more suited to the ‘commercial’ trade end and, as such, was largely sold to visiting Asian buyers. Since the visits of the Asian buyers have all but stopped, our business is now based on the supply of high quality cut sapphires to Australian jewelers, and we hope that the move back to the Scrub area will enable us to produce larger, top grade material, albeit in smaller quantities.
We will offer our 200 acres of leases, plant and plantsite at the Sapphire end for sale. While they no longer form part of our planned operation, they remain a valuable commodity for anyone who has a need for proven larger, efficient treatment system to produce the commercial sapphire found in this area.
Gem shows and jewelry fairs
We have already attended the North Brisbane Lapidary Club show, the Brisbane JAA Jewelry Fair and the Australian Gemboree, which was held at Gatton this year. All these shows were excellent, both in their organizational aspects and in the commercial returns achieved.
It appears to me that, for the last few years, many discerning buyers have been aware that the sale of faked gemstone material, whether it be synthetic, dyed, chemically treated, irradiated or whatever, has largely been undisclosed, and they have lacked the confidence to buy.
Many trade people were also content to buy the cheap, mostly Asian, products in the knowledge that they could resell them at a significant profit to less discerning buyers, even though they had no idea of the true nature of the product they sold.
As a result of TV programs about problems in the jewelry industry, and with the assistance of the brochures put out by the ACCC which both reminded sellers of their responsibilities under government legislation and buyers of their rights and protection, buyers now seem to be even more aware of the adulterated gem material that is on the market, but are prepared to take the trouble to ask questions so that they can satisfy themselves that they are getting what they want—and very importantly, once satisfied, they are prepared to buy.
It was very pleasing to note that, at the shows we have attended, the true nature and treatment status of gemstones was generally clearly displayed for the customers to see, and I hope that all future shows insist on this, and monitor compliance.
There is nothing wrong with a treated or synthetic gemstone, as along as it is sold as such, and is priced accordingly. I was personally very disappointed that the show that the ‘Jewellery World’ magazine had planned for Sydney later this year is not going ahead, as many of the principles espoused by the organizers mirrored my own convictions on what is in the best interests of the genuine Australian manufacturing jewelers, in order to provide for the longevity of our Australian Gemstone and Jewellery manufacturing industries.
Website sales list
We have experienced a significant increase in the demand for significant sapphires, particularly greens, parti-colors and the rarer yellows. Many of these fancy sapphires are found in the hand mining areas and many of the hand miners have some absolutely fabulous stones, but no way to market them.
We have therefore set a system on our second website http://www.australiansapphire.com/ to allow the small scale miners and others to present their stones for sale. We intend that this service may be used for any genuine Australian gemstone, and not just sapphires. We do not collect any cut or commission from the sale of other people’s stones on this website. Any dealing is solely between the buyer and the seller.
We do require that sellers sign a declaration that all gems placed on this sale list be guaranteed to be genuine, natural gemstones of Australian origin and, as always, we recommend that buyers ask for a clearly written certificate of authenticity or similar statement signed by the seller.
Faceting courses
The faceting courses organized by the Queensland Sapphire Producers Association in conjunction with the Gemfields Lions Club and run by John Broadfoot have continued to be a great success, with every course fully subscribed, which gives hope for the continuation of the cutting of at least a portion of our production within Australia, thus retaining jobs in our own area.
There also now seems to be a growing shortage of trained jewelers, by that I mean real manufacturing jewelers, not those who just resell goods that were manufactured overseas and imported into Australia, and I hope that the people in charge of our training systems will address this problem before it too has an impact on our ability to produce genuine local products, at an affordable price, for those customers who are proud to buy Australian.
Chrysoprase
As I detailed in an earlier report, we were given the opportunity to mine and purchase a quantity of chrysoprase from the Marlborough deposit, north of Rockhampton. We have completed that mining, but we have some 50 tons of rough chrysoprase stockpiled on our Calliope cattle property.
The rough chrysoprase varies from smaller pieces to boulders of several kilos, up to a ton (or several tons), with the largest being over 16 tons. The color varies from the darker green to a bright, translucent peppermint green, to the paler colors of the parent chalcedony. We do not intend to break down the larger boulders as we believe that, in time, they will become quite valuable as major carving pieces.
