2007: I am a Harry Winston fan. I collect articles written on Harry Winston because they are truly priceless. He has a remarkable way of telling real stories + he is one of a kind jeweler who had the fortune and good luck to meet interesting people from around the world. He is the king of diamonds. It's educational and entertaining.
(via International Diamond Annual, Vol.1, 1971) A N Wilson writes:
Prince Of Diamonds
Some anecdotes of Harry Winston
Harry Winston is not merely the prince of diamond merchants. He is a king amongst raconteurs. His repertoire of anecdotes about diamonds is imperial. Prince and potentate, with diamonds in their crowns, have been his clients and his confidantes. Both the crowned and uncrowned heads of Europe and of Asia wear the jewels that Harry Winston found and sold to them. And a great sparkle of joy, as brilliant as the gleam from his latest tiara, shines in Harry’s eyes as he turns to tell you his next story of how he sold a whopping big diamond t o the King of Siam. The great thing about Harry Winston is that he enjoys himself. When he recalls an anecdote, he lives again every moment of it and he enjoys the fun of it all over again.
I sat entranced in his secluded office in New York’s Fifth Avenue as Harry Winston responded to my request for some of his best stories.
“You know,” he said. “I sometimes feel I’m a bit of a fool. When I get up in the morning and shave and look in the mirror, I often say to myself ‘What sort of a crass idiot are you? Here is a crass idiot if ever there were one! Why do you do this? Why do you go on doing this? Why do you fret yourself employing three hundred people in that building of yours and another whole floor of them across the way and something like 3000 cutters in several different countries—why do you do it? Harry, there’s a sickness in you.’
“And, of course, it is so, it is a sickness. But it does not need any medicine. It is in the blood.”
You can sense that sly humor and the fun in this man as he talks like that. But you can also recognize the enjoyment he gets out of diamonds and out of what he has done and still does with them.
“There it is—it’s in the blood. I rejoice in this. I love diamonds. They are my life. And this is how I live still—a little bit of madman, no doubt, as some people will say: but I’m quite content to be like this, so long as I am enjoying my life as much as I do.”
Whisper has it that Harry has turned seventy. Nobody really knows and he would not let me into the secret. But whatever his age, he’s still a dynamic man. He still does a great deal of selling himself, dealing personally with clients of long standing. He likes to go on exercising the long-range judgment, the experience and the intuition which, together, have made him the greatest diamond merchant in the world.
“You’ve got to have ‘guts’ and you’ve got have ‘wits’ in this damned business,” he says. And he always returns to the point in the conversations I have had with him, that it is no use dealing in this diamond business unless you have a love of diamonds and of gems as a whole. Farouk of Egypt was one of Harry Winston’s clients. Farouk was always a great purchaser of diamonds, occasionally for cash, more often on credit.
“Farouk was an interesting man himself. We had many amusing and exciting conversations together,” recalls Harry. “As a king and a client I thought he must be reliable, for the he had the wealth of Egypt at his command.”
On one occasion—in 1951—Winston made a deal with Farouk, who bought a 700000 dollar emerald. It was for Farouk’s new bride, Queen Narriman. Soon afterwards Harry and his wife, Edna, went with their children to the south of France for their usual holiday. Farouk and Queen Narriman were at Cannes and they invited the Winstons to dinner. The beautiful Narriman wore the emerald. It was a very pleasant and happy occasion. Then the Winstons reciprocated by inviting the royal couple to dinner at their lovely home on a promontory looking out over the Mediterranean. Farouk sent his bodyguards to surround the residence and his coffeemaker to superintend the production of the meal.
“It was all great success and, as things do on such occasions, proceedings continued well into the wee small hours. Sometime about four in the morning, the early dawn was coming and Farouk and I walked out on to the terrace. The morning star was there in the east—in glowing brilliance. At that time I happened to have a magnificent diamond, which I had called ‘The Star of the East’. It was a great gem—a pear-shape of great beauty, of the finest color and finest quality. Eighty-three carats! I loved it dearly. I told Farouk about it. And one thing led to another—the stars in Narriman’s eyes—and Farouk said he would like to buy the diamond. We settled on $1,125,000.”
As Harry Winston described the romantic scene, you could just see and hear it all happening.
“I had no reason to doubt the man,” continued Harry Winston. “After all, he was a king—and I had done business with him before. So I agreed to sell and Farouk was delighted. The diamond was delivered to him. I’d said to Farouk ‘I understand your circumstances at the moment—you can pay me at your convenience.’
“A year went by—and the king’s convenience had not turned up. One day in July 1052, I was at my country home outside New York. A call came through. It was from Alexandria. Farouk was on the line. He said he had a 55-carat emerald which had belonged to Catherine the Great. In view of his debt to me of nearly two million dollars, he wondered whether I would have arbitration about the value of this emerald and accept it in part payment of his debt to me. And then the line went dead.”
Later on Winston heard the story of what had happened. The American Ambassador to Egypt, Mr Jefferson Cafferey, had gone to Alexandria to say farewell to Farouk on his abdication and departure from Egypt in the royal yacht. As Mr Cafferey took his leave, Farouk pressed into the Ambassador’s hand the Catherine the Great emerald. It came to America in the diplomatic pouch, with the message from Farouk that “rest will follow”. But “The Star of the East” did not follow—nor did its equivalent in cash.
In due course, Farouk set up his court in exile in the Isle of Capri. He left Harry Winston know that ‘The Star of the East’ had been left behind in the palace safe in Cairo. Winston took legal action, which led to a search of the safe deposits in the palace. But the diamond was missing. Then legal action was taken against the Egyptian government and Winston won his case. But Colonel Nasser ignored the court’s injunction and not a sou was paid. Some time later Harry was at a party in the south of France where he met a cousin of Farouk’s, who had been Minister of Finance during Farouk’s regime. The cousin said that Farouk, in exile, had nevertheless been getting a lot of gold out of Egypt, shipping out his assets quite freely. This alerted Winston to the possibility of recouping some of the debt Farouk owed.
“I have since employed a very smart investigator,” remarked Harry Winston, ‘and the story is not ended.”
One immediately understands from the way Harry says this that some quite remarkable development can be expected to happen in the quite near future.
But what a setting all this is for one of the greatest best sellers of all time! There are all the ingredients—a king, a beautiful queen, a great world famous merchant, a royal honeymoon at Cannes, a mansion on a promontory overlooking the Mediterranean, the royal coffeemaker, the royal yacht at Alexandria, the American ambassador, the diplomatic pouch, the Isle of Capri, beautiful and historic emeralds, special agents—and, at the center of them all, this lovely 83 carat pear-shaped gem, ‘The Star of the East’. I had always thought these things were the figments of an imagination as lively as the late Ian Fleming’s—but no, here they are in a real life drama. Stories like this bubble out of Harry Winston, if you can get him in the mood and with the time to tell them. I egged him on.