We have now had time to produce a fair quantity of finished material from this stockpile, including good quality cabochons, lovely beads and some amazing carved pieces. The beads are most beautiful, and start at less than 40 cents per carat for the paler colors, but can go up to $5.00 per carat for the jade green colors.
In keeping with our philosophy on gemstones, all this material is sold as completely natural, with no treatment or dyeing whatsoever. We have also used our 24 inch slabbing saw to produce slabs which can be used for bases for clocks, desk equipment or just for the beauty of the material itself.
Our partner in the chrysoprase venture is Rick Hodel who lives in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, and is willing to visit potential clients in the south east corner of Queensland. You can contact him on: 07 3888 3280 or on mobile 0427 265 045
Black spinel
For many years, the sapphire miners have recovered a gemstone called black spinel (a.k.a pleonaste) which has always been discarded as being of too low a value to worry about. When either cabbed or faceted, polished beads or carved, this material actually produces the most beautiful gems. It is harder and more lustrous than onyx, and takes a very fine polish.
While there is currently a limited use of this material as a gemstone in its own right, it produces the most beautiful black beads, which we supply to jewelers in temporary strings in a variety of shapes and sizes, and at prices around 40 cents per carat.
Zeolite
Ad the time of last report, I mentioned that we were fattening some steers in our feedlot on our cattle property with a feed ration that included 5% zeolite powder. I can now report that these steers fattened beautifully, and we were absolutely amazed at the totally spotless condition of their livers and kidneys when they were slaughtered. For those of you who do not recognize the significance of this, it is most unusual for animals subjected to feedlot conditions not to have some form of lesions or marking of the livers and kidneys, and the condition of these organs is considered an important measure of the animal’s health.
We continue to be able to supply, at no cost, this powdered zeolite material to the many persons requesting it for personal use an aid in controlling the effects of many ailments which we understand, includes cancerous conditions and blood related disorders. We do this on firm understanding that persons requesting it do so with no assurances or guarantees, as in this country there still has not been any testing or clinical trials of this naturally occurring material, only a great deal of anecdotal evidence from people who are using it.
Hardly a day goes by without a call from someone to thank for sending them some of this powder and to tell us of benefits they have derived from its use. It is such a pity that this information is not being obtained by trained persons under controlled conditions, and subject to the strict analysis needed for its approval for medicinal use.
We understand the mine which produces this material is being sold at present, and we hope that we will be able to continue obtaining powder from the new owners. We would have loved to purchase the mine ourselves, but we are trying hard to slow down, not to take on new responsibilities. We trust that you will all join us in praying for rain for all those individuals and industries so badly affected by the widespread drought, and all those of you in the flooded northern regions who are sick of rain can join and pray too for a more even distribution of this most precious commodity.
I must admit that I do not entirely agree with the current politically popular theory that this drought is all due to man-induced global warming. Our rough sapphire at Lava Plains is often fractured because it was expelled into a frozen landscape during geologically recent ice age, so there has been a bit of warming going on for several thousand years, and there have been many droughts as serious as the one we are now experiencing.
I think that, to a large extent, the politicians of all colors, State and Federal, are desperately trying to cover their backsides for their failure to take any positive action on either construction of new dams or more importantly on better use by industry of recycled water to minimize the amount of new water required by the reticulation systems in our cities.
It would appear to be commonsense that the first priority would be to ensure the efficient utilization of every drop of water pumped out of the storages, and that it should not be necessary to even consider the use of treated water for human consumption until there is 100% use of recycled water by industry and on parks and gardens, sporting ovals etc.
People in towns and cities in our area have been discouraged for years from having domestic water tanks, despite the fact that many of us in more remote areas have learned to live solely on the water we collect in them. Now the same councils and governments are falling over themselves trying to promote such obvious measures.
I’m sorry for the lecture, but we seem to be governed by blind idiots, but then again, it may just be that I am trying not to sound too cynical about their ultimate agendas.
(via Gemmology Queensland, Vol.8, Issue 5, May 2007) Jim Elliot writes:
It seems a very long time since my last report as there has been so much going on in our lives. We live in a world of seemingly endless change in all things—except, of course, the damned dry weather over most of the continent.
The Central Queensland Gemfields had sufficient rain over the summer months to bring up a body of grass, which has now dried off and is likely to pose a serious fire threats in the winter months. However, there was only very patchy heavy rain and, as a result, our mine dams are either very low or empty—thus preventing a start up of mining operations once again.
Our cattle property at Calliope is in a belt of very badly droughted country and like many others, we are forced to continue hand feeding our stock and are finding it continually harder to source any supplies of hay for this purpose.
On the other extreme, we have still not been able to commence mining this year at our Lava Plains operation in North Queensland, because it will not stop raining. Once you get north of a line roughly west from the Mackay—Bowen area, everything is green, the creeks have water in them and the cattle are fat. It is only eighteen months since we put a very expensive deep bore down at Lava Plains because it was so dry there, and it worked well—it has rained ever since.
The Gemfields
The Gemfields is just awakening from its quiet time during the hotter months, and there appears to be a steady stream of tourists and hand miners returning to the area, which augurs well for the coming winter season.
By all the reports received, the local jewelers and tourist outlets enjoyed a good season last year despite the dire predictions that people would not travel because of the high fuel prices, and I expect that this year might even improve on the last one. The Sunday markets are well patronized and there are a number of new stalls among the familiar faces.
The very dry conditions will make life difficult for a lot of miners, especially as the Emerald Shire Council has not relented on its decision not to provide the reticulated water to mining claims, but miners are a determined lot and will overcome most difficulties thrown up by bureaucracy.
Our mining operations
Our plans to cut back our activities in order to make life easier do not seem to be working. The demand for quality natural Australian sapphires has grown to the point that, while we are prevented from actual mining by dry conditions in Central Queensland and by wet weather at Lava Plains, we are busier than ever.
We had already moved our Lava Plains mine to the new area on the east side of the Kennedy Highway and were producing very high grade blue sapphire. Just when we were considering selling the Lava Plains operation, our supervisor John Fischer moved the mining pit area and found what we believe to be some of the nicest sapphire that has ever been found anywhere in Australia. It is still mainly of smaller size, but quite the most beautiful blue.
We are also in the process of relocating our Gemfields operation from the ‘Rush’ and ‘Ricebowl’ areas at the Sapphire end, where we have mined for several years, back to the 50 acres of lease area we hold in the ‘The Scrub’ at the Rubyvale end. The Scrub area is famous for its larger and most beautiful blue and particolor stones and was one of the first areas to be worked by the machine miners. We have hung on to this area, waiting for the market conditions to support the increased costs resulting from the more difficult treatment process, and the lower amount of sapphire recovered from the very clay-bound wash.
While the ‘Rush’ and ‘Ricebowl’ areas produce a greater amount of sapphire, it is mostly of a quality more suited to the ‘commercial’ trade end and, as such, was largely sold to visiting Asian buyers. Since the visits of the Asian buyers have all but stopped, our business is now based on the supply of high quality cut sapphires to Australian jewelers, and we hope that the move back to the Scrub area will enable us to produce larger, top grade material, albeit in smaller quantities.
We will offer our 200 acres of leases, plant and plantsite at the Sapphire end for sale. While they no longer form part of our planned operation, they remain a valuable commodity for anyone who has a need for proven larger, efficient treatment system to produce the commercial sapphire found in this area.
Gem shows and jewelry fairs
We have already attended the North Brisbane Lapidary Club show, the Brisbane JAA Jewelry Fair and the Australian Gemboree, which was held at Gatton this year. All these shows were excellent, both in their organizational aspects and in the commercial returns achieved.
It appears to me that, for the last few years, many discerning buyers have been aware that the sale of faked gemstone material, whether it be synthetic, dyed, chemically treated, irradiated or whatever, has largely been undisclosed, and they have lacked the confidence to buy.
Many trade people were also content to buy the cheap, mostly Asian, products in the knowledge that they could resell them at a significant profit to less discerning buyers, even though they had no idea of the true nature of the product they sold.