“Yes,” he said, “there was also a certain king of Saudi Arabia—a man of very, very great wealth—from oil, you know. He had a very large court—four wives and something like eighty concubines. He was a considerable exponent of the art of love. They were all young girls. A connoisseur he was. The king became a client of mine—he needed many jewels.
“I told the king at one of our meetings that I had a diamond of perfect quality—a 62-carat pear-shape—but it was not for sale. I loved it so much I’d done something I’d never done before—I’d called it ‘the Harry Winston Diamond’. The king became excited. He said:
“Harry, I must have it’ and he went on insisting. And, anxious lest I should change my mind, after I had been persuaded to sell, he asked that the diamond be wrapped up there and then and handed over to him.”
Eighteen months later the king visited Boston from Saudi Arabia for treatment to the retina of an eye.
“I was summoned to Boston to see the king. He needed more diamonds and I sold him two million dollars worth of jewelry. And when we had concluded our deals, the king passed over the table a small parcel. It was in the familiar wrapping of our house. It had not been opened. I recognized it.
“Harry,” said the king. “I hope you will credit me with this against the jewels I’ve just bought from you.” I was astonished. “But you can’t give this back,” I said in my amazement, “It’s the most beautiful diamond.” The king looked at me quizzically.
“Harry,” he said, “I’m fond of living, just as you are. I want to go on living. If I gave this stone to one of my four wives, well, my life would not be worth a moment’s purchase.”
“As I was taking my leave, the king asked: “By the way, Harry, if you have three other gems just like that, let me know.”
Harry Winston knows a good story when he has one, and he would certainly not paint the lily.
“But Shakespeare also says, ‘tis very silly
To gild refined gold, or paint the lily.”
But there is a sequel to the story of the king of Saudi Arabia that I think justifies its being added here.
“I always believe in fate,” said Harry Winston. “There’s a great deal of luck in this world of ours. But it’s not all luck. Foresight and a lot of other things go into it too.”
“Anyhow, about three weeks later, in the normal course of business, I was asked to value some estate jewelry. It had belonged to the late Mary Byron Foy, a daughter of Jack Chrysler, the motor car tycoon. I opened the parcel and, to my amazement, I found what appeared to be an exact replica of ‘the Harry Winston Diamond’, the 62-carat pear-shape the King of Saudi Arabia had handed back to me. I rubbed my eyes. But it was a diamond all right—not a replica. It was a perfect match. I called for my diamond to compare the two. They were perfectly matched. But mine was 62 carats and this was 60 carats. The difference was so infinitesimal—it was negligible. They had to be a pair of earrings—they were made for each other. I bought the Foy diamond and made a pair of earrings. “In due course some old clients of mine got to hear that I had something special. They were Mr and Mrs Killam, of Canada. When Mrs Killam came to see them, she burst out: ‘These are mine’. And so they were—immediately.
“If you believe in fate, here’s a perfect example of how it can work to your advantage most unexpectedly.”
And then Harry began philosophizing a bit. “It’s not just fate or luck. You have to work hard—and work hard following your fate, pursuing your luck and taking advantage of what comes your way. You need imagination, perception, intelligence, perseverance—and luck. And you must know what you are doing.
“There’s something about jewels—they grow on you. You get to love diamonds, you get to love jewels—emeralds, rubies too. You love them for themselves. You life wraps itself round them. And, although it sometimes breaks my heart to do so, I enjoy selling diamonds. I find it a very absorbing and entertaining pastime.”
When I remarked that Harry Winston shared with the late Sir Ernest Oppenheimer a love of diamonds for themselves, Harry Winston’s personal assistant, Jill Ciraldo, chimed in: “You know, Mr Winston plays with diamonds as if they were toys.” And Harry nodded—delighted.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Truman Capote
To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that words make.
I liked this one.
I liked this one.
Manhattan
Greatest Opening Film Lines (Manhattan - 1979):
Chapter One. He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion.' Uh, no, make that: 'He-he...romanticized it all out of proportion. Now...to him...no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin.' Ahhh, now let me start this over...
I liked it.
Chapter One. He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion.' Uh, no, make that: 'He-he...romanticized it all out of proportion. Now...to him...no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin.' Ahhh, now let me start this over...
I liked it.
The Toyota Way
Good Books: (via Emergic) Jeffrey Liker’s book The Toyota Way defines Toyota’s philosophy and operations + the essence of the organization. The book is great + full of ideas + I don't think it's that easy to execute. In my view the concept is a magical accumulation of smart work ethics + embedded culture factor + that otherness.
From the book description:
Fewer man-hours. Less inventory. The highest quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer. In factories around the globe, Toyota consistently raises the bar for manufacturing, product development, and process excellence. The result is an amazing business success story: steadily taking market share from price-cutting competitors, earning far more profit than any other automaker, and winning the praise of business leaders worldwide.
The Toyota Way reveals the management principles behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability. Dr. Jeffrey Liker, a renowned authority on Toyota's Lean methods, explains how you can adopt these principles--known as the "Toyota Production System" or "Lean Production"--to improve the speed of your business processes, improve product and service quality, and cut costs, no matter what your industry.
Drawing on his extensive research on Toyota, Dr. Liker shares his insights into the foundational principles at work in the Toyota culture. He explains how the Toyota Production System evolved as a new paradigm of manufacturing excellence, transforming businesses across industries. You'll learn how Toyota fosters employee involvement at all levels, discover the difference between traditional process improvement and Toyota's Lean improvement, and learn why companies often think they are Lean--but aren't.
The Toyota Way, explains Toyota's unique approach to Lean--the 14 management principles and philosophy that drive Toyota's quality and efficiency-obsessed culture. You'll gain valuable insights that can be applied to any organization and any business process, whether in services or manufacturing. Professor Jeffrey Liker has been studying Toyota for twenty years, and was given unprecedented access to Toyota executives, employees and factories, both in Japan and the United States, for this landmark work. The book is full of examples of the 14 fundamental principles at work in the Toyota culture, and how these principles create a culture of continuous learning and improvement. You'll discover how the right combination of long-term philosophy, process, people, and problem solving can transform your organization into a Lean, learning enterprise--the Toyota Way.
The 14 Toyota Way Principles discussed by Liker are:
- Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy even at the expense of short-term financial goals.
- Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.
- Use pull systems to avoid overproduction.
- Level out the workload. (Work like the tortoise, not the hare.)
- Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.
- Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement.
- Use visual control so no problems are hidden.
- Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.
- Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.
- Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy.
- Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve.
- Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation.
- Make decisions slowly, by consensus, thoroughly considering all options ; implement decisions rapidly.
- Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement.
More info @ Business Week / Jeffrey Liker
From the book description:
Fewer man-hours. Less inventory. The highest quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer. In factories around the globe, Toyota consistently raises the bar for manufacturing, product development, and process excellence. The result is an amazing business success story: steadily taking market share from price-cutting competitors, earning far more profit than any other automaker, and winning the praise of business leaders worldwide.
The Toyota Way reveals the management principles behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability. Dr. Jeffrey Liker, a renowned authority on Toyota's Lean methods, explains how you can adopt these principles--known as the "Toyota Production System" or "Lean Production"--to improve the speed of your business processes, improve product and service quality, and cut costs, no matter what your industry.
Drawing on his extensive research on Toyota, Dr. Liker shares his insights into the foundational principles at work in the Toyota culture. He explains how the Toyota Production System evolved as a new paradigm of manufacturing excellence, transforming businesses across industries. You'll learn how Toyota fosters employee involvement at all levels, discover the difference between traditional process improvement and Toyota's Lean improvement, and learn why companies often think they are Lean--but aren't.
The Toyota Way, explains Toyota's unique approach to Lean--the 14 management principles and philosophy that drive Toyota's quality and efficiency-obsessed culture. You'll gain valuable insights that can be applied to any organization and any business process, whether in services or manufacturing. Professor Jeffrey Liker has been studying Toyota for twenty years, and was given unprecedented access to Toyota executives, employees and factories, both in Japan and the United States, for this landmark work. The book is full of examples of the 14 fundamental principles at work in the Toyota culture, and how these principles create a culture of continuous learning and improvement. You'll discover how the right combination of long-term philosophy, process, people, and problem solving can transform your organization into a Lean, learning enterprise--the Toyota Way.
The 14 Toyota Way Principles discussed by Liker are:
- Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy even at the expense of short-term financial goals.
- Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.
- Use pull systems to avoid overproduction.
- Level out the workload. (Work like the tortoise, not the hare.)
- Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.
- Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement.
- Use visual control so no problems are hidden.
- Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.
- Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others.
- Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy.
- Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve.
- Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation.
- Make decisions slowly, by consensus, thoroughly considering all options ; implement decisions rapidly.
- Become a learning organization through relentless reflection and continuous improvement.
More info @ Business Week / Jeffrey Liker
The Tea Towels That Became Van Gogh Originals
Charlotte Higgins writes about Van Gogh tea towel + the X-ray techniques used to track its authenticity + its historical significance + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2157890,00.html
Christie’s And Sotheby’s: On The Champagne Trail
Kelly Devine Thomas writes about Christie’s + Sotheby’s creative marketing tactics in the dog-eat-dog world of art business + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1890
The Function Of The Broker
2007: I don't know how many times I have this article. The more I read the more I enjoy it because I like the old generation concepts + their philosophy. Vivian Prins is well-known in the diamond circle. He is from a different generation. His generation did business the old-fashioned way. The diamond brokers knew the buyers and sellers. It was not transaction but relationship concept. I wish todays generation are the same. Times have changed. The diamond industry has changed + there has been a tectonic shift in everything with new markets + new ways of doing business. The personal touch of the old generation isn't there anymore. This article is educational + Vivian shares his views on the role of a diamond broker.
(via International Diamond Annual, Vol.1, 1971) Vivian C Prins writes:
Those who are familiar with practice in diamond cutting centers may believe that it is a fairly simple matter to become a diamond manufacturer and to be supplied by one of the De Beers organizations. Anybody who has undertaken the task of manufacturing diamonds will, however, know, in fact how very difficult it is to become a regular client of De Beers. Nevertheless, a manufacturer who envisages a long-term operation on a substantial scale recognizes that the one source of raw material in diamonds which may be reliable will be from an outlet managed by one of the De Beers subsidiaries. In practice, the demand for diamonds from the Diamond Trading Company in London and Industrial Diamonds (Sales) Ltd, the main outlets of rough diamonds in the world, is normally so considerable that only a small fraction of those who would like to be supplied can regularly be offered goods. The intricacies of obtaining such supplies in the first place are such that anybody who is interested, whether dealer or manufacturer, seeks the services of a firm which has specialized knowledge of the process of obtaining from the ‘syndicate’ what is usually known as ‘a sight’.
These special firms are syndicate brokers, sometimes an individual and sometimes a whole organization, who have over the years made it their concern to know what is going on in their particular field of the diamond business. There are ten such firms of whom three are relatively large, and between them they handle the major part of the business.
It is to be supposed that the original brokers, whose work in this field began some 80 years ago under conditions very different from today, existed because the De Beers organization was looking for clients and seeking buyers for its goods. During the last century the broker, therefore, represented both the buyer and the seller, normally obtaining a commission from each side. The state of the diamond business at that time was relatively primitive; since then the De Beers organization, as well as the world diamond trade, has developed enormously. During this period the role of the broker has also evolved from the relatively simple function of bringing buyer and seller together—possibly by having a personal family or business relationship with each party—into a major business where the responsibilities and the services are greatly expanded.
The function of today’s broker is still best described as bringing the buyer and the seller together, and it is essential that he has the fullest confidence of both sides. The Diamond Trading Company, as well as the buyer, must have complete assurance of the broker’s integrity, and the nature of the business also demands as much secrecy and discretion as may be expected of a physician.
One of the big changes in the situation is that, whereas 80 years ago, De Beers were looking for clients, today the Central Selling Organization is able to dispose of their goods readily, and far more people are seeking to become clients of that organization than can be supplied. Thus the broker must do more than merely satisfy the Central Selling Organization that they have a client of adequate financial means and of sound commercial ethics and standards. They must convince the London executives that the client has a major role to play in the diamond business, that he will handle his goods in the manner in which the De Beers organization wish to see them handled, that the business in question is likely to have a long-term future. Therefore, it may sometimes be necessary not only for sons of the principals to be in the business, but to express the intention that the grandsons might well join, too! In other words, the business must be ‘just right’, neither too small nor, in many ways, too large, since the De Beers company have always prudently preferred to split their assets among a reasonable number of solid firms rather than a very few ‘super’ manufacturers or very big dealers. As in all things in life, there are occasional exceptions to this rule!