As a result of TV programs about problems in the jewelry industry, and with the assistance of the brochures put out by the ACCC which both reminded sellers of their responsibilities under government legislation and buyers of their rights and protection, buyers now seem to be even more aware of the adulterated gem material that is on the market, but are prepared to take the trouble to ask questions so that they can satisfy themselves that they are getting what they want—and very importantly, once satisfied, they are prepared to buy.
It was very pleasing to note that, at the shows we have attended, the true nature and treatment status of gemstones was generally clearly displayed for the customers to see, and I hope that all future shows insist on this, and monitor compliance.
There is nothing wrong with a treated or synthetic gemstone, as along as it is sold as such, and is priced accordingly. I was personally very disappointed that the show that the ‘Jewellery World’ magazine had planned for Sydney later this year is not going ahead, as many of the principles espoused by the organizers mirrored my own convictions on what is in the best interests of the genuine Australian manufacturing jewelers, in order to provide for the longevity of our Australian Gemstone and Jewellery manufacturing industries.
Website sales list
We have experienced a significant increase in the demand for significant sapphires, particularly greens, parti-colors and the rarer yellows. Many of these fancy sapphires are found in the hand mining areas and many of the hand miners have some absolutely fabulous stones, but no way to market them.
We have therefore set a system on our second website http://www.australiansapphire.com/ to allow the small scale miners and others to present their stones for sale. We intend that this service may be used for any genuine Australian gemstone, and not just sapphires. We do not collect any cut or commission from the sale of other people’s stones on this website. Any dealing is solely between the buyer and the seller.
We do require that sellers sign a declaration that all gems placed on this sale list be guaranteed to be genuine, natural gemstones of Australian origin and, as always, we recommend that buyers ask for a clearly written certificate of authenticity or similar statement signed by the seller.
Faceting courses
The faceting courses organized by the Queensland Sapphire Producers Association in conjunction with the Gemfields Lions Club and run by John Broadfoot have continued to be a great success, with every course fully subscribed, which gives hope for the continuation of the cutting of at least a portion of our production within Australia, thus retaining jobs in our own area.
There also now seems to be a growing shortage of trained jewelers, by that I mean real manufacturing jewelers, not those who just resell goods that were manufactured overseas and imported into Australia, and I hope that the people in charge of our training systems will address this problem before it too has an impact on our ability to produce genuine local products, at an affordable price, for those customers who are proud to buy Australian.
Chrysoprase
As I detailed in an earlier report, we were given the opportunity to mine and purchase a quantity of chrysoprase from the Marlborough deposit, north of Rockhampton. We have completed that mining, but we have some 50 tons of rough chrysoprase stockpiled on our Calliope cattle property.
The rough chrysoprase varies from smaller pieces to boulders of several kilos, up to a ton (or several tons), with the largest being over 16 tons. The color varies from the darker green to a bright, translucent peppermint green, to the paler colors of the parent chalcedony. We do not intend to break down the larger boulders as we believe that, in time, they will become quite valuable as major carving pieces.
We have now had time to produce a fair quantity of finished material from this stockpile, including good quality cabochons, lovely beads and some amazing carved pieces. The beads are most beautiful, and start at less than 40 cents per carat for the paler colors, but can go up to $5.00 per carat for the jade green colors.
In keeping with our philosophy on gemstones, all this material is sold as completely natural, with no treatment or dyeing whatsoever. We have also used our 24 inch slabbing saw to produce slabs which can be used for bases for clocks, desk equipment or just for the beauty of the material itself.
Our partner in the chrysoprase venture is Rick Hodel who lives in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, and is willing to visit potential clients in the south east corner of Queensland. You can contact him on: 07 3888 3280 or on mobile 0427 265 045
Black spinel
For many years, the sapphire miners have recovered a gemstone called black spinel (a.k.a pleonaste) which has always been discarded as being of too low a value to worry about. When either cabbed or faceted, polished beads or carved, this material actually produces the most beautiful gems. It is harder and more lustrous than onyx, and takes a very fine polish.
While there is currently a limited use of this material as a gemstone in its own right, it produces the most beautiful black beads, which we supply to jewelers in temporary strings in a variety of shapes and sizes, and at prices around 40 cents per carat.