It is through this maze of rather precise requirements that the broker will lead his client, and with the cooperation of all parties may eventually arrive at a point where the client receives his longed-for sight. It is not an easy road for any of the parties, and just as much as being involved in the technical aspects of obtaining a sight for his client, a broker may find that his tact and abilities are stretched to the limit in persuading his client to exercise patience, when, despite meeting all the normal qualifications, a sight is still not forthcoming. This is particularly true when a competitor has for no apparent reasons been more successful!
Obtaining a client is only a first step. Usually a considerable amount of work has been involved which often includes two or more trips to the client in his home country each year. Despite this, no fee or charge of any kind is made by the broker for these efforts. The broker’s eventual remuneration will depend on a commission from business actually done, and this is sole source of income.
Once the client has become a regular buyer at The Diamond Trading Company he will need to apply for each sight; he will wish to be informed as to various changes in prices, assortments, conditions existing at that company, and he will need to have this information very quickly because it could easily affect pending decisions regarding purchases and sales of his goods. The broker will look after these matters for his client, who may also wish to discuss general world conditions in the diamond market and thus assess his own requirements of rough diamonds. Certainly from time to time the client’s requirements may change, so that once again his broker will be pleading, possibly for more goods, or an additional variety of goods, or, perhaps, for a related company in an entirely different country. Naturally, when the buyer comes to London the broker is at his disposal. He will be present at talks with The Diamond Trading Company. He will also help his client with the purchase of his sight, responding whenever asked for analyses or advice concerning the goods offered—and the broker’s experience must enable him to be a sound judge in these matters. On occasions, the client is unable to come personally. Travel difficulties, illness, family affairs, or just pressures of business may make it difficult for him to come to London. The broker then takes over the whole task of making the purchase on behalf of the client—quite a major responsibility when it is remembered that the purchase may frequently involve several hundred thousand dollars worth of goods. The writer can recall once receiving what to a broker must be the ultimate accolade, when a client indicated that the purchase made was ‘even more satisfactory than when he himself attended’.
What has so far been written on this subject may give the reader some idea of the basic activity of a broker’s function. What is much more difficult to convey is the personal relationship with the client, and the broker’s special understanding of the issues involved. It is this side of the work which makes the syndicate broker’s task exceptional. In general, clients expect their brokers to understand their problems so fully that the broker can give advice. Indeed, if the relationship is as it should be without fault. Those who know the diamond business may well also realize that psychology and approach to business in the Pelikaanstraat or on 47th Street may be very different from the attitudes in the offices of The Diamond Trading Company. It is the broker’s task to smooth out these differences and to avoid any misunderstandings that could be caused. It is also natural that many diamond people have an inadequate command of the English language. Most of them were born in Belgium or Poland and the competent broker must be capable of speaking to his client in a language which he understands and of being an interpreter when discussions take place with The Diamond Trading Company. A further small but valuable service must be given to the client. He must be able to use his broker’s office as his own, receiving any kind of secretarial, telephone or telex service which he would require in his own office, and very often he receives, in addition to this, assistance in arranging his travel and shopping plans! The syndicate broker is anxious to do everything to make his client feel at home.
It can be seen that, with the diamond business operating on an important scale in Antwerp, Tel Aviv, Bombay and New York, and on a lesser scale in several other countries, a syndicate broker not only requires an alert and efficient office organization to help take care of administration and communications, but he must himself be prepared to travel almost every month to meet his clients in different parts of the world, and to be up-to-date with the situation in general, and, of course, to study his clients special needs. During these travels the broker will see many factories and have many conferences. He will himself ask many questions, and many enquiries will be made of him, but through his constant activity, always coming to a climax at the London sight, he will play his special role in lubricating the wheels of the diamond business.
(via International Diamond Annual, Vol.1, 1971) Vivian C Prins writes:
Those who are familiar with practice in diamond cutting centers may believe that it is a fairly simple matter to become a diamond manufacturer and to be supplied by one of the De Beers organizations. Anybody who has undertaken the task of manufacturing diamonds will, however, know, in fact how very difficult it is to become a regular client of De Beers. Nevertheless, a manufacturer who envisages a long-term operation on a substantial scale recognizes that the one source of raw material in diamonds which may be reliable will be from an outlet managed by one of the De Beers subsidiaries. In practice, the demand for diamonds from the Diamond Trading Company in London and Industrial Diamonds (Sales) Ltd, the main outlets of rough diamonds in the world, is normally so considerable that only a small fraction of those who would like to be supplied can regularly be offered goods. The intricacies of obtaining such supplies in the first place are such that anybody who is interested, whether dealer or manufacturer, seeks the services of a firm which has specialized knowledge of the process of obtaining from the ‘syndicate’ what is usually known as ‘a sight’.
These special firms are syndicate brokers, sometimes an individual and sometimes a whole organization, who have over the years made it their concern to know what is going on in their particular field of the diamond business. There are ten such firms of whom three are relatively large, and between them they handle the major part of the business.
It is to be supposed that the original brokers, whose work in this field began some 80 years ago under conditions very different from today, existed because the De Beers organization was looking for clients and seeking buyers for its goods. During the last century the broker, therefore, represented both the buyer and the seller, normally obtaining a commission from each side. The state of the diamond business at that time was relatively primitive; since then the De Beers organization, as well as the world diamond trade, has developed enormously. During this period the role of the broker has also evolved from the relatively simple function of bringing buyer and seller together—possibly by having a personal family or business relationship with each party—into a major business where the responsibilities and the services are greatly expanded.
The function of today’s broker is still best described as bringing the buyer and the seller together, and it is essential that he has the fullest confidence of both sides. The Diamond Trading Company, as well as the buyer, must have complete assurance of the broker’s integrity, and the nature of the business also demands as much secrecy and discretion as may be expected of a physician.
One of the big changes in the situation is that, whereas 80 years ago, De Beers were looking for clients, today the Central Selling Organization is able to dispose of their goods readily, and far more people are seeking to become clients of that organization than can be supplied. Thus the broker must do more than merely satisfy the Central Selling Organization that they have a client of adequate financial means and of sound commercial ethics and standards. They must convince the London executives that the client has a major role to play in the diamond business, that he will handle his goods in the manner in which the De Beers organization wish to see them handled, that the business in question is likely to have a long-term future. Therefore, it may sometimes be necessary not only for sons of the principals to be in the business, but to express the intention that the grandsons might well join, too! In other words, the business must be ‘just right’, neither too small nor, in many ways, too large, since the De Beers company have always prudently preferred to split their assets among a reasonable number of solid firms rather than a very few ‘super’ manufacturers or very big dealers. As in all things in life, there are occasional exceptions to this rule!
It is through this maze of rather precise requirements that the broker will lead his client, and with the cooperation of all parties may eventually arrive at a point where the client receives his longed-for sight. It is not an easy road for any of the parties, and just as much as being involved in the technical aspects of obtaining a sight for his client, a broker may find that his tact and abilities are stretched to the limit in persuading his client to exercise patience, when, despite meeting all the normal qualifications, a sight is still not forthcoming. This is particularly true when a competitor has for no apparent reasons been more successful!
Obtaining a client is only a first step. Usually a considerable amount of work has been involved which often includes two or more trips to the client in his home country each year. Despite this, no fee or charge of any kind is made by the broker for these efforts. The broker’s eventual remuneration will depend on a commission from business actually done, and this is sole source of income.
Once the client has become a regular buyer at The Diamond Trading Company he will need to apply for each sight; he will wish to be informed as to various changes in prices, assortments, conditions existing at that company, and he will need to have this information very quickly because it could easily affect pending decisions regarding purchases and sales of his goods. The broker will look after these matters for his client, who may also wish to discuss general world conditions in the diamond market and thus assess his own requirements of rough diamonds. Certainly from time to time the client’s requirements may change, so that once again his broker will be pleading, possibly for more goods, or an additional variety of goods, or, perhaps, for a related company in an entirely different country. Naturally, when the buyer comes to London the broker is at his disposal. He will be present at talks with The Diamond Trading Company. He will also help his client with the purchase of his sight, responding whenever asked for analyses or advice concerning the goods offered—and the broker’s experience must enable him to be a sound judge in these matters. On occasions, the client is unable to come personally. Travel difficulties, illness, family affairs, or just pressures of business may make it difficult for him to come to London. The broker then takes over the whole task of making the purchase on behalf of the client—quite a major responsibility when it is remembered that the purchase may frequently involve several hundred thousand dollars worth of goods. The writer can recall once receiving what to a broker must be the ultimate accolade, when a client indicated that the purchase made was ‘even more satisfactory than when he himself attended’.
What has so far been written on this subject may give the reader some idea of the basic activity of a broker’s function. What is much more difficult to convey is the personal relationship with the client, and the broker’s special understanding of the issues involved. It is this side of the work which makes the syndicate broker’s task exceptional. In general, clients expect their brokers to understand their problems so fully that the broker can give advice. Indeed, if the relationship is as it should be without fault. Those who know the diamond business may well also realize that psychology and approach to business in the Pelikaanstraat or on 47th Street may be very different from the attitudes in the offices of The Diamond Trading Company. It is the broker’s task to smooth out these differences and to avoid any misunderstandings that could be caused. It is also natural that many diamond people have an inadequate command of the English language. Most of them were born in Belgium or Poland and the competent broker must be capable of speaking to his client in a language which he understands and of being an interpreter when discussions take place with The Diamond Trading Company. A further small but valuable service must be given to the client. He must be able to use his broker’s office as his own, receiving any kind of secretarial, telephone or telex service which he would require in his own office, and very often he receives, in addition to this, assistance in arranging his travel and shopping plans! The syndicate broker is anxious to do everything to make his client feel at home.
It can be seen that, with the diamond business operating on an important scale in Antwerp, Tel Aviv, Bombay and New York, and on a lesser scale in several other countries, a syndicate broker not only requires an alert and efficient office organization to help take care of administration and communications, but he must himself be prepared to travel almost every month to meet his clients in different parts of the world, and to be up-to-date with the situation in general, and, of course, to study his clients special needs. During these travels the broker will see many factories and have many conferences. He will himself ask many questions, and many enquiries will be made of him, but through his constant activity, always coming to a climax at the London sight, he will play his special role in lubricating the wheels of the diamond business.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
The More Sensitive You Are, The More Certain You Are To Be Brutalised
(via Guardian Unlimited) Truman Capote's interview of Marlon Brando in Kyoto, Japan, 1957 @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatinterviews/story/0,,2154887,00.html
Marlon Brando is one my favorite actors + his ability to morph and totally internally reflect into unique characters is just amazing. Sometimes I watch his movies several times just to understand the character (s). The interview with Truman Capote also reveals his philosophy about life, people, cultures, friends, family and the business of acting itself. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Marlon Brando is one my favorite actors + his ability to morph and totally internally reflect into unique characters is just amazing. Sometimes I watch his movies several times just to understand the character (s). The interview with Truman Capote also reveals his philosophy about life, people, cultures, friends, family and the business of acting itself. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Art In The Garden
The Economist writes about Sotheby’s experimental approach in selling directly to interested collectors outside the constraints and physical confines of the auction house + other viewpoints @ https://www.economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9783553
The Newfound Pollocks: Real Or Fake?
Kelly Devine Thomas writes about the differences of opinion among the experts over the authenticity of 32 newly discovered works said to be by the artist + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1888
This reminds me of colored stone grading + diamond grading + origin determination by reputed gem testing/grading labs. Despite using nearly the same standards + equipments, the experts can't agree + they give you different grades or misidentify the provenance, for instance, in the case of rubies, blue sapphires and emeralds. At times you ask yourself: can you trust the labs? What are the options? Very few. To me, gems and paintings are twins. They both have the same concepts and characters + perceived value, beauty, rarity and deception.
This reminds me of colored stone grading + diamond grading + origin determination by reputed gem testing/grading labs. Despite using nearly the same standards + equipments, the experts can't agree + they give you different grades or misidentify the provenance, for instance, in the case of rubies, blue sapphires and emeralds. At times you ask yourself: can you trust the labs? What are the options? Very few. To me, gems and paintings are twins. They both have the same concepts and characters + perceived value, beauty, rarity and deception.
The Red Diamond
2007: The red diamond story is interesting and educational + this can happen even today. I think some people have the 'touch' to locate the source + identify + sell for a profit. At times diamonds can be a gift or curse. Some are just plain lucky to find and hold it forever.
(via International Diamond Annual, Vol.1, 1971) Max Drukker writes:
‘Do you remember the red diamond, Oppie?
My old friend Houthakker and I were walking along the Marine Parade in Durban, South Africa, when we bumped into Sir Ernest Oppenheimer. Houthakker introduced me. We fell to talking about diamonds, as diamond men will, whenever they meet. Houthakker was a diamond broker who regularly sold diamonds to the Oppenheimer group.
“You must remember that piece of boart I showed you in your office, Oppie. It was 33 carats. I asked you what you thought of it and what I should do with it.” “Oh, yes,” said Sir Ernest. “I think I remember. Didn’t I say you should send it to Amsterdam as a piece of boart and let them try to cleave or polish it? What happened?”
And so I told Sir Ernest Oppenheimer the story of the red diamond, for I was one of those brought into consultation in Amsterdam when Houthakker followed “Oppie’s” advice and sent the boart to the Goudvis company in Amsterdam. Louis Goudvis had been the buyer for our company in South Africa for many years.