Zeolite
Ad the time of last report, I mentioned that we were fattening some steers in our feedlot on our cattle property with a feed ration that included 5% zeolite powder. I can now report that these steers fattened beautifully, and we were absolutely amazed at the totally spotless condition of their livers and kidneys when they were slaughtered. For those of you who do not recognize the significance of this, it is most unusual for animals subjected to feedlot conditions not to have some form of lesions or marking of the livers and kidneys, and the condition of these organs is considered an important measure of the animal’s health.
We continue to be able to supply, at no cost, this powdered zeolite material to the many persons requesting it for personal use an aid in controlling the effects of many ailments which we understand, includes cancerous conditions and blood related disorders. We do this on firm understanding that persons requesting it do so with no assurances or guarantees, as in this country there still has not been any testing or clinical trials of this naturally occurring material, only a great deal of anecdotal evidence from people who are using it.
Hardly a day goes by without a call from someone to thank for sending them some of this powder and to tell us of benefits they have derived from its use. It is such a pity that this information is not being obtained by trained persons under controlled conditions, and subject to the strict analysis needed for its approval for medicinal use.
We understand the mine which produces this material is being sold at present, and we hope that we will be able to continue obtaining powder from the new owners. We would have loved to purchase the mine ourselves, but we are trying hard to slow down, not to take on new responsibilities. We trust that you will all join us in praying for rain for all those individuals and industries so badly affected by the widespread drought, and all those of you in the flooded northern regions who are sick of rain can join and pray too for a more even distribution of this most precious commodity.
I must admit that I do not entirely agree with the current politically popular theory that this drought is all due to man-induced global warming. Our rough sapphire at Lava Plains is often fractured because it was expelled into a frozen landscape during geologically recent ice age, so there has been a bit of warming going on for several thousand years, and there have been many droughts as serious as the one we are now experiencing.
I think that, to a large extent, the politicians of all colors, State and Federal, are desperately trying to cover their backsides for their failure to take any positive action on either construction of new dams or more importantly on better use by industry of recycled water to minimize the amount of new water required by the reticulation systems in our cities.
It would appear to be commonsense that the first priority would be to ensure the efficient utilization of every drop of water pumped out of the storages, and that it should not be necessary to even consider the use of treated water for human consumption until there is 100% use of recycled water by industry and on parks and gardens, sporting ovals etc.
People in towns and cities in our area have been discouraged for years from having domestic water tanks, despite the fact that many of us in more remote areas have learned to live solely on the water we collect in them. Now the same councils and governments are falling over themselves trying to promote such obvious measures.
I’m sorry for the lecture, but we seem to be governed by blind idiots, but then again, it may just be that I am trying not to sound too cynical about their ultimate agendas.
Monday, June 11, 2007
About China's Gold Production
(via Reuters) It has been reported that China, the world's third largest gold producer will become the second largest producer of gold in 2007.
The real story @ http://in.news.yahoo.com/070608/137/6gscn.html
The real story @ http://in.news.yahoo.com/070608/137/6gscn.html
The Challenges And Opportunities Of Growing And Marketing South Sea Cultured Pearls
Nicholas Paspaley (Executive Chairman, Paspaley Pearling Company Pty Ltd, Australia) writes:
Over the last 50 years, the cultured pearl industry has undergone a significant transformation. It has changed from a period when Japanese and (later) South Sea cultured pearls were effectively the only cultured pearls in the marketplace to the situation today, where there are a large variety of cultured pearls available from many different localities and of many different types.
In the pre-culturing era, all oceanic (saltwater) pearls were classified as Oriental pearls, and South Sea pearls fell into this generic category. With the advent of pearl culturing, however, pearls became more accurately known for the type of oyster that produced them and the region in which those oysters grew—hence the term South Sea pearls.
Naturally occurring pearls from the Pinctada maxima oyster native to the South Seas have been traded for thousands of years. But in past centuries, many natural South Sea pearls were undoubtedly traded simply as Gulf pearls. Because of its spectacular nacre, the South Sea pearl oyster historically has produced some of the most significant natural pearls in the world. Therefore, it follows that this oyster ahs the ability to produce magnificent cultured pearls as well.