Houthakker used to visit the diggings at Lichtenburg regularly. One day a digger came to him with a diamond. “Wat moet die klippie kost?” he asked Houthakker, handing him the big piece of boart. “Wait jij geef” was Houthakker’s reply. After a bit of haggling, the stone changed hands at £2 a carat.
When the parcel arrived at the Goudvis company, in Keizersgracht, Amsterdam, the five brothers looked at the black stone. Houthakker had asked the stone should be cut on a fifty-fifty basis. “Houthakker must be crazy,” said the youngest Goudvis. “It’s just a piece of boart. We can use it as a powder for polishing.” But the eldest brother said: “Take it easy. Let’s look at the stone first.”
The master cutter was called in and then the cleaning experts. One and all they insisted it was just a piece of boart. Only the eldest Goudvis brother, holding the stone under lamplight, thought differently. “I see light,” he said firmly. After cabled exchanges with Houthakker, it was decided to make “windows” on each side of the stone. Two carats were lost but the stone was still black. Again the eldest Goudvis said stubbornly: “I see light.”
There were more cabled exchanges with Houthakker. Windows were made on all sides of the stone. It now weighed 23 carats, it looked brownish but nothing else. And then the master cutter made a kind of crystal shape out of the stone and, suddenly, he too saw a beam of light. He took the stone from the scaif and hurried to the eldest Goudvis. It was a miracle. Under a strong lamp a reddish gleam could be seen in the heart of the stone.
This was only the beginning. Heated discussions began about the shape of the stone—whether it should be round or square. After another seven months of studying the stone and polishing it, there emerged an emerald-shaped diamond of 5.05 carats—pure and of red color. The five brothers had become more and more excited. When the stone was ready, it was put on the big table in their private office—and they look at it by candlelight. Except for the candle the big room was totally dark: and in the flicker of its beam, it was as if a drop of blood had fallen on the hand that held the diamond.
This was 1927. We began to wonder what the value of a red diamond would be. Top blue white pure diamonds are rare; but a red diamond, which is pure as well—that, indeed, is a rarity. There was no diamond dealer in Amsterdam who would make a firm estimate. The Goudvis brothers thought it might fetch at least one hundred thousand Dutch guilders. Hugo Prins, the famous authority on polished stones, made a much higher valuation.
Newspapermen were not very helpful about publicizing this red diamond in those days—it’s very different with publicity today. No buyer came along. So it was decided to send the stone to New York. The youngest Goudvis took it there. The four leading jewelers in New York looked at the stone. Nobody was interested. The stone came back to Amsterdam and soon afterwards a cable arrived from the chief buyer of Tiffany’s: “Have customer for red stone.” Again Goudvis traveled to New York and the red diamond was shown to Tiffany’s client—he was owner of one of the biggest soap manufacturing companies in the world and he was looking for an exclusive present for his fiancée. The client offered 100,000 dollars, including Tiffany’s commission.
Cables flashed to and fro. The oldest Goudvis brother wanted to sell, saying it was the chance of a lifetime. The others wanted more—for something extra special, an extra special price. They stood out for $150000. The customer withdrew his offer and was not interested any more.
The stone went back into the safe in Amsterdam. During the Depression and then in the war years, the red diamond had many adventures. During the war and the occupation of Holland a group of German jewelers bought polished diamonds and amongst them was the red diamond, for which 70000 Dutch guilders were paid. Then, when peace came, the red diamond was found again in Germany and bought back to Holland. The Goudvis brothers were now all dead and, as the Goudvis heirs owed money to the Amsterdamse Bank, the stone was sold by tender in 1947. I made a bid for the diamond with an offer of 23000 Dutch guilders. The highest bid was 57000 Dutch guilders. The story goes that George Prins bought the red diamond for an American account. But I do not know where that diamond now is. This is one of those cases where no one knows where a famous diamond eventually comes to rest. One thing is certain. The red diamond is a very special diamond indeed.
(via International Diamond Annual, Vol.1, 1971) Max Drukker writes:
‘Do you remember the red diamond, Oppie?
My old friend Houthakker and I were walking along the Marine Parade in Durban, South Africa, when we bumped into Sir Ernest Oppenheimer. Houthakker introduced me. We fell to talking about diamonds, as diamond men will, whenever they meet. Houthakker was a diamond broker who regularly sold diamonds to the Oppenheimer group.
“You must remember that piece of boart I showed you in your office, Oppie. It was 33 carats. I asked you what you thought of it and what I should do with it.” “Oh, yes,” said Sir Ernest. “I think I remember. Didn’t I say you should send it to Amsterdam as a piece of boart and let them try to cleave or polish it? What happened?”
And so I told Sir Ernest Oppenheimer the story of the red diamond, for I was one of those brought into consultation in Amsterdam when Houthakker followed “Oppie’s” advice and sent the boart to the Goudvis company in Amsterdam. Louis Goudvis had been the buyer for our company in South Africa for many years.
Houthakker used to visit the diggings at Lichtenburg regularly. One day a digger came to him with a diamond. “Wat moet die klippie kost?” he asked Houthakker, handing him the big piece of boart. “Wait jij geef” was Houthakker’s reply. After a bit of haggling, the stone changed hands at £2 a carat.
When the parcel arrived at the Goudvis company, in Keizersgracht, Amsterdam, the five brothers looked at the black stone. Houthakker had asked the stone should be cut on a fifty-fifty basis. “Houthakker must be crazy,” said the youngest Goudvis. “It’s just a piece of boart. We can use it as a powder for polishing.” But the eldest brother said: “Take it easy. Let’s look at the stone first.”
The master cutter was called in and then the cleaning experts. One and all they insisted it was just a piece of boart. Only the eldest Goudvis brother, holding the stone under lamplight, thought differently. “I see light,” he said firmly. After cabled exchanges with Houthakker, it was decided to make “windows” on each side of the stone. Two carats were lost but the stone was still black. Again the eldest Goudvis said stubbornly: “I see light.”
There were more cabled exchanges with Houthakker. Windows were made on all sides of the stone. It now weighed 23 carats, it looked brownish but nothing else. And then the master cutter made a kind of crystal shape out of the stone and, suddenly, he too saw a beam of light. He took the stone from the scaif and hurried to the eldest Goudvis. It was a miracle. Under a strong lamp a reddish gleam could be seen in the heart of the stone.
This was only the beginning. Heated discussions began about the shape of the stone—whether it should be round or square. After another seven months of studying the stone and polishing it, there emerged an emerald-shaped diamond of 5.05 carats—pure and of red color. The five brothers had become more and more excited. When the stone was ready, it was put on the big table in their private office—and they look at it by candlelight. Except for the candle the big room was totally dark: and in the flicker of its beam, it was as if a drop of blood had fallen on the hand that held the diamond.
This was 1927. We began to wonder what the value of a red diamond would be. Top blue white pure diamonds are rare; but a red diamond, which is pure as well—that, indeed, is a rarity. There was no diamond dealer in Amsterdam who would make a firm estimate. The Goudvis brothers thought it might fetch at least one hundred thousand Dutch guilders. Hugo Prins, the famous authority on polished stones, made a much higher valuation.
Newspapermen were not very helpful about publicizing this red diamond in those days—it’s very different with publicity today. No buyer came along. So it was decided to send the stone to New York. The youngest Goudvis took it there. The four leading jewelers in New York looked at the stone. Nobody was interested. The stone came back to Amsterdam and soon afterwards a cable arrived from the chief buyer of Tiffany’s: “Have customer for red stone.” Again Goudvis traveled to New York and the red diamond was shown to Tiffany’s client—he was owner of one of the biggest soap manufacturing companies in the world and he was looking for an exclusive present for his fiancée. The client offered 100,000 dollars, including Tiffany’s commission.
Cables flashed to and fro. The oldest Goudvis brother wanted to sell, saying it was the chance of a lifetime. The others wanted more—for something extra special, an extra special price. They stood out for $150000. The customer withdrew his offer and was not interested any more.
The stone went back into the safe in Amsterdam. During the Depression and then in the war years, the red diamond had many adventures. During the war and the occupation of Holland a group of German jewelers bought polished diamonds and amongst them was the red diamond, for which 70000 Dutch guilders were paid. Then, when peace came, the red diamond was found again in Germany and bought back to Holland. The Goudvis brothers were now all dead and, as the Goudvis heirs owed money to the Amsterdamse Bank, the stone was sold by tender in 1947. I made a bid for the diamond with an offer of 23000 Dutch guilders. The highest bid was 57000 Dutch guilders. The story goes that George Prins bought the red diamond for an American account. But I do not know where that diamond now is. This is one of those cases where no one knows where a famous diamond eventually comes to rest. One thing is certain. The red diamond is a very special diamond indeed.
Where To Look
Bill James (Australia) writes:
It is a similar process to that which causes tree trunks of long ago to be changed to stone in cheerful yellows, browns and grays which now turn up as pebbles that make attractive costume jewelry. In Queensland, opal is found inside small boulders of dark sandstone known to miners as Yowah nuts. Some of these contain kernels of precious opal, rather like the thunder eggs of agate. In these many varied ways, over immense periods of time, Australia’s jewel box of gems has been built up. Already many of these deposits have been discovered, but others await discovery, and it may well be by some amateur gem seeker.
These stones are all products of our earths crust, except one—the tektite, a word that means ‘melted rock’. Tektites are thought to have come from space, either as volcanic glass from the surface of the moon or in the tail of a comet. Tektites are translucent, greenish to brownish objects, averaging an ounce or more in weight and occurring in a number of rounded shapes. They are estimated to be less than 10 millions years old. They occur in at least six other parts of the world as well Australia and North Western Tasmania. Millions are scattered south of an irregular line from the Kimberleys to Kyogle in New South Wales.
In some areas they are scattered thickly. Around Charlotte Waters in the Northern Territory, an explorer collected 8000. Over the course of time, like other gemstones, tektites found their way into alluvial deposits. Early New South Wales gold miners called them ‘button stones’ and believed they indicated rich yields of gold. Some even took them to California as lucky charms. As substances which have reached us from the remoteness of space, tektites have a peculiar appeal to the imagination. They make up readily into costume jewelry that is certain to create interest.
It is a similar process to that which causes tree trunks of long ago to be changed to stone in cheerful yellows, browns and grays which now turn up as pebbles that make attractive costume jewelry. In Queensland, opal is found inside small boulders of dark sandstone known to miners as Yowah nuts. Some of these contain kernels of precious opal, rather like the thunder eggs of agate. In these many varied ways, over immense periods of time, Australia’s jewel box of gems has been built up. Already many of these deposits have been discovered, but others await discovery, and it may well be by some amateur gem seeker.
These stones are all products of our earths crust, except one—the tektite, a word that means ‘melted rock’. Tektites are thought to have come from space, either as volcanic glass from the surface of the moon or in the tail of a comet. Tektites are translucent, greenish to brownish objects, averaging an ounce or more in weight and occurring in a number of rounded shapes. They are estimated to be less than 10 millions years old. They occur in at least six other parts of the world as well Australia and North Western Tasmania. Millions are scattered south of an irregular line from the Kimberleys to Kyogle in New South Wales.
In some areas they are scattered thickly. Around Charlotte Waters in the Northern Territory, an explorer collected 8000. Over the course of time, like other gemstones, tektites found their way into alluvial deposits. Early New South Wales gold miners called them ‘button stones’ and believed they indicated rich yields of gold. Some even took them to California as lucky charms. As substances which have reached us from the remoteness of space, tektites have a peculiar appeal to the imagination. They make up readily into costume jewelry that is certain to create interest.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Watership Down
Greatest Opening Film Lines (Watership Down - 1978):
Long ago, the great Frith made the world. He made all the stars, and the Earth lived among the stars. He made all the animals and birds, and at first, he made them all the same. Now, among the animals in these days was El-Ahrairah, the prince of rabbits. He had many friends, and they all ate grass together. But after a time, the rabbits wandered everywhere, multiplying and eating as they went. Then Frith said to El-Ahrairah, 'Prince Rabbit, if you cannot control your people, I shall find ways to control them.'
Long ago, the great Frith made the world. He made all the stars, and the Earth lived among the stars. He made all the animals and birds, and at first, he made them all the same. Now, among the animals in these days was El-Ahrairah, the prince of rabbits. He had many friends, and they all ate grass together. But after a time, the rabbits wandered everywhere, multiplying and eating as they went. Then Frith said to El-Ahrairah, 'Prince Rabbit, if you cannot control your people, I shall find ways to control them.'
Bob Dylan
Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot.
I really liked it.
I really liked it.
The Top Ten: 2005
Milton Esterow writes about art market perception (s) + the way collectors spend their money to buy the right thing + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1868
The ARTnews 200
http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1866
The ARTnews 200
http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1866
The Call Of The Fens
Stuart Jeffries takes part in a unique art project and shares his experience (s) @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2158660,00.html
Where To Look
Bill James (Australia) writes:
Wind, rain frost and chemical reaction with gases in the atmosphere, smash and decompose the hardest rocks. Running water is the world’s most energetic miner. It carries vast loads of material to sea with every rainfall. Rivers and streams carve away the faces of mountains, pounding rocks into pebbles and sand. Where the stream rushes swiftly, the bedrock is scoured; where it loiters, the gravels carried in the water are left in what are called alluvial deposits.