However, the competition for market share between gem producers as well as between different pearl types is fierce. At the same time, there are significant gaps in the expertise required to grow pearl oysters and conduct pearl farming compared to many other fields of knowledge. There are very few experts today who have a broad knowledge on a comprehensive range of pearl and pearl farming issues.
The challenge for the South Sea cultured pearl industry today is twofold: to produce pearls of a superior quality, on the basis of which they can be differentiated in the wider pearl market, and to improve the level of knowledge and understanding of pearls in the marketplace.
Useful link:
www.paspaley.com
Over the last 50 years, the cultured pearl industry has undergone a significant transformation. It has changed from a period when Japanese and (later) South Sea cultured pearls were effectively the only cultured pearls in the marketplace to the situation today, where there are a large variety of cultured pearls available from many different localities and of many different types.
In the pre-culturing era, all oceanic (saltwater) pearls were classified as Oriental pearls, and South Sea pearls fell into this generic category. With the advent of pearl culturing, however, pearls became more accurately known for the type of oyster that produced them and the region in which those oysters grew—hence the term South Sea pearls.
Naturally occurring pearls from the Pinctada maxima oyster native to the South Seas have been traded for thousands of years. But in past centuries, many natural South Sea pearls were undoubtedly traded simply as Gulf pearls. Because of its spectacular nacre, the South Sea pearl oyster historically has produced some of the most significant natural pearls in the world. Therefore, it follows that this oyster ahs the ability to produce magnificent cultured pearls as well.
However, the competition for market share between gem producers as well as between different pearl types is fierce. At the same time, there are significant gaps in the expertise required to grow pearl oysters and conduct pearl farming compared to many other fields of knowledge. There are very few experts today who have a broad knowledge on a comprehensive range of pearl and pearl farming issues.
The challenge for the South Sea cultured pearl industry today is twofold: to produce pearls of a superior quality, on the basis of which they can be differentiated in the wider pearl market, and to improve the level of knowledge and understanding of pearls in the marketplace.
Useful link:
www.paspaley.com
A Moral Dimension
I wonder how many gem and jewelry companies can survive like the TaTas + Birlas given the restructuring, merging and bankruptcies in the industry. The TaTa and Birla business success story should be a case study for any aspiring entreprenuer.
Jay Dubashi writes:
Why is it that some businesses last a long time, sometimes centuries, while some don't? Take Tatas. They are a 150-year old group and still going strong. Scores of others have come and gone, some even bigger than Tatas but they have fallen by the wayside and vanished into thin air.
Businesses are essentially money-making enterprises. Money is what keeps them going. But money is not enough, nor is it everything. Money is to business what food is to living organisms. You cannot do without food, but you have to have something more to keep you going.
That something is a moral dimension, something bigger than you, or at a level much higher than money. Without such a dimension, you are just like a pig at the trough, using the trough as a sole reason for your existence.
Ghanashyam Das Birla always said that he was not a businessman. He was actually much more than a businessman. He was a political activist all his life, intensely interested in India's struggle for freedom and supported Gandhi through all his ups and down.This at a time when the British were closely watching him. In fact, GD Birla's close association with Gandhi so alarmed his brothers that there was a move at one time to split the family business and get rid of GD. But it does not seem to have bothered him.
It was the same with Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. Jamsetji set up his first industry, a textile mill, immediately after the so-called Mutiny, but what he wanted to do was something much bigger - a steel plant. But the British government in India was deadly opposed to Indians musling in on their monopoly.
Jamsetji received no help at all from the Britishers, and he had to take the help of Americans for his new enterprises. The steel plant at Jamshedpur was set up in the teeth of opposition from foreign vested interests, and it was this, not money, that drove Jamsetji. Incidentally, Tata Steel will be completing its centenary this year.
There were times during the depression of the thirties when it was touch and go whether Tata Steel would survive. There was no money in the kitty and things were so bad that at one time the Tatas have almost decided to close down the factory and go into liquidation. But Jamsetji's two sons and their wives saved the day.
GD Birla was so much involved in Gandhi's politics that at one time the Britishers were seriously thinking of shutting down his jute and cotton mills and throwing him into jail. Somehow he managed to survive, though his brothers were very much cut up with him and almost disowned him.