These deposits contain the heavy insoluble materials washed from the rocks, including gold and gemstones. Rain falling over a mountain range sweeps into the river systems of the area the debris of rocks already decomposed by exposure to air and the alternate effects of frost and sunshine. In this way rivers concentrate deposits of both gold and gems that are far richer than those contained in the original rocks.
But many things can happen to a river in a few thousand years. Most likely it will change its course several times, each time leaving gem gravels high and dry and creating fresh deposits in new places. Rivers have been gathering gold and gems from the rocks of Australia not for thousands of years but thousands of million of years. Time and again the landscape has changed. Where once a river flowed from east to west, it is diverted to flow from north to south. What was once a streambed becomes a mountain-top; sea invades the river valley, smashing the rocks with its waves. Or perhaps a huge glacier, most ruthless of nature’s jackhammers, grinds across the land, carving mountains to new shapes, leveling valleys, carting heaps of rock and gravel many miles to faraway places. Glaciers left their mark on Tasmania and New South Wales and scattered a thin trail of diamonds as they rasped across the highlands of north-eastern Victoria. In one place ice blocked the rivers; in another, fire. Lava from a volcano flowed over the diamond field of Copetown in New England some 40 million years ago burying a riverbed under up to 130 ft. of basalt.
Buried alluvial deposits are known as deep leads and some people believe there is a fortune in diamonds in the deep lead at Copeton, in the New England district of New South Wales, but the cost of finding out has made it too great a gamble for anyone to venture as yet. Copeton is unique in being the only place in Australia where a diamond has been found in its original volcanic vent. This was a dolerite (basalt) dyke at Oakey Creek. The vast changes that have taken place on the earth’s surface have given rise to two other types of rocks beside those of an igneous nature. Sedimentary rocks are derived from the weathered waste of older rocks, like sandstone or conglomerate, or precipitated from solution, as gypsum or limestone. Gemstones are sometimes found among the pebbles and rock fragments making up conglomerates.
Richer in ores than the water-formed sediments are the metamorphic rocks. These are created by the transformation of igneous and sedimentary rocks under extremes of heat and pressure. Under these circumstances granite become gneiss and limestone changes to marble. This is known as regional or dynamic metamorphism and may occur over large areas. Metamorphic rocks are a product of the tremendous convulsions of the earth’s surface that I have already mentioned. When magma forces its way into and through existing rocks, changes occur that are described as local or contact metamorphism.
In this, the superheated, concentrated solutions of magmatic water, with its chemical mineralisers, play an important part. As a result, sapphires and rubies, garnets and spinels among other gems occur in contact metamorphic deposits.
In some metamorphic rocks, crystals of mica, garnet, chlorite and other minerals have been lined up so that the rock will break easily along parallel surfaces. Such rocks are called schists. Turquoise is found in veins through some schists and slate —metamorphosed shale from Rockhampton to Brisbane in Queensland, and also at localities in New South Wales and Victoria. Among other gemstones produced from silica solutions are chalcedony, agate and Australia’s pride, the opal.
Opal comes in two forms, common and precious; with the common opal, known to the miners as potch, often acting as a signpost to the better stuff. Potch can be colorless, as hyalite, amber, milky, blue-gray or black, but it lacks iridescence and fire. Precious opal glows in red, blues, and greens, colors that flash and move as the stone is turned in the light, rainbow hues created by the breakdown of light through layers in the gem having slightly different refractive properties.
In Australia precious opal was first discovered as nodules and veins in cracks and cavities of basaltic lava and the quartz-rich igneous rocks called andesite or trachyte. But this mountain opal was disappointingly subject to cracking and crazing on exposure to dry air. The real opal country is the 50000 square miles of sandstone laid under the sea that spread over much of central Australia 120 million years ago. This dry and bare expanse of modest hills and sandstone ridges takes in 52 known mining localities in Queensland as well as White Cliffs and Lightning Ridge in New South Wales.
Mines at Andamooka and Coober Pedy are in sandstone and shale of a similar period and it is likely that important deposits of opal await discovery in the so-called desert sandstones of South Australia. The silica solutions which filled crevices and replaced other substances, such as wood and bone, in the rock also cemented the sandstone into what is called duricrust. As angel stone, shin-cracker and steelband, this hard rock is usually found in layers above opal.
A number of fossils have been turned to opals, including plants, shells and the bones of dinosaurs. Just before the First World War an almost perfect skeleton of a small dinosaur came to light at White Cliffs. Part of a crocodile’s jaw and teeth in blue black opal was dug up at Lightning Ridge, where the celebrated ‘nobbies’ are also of fossil origin. But this is not to say that the opal dates back to dinosaurs. The skeleton of a cat, buried in a miner’s hat, was found to have turned to pale pink opal. Gateposts buried 20 years were found to be opalised at the foot.
Where To Look: (continued)
Wind, rain frost and chemical reaction with gases in the atmosphere, smash and decompose the hardest rocks. Running water is the world’s most energetic miner. It carries vast loads of material to sea with every rainfall. Rivers and streams carve away the faces of mountains, pounding rocks into pebbles and sand. Where the stream rushes swiftly, the bedrock is scoured; where it loiters, the gravels carried in the water are left in what are called alluvial deposits.
These deposits contain the heavy insoluble materials washed from the rocks, including gold and gemstones. Rain falling over a mountain range sweeps into the river systems of the area the debris of rocks already decomposed by exposure to air and the alternate effects of frost and sunshine. In this way rivers concentrate deposits of both gold and gems that are far richer than those contained in the original rocks.
But many things can happen to a river in a few thousand years. Most likely it will change its course several times, each time leaving gem gravels high and dry and creating fresh deposits in new places. Rivers have been gathering gold and gems from the rocks of Australia not for thousands of years but thousands of million of years. Time and again the landscape has changed. Where once a river flowed from east to west, it is diverted to flow from north to south. What was once a streambed becomes a mountain-top; sea invades the river valley, smashing the rocks with its waves. Or perhaps a huge glacier, most ruthless of nature’s jackhammers, grinds across the land, carving mountains to new shapes, leveling valleys, carting heaps of rock and gravel many miles to faraway places. Glaciers left their mark on Tasmania and New South Wales and scattered a thin trail of diamonds as they rasped across the highlands of north-eastern Victoria. In one place ice