This is what I call moral dimension, when your drive comes not from money but something bigger than money. I once spent a whole evening with GD in his Delhi residence. He was then past eighty but as perky as ever. Throughout the evening, we did not even once mention business, though it was very much on the agenda. At one point, GD said that he was not a businessman. To call GD a mere businessman is tantamount to calling Gandhi a politician. In fact, Gandhi, a baniya, was more of a businessman than Birla, which is why they got on so well.
Take it from me. Half the businesses you see today will not make it beyond the half-way mark of the 21st century, if at all. But the Tatas and Birlas will still be there, because they are not really business as you and I know them.
More info @ http://www.valueresearchonline.com/story/storyview.asp?str=10007
Jay Dubashi writes:
Why is it that some businesses last a long time, sometimes centuries, while some don't? Take Tatas. They are a 150-year old group and still going strong. Scores of others have come and gone, some even bigger than Tatas but they have fallen by the wayside and vanished into thin air.
Businesses are essentially money-making enterprises. Money is what keeps them going. But money is not enough, nor is it everything. Money is to business what food is to living organisms. You cannot do without food, but you have to have something more to keep you going.
That something is a moral dimension, something bigger than you, or at a level much higher than money. Without such a dimension, you are just like a pig at the trough, using the trough as a sole reason for your existence.
Ghanashyam Das Birla always said that he was not a businessman. He was actually much more than a businessman. He was a political activist all his life, intensely interested in India's struggle for freedom and supported Gandhi through all his ups and down.This at a time when the British were closely watching him. In fact, GD Birla's close association with Gandhi so alarmed his brothers that there was a move at one time to split the family business and get rid of GD. But it does not seem to have bothered him.
It was the same with Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. Jamsetji set up his first industry, a textile mill, immediately after the so-called Mutiny, but what he wanted to do was something much bigger - a steel plant. But the British government in India was deadly opposed to Indians musling in on their monopoly.
Jamsetji received no help at all from the Britishers, and he had to take the help of Americans for his new enterprises. The steel plant at Jamshedpur was set up in the teeth of opposition from foreign vested interests, and it was this, not money, that drove Jamsetji. Incidentally, Tata Steel will be completing its centenary this year.
There were times during the depression of the thirties when it was touch and go whether Tata Steel would survive. There was no money in the kitty and things were so bad that at one time the Tatas have almost decided to close down the factory and go into liquidation. But Jamsetji's two sons and their wives saved the day.
GD Birla was so much involved in Gandhi's politics that at one time the Britishers were seriously thinking of shutting down his jute and cotton mills and throwing him into jail. Somehow he managed to survive, though his brothers were very much cut up with him and almost disowned him.
This is what I call moral dimension, when your drive comes not from money but something bigger than money. I once spent a whole evening with GD in his Delhi residence. He was then past eighty but as perky as ever. Throughout the evening, we did not even once mention business, though it was very much on the agenda. At one point, GD said that he was not a businessman. To call GD a mere businessman is tantamount to calling Gandhi a politician. In fact, Gandhi, a baniya, was more of a businessman than Birla, which is why they got on so well.
Take it from me. Half the businesses you see today will not make it beyond the half-way mark of the 21st century, if at all. But the Tatas and Birlas will still be there, because they are not really business as you and I know them.
More info @ http://www.valueresearchonline.com/story/storyview.asp?str=10007
De Beers Plans Massive Restructuring of Diamdel
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about De Beers restructuring + the Diamdel story, its past and present status @
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27378
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27378
Sunday, June 10, 2007
PearlParadise.com President Buys Chinese Akoya Pearl Farm
Jeremy Shepherd, president of PearlParadise.com says he has become the first American to own an Akoya pearl farm in Asia.
More info @ http://www.jckonline.com/article/CA6450060.html?industryid=46016
More info @ http://www.jckonline.com/article/CA6450060.html?industryid=46016
Apollo – the World’s Only Everlasting Diamond Mine
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the scientists and the marketing people behind Apollo, a perpetual diamond mine, with a mining life that lasts forever, something no natural diamond mine can claim @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=27340
Useful link:
www.apollodiamond.com
Useful link:
www.apollodiamond.com
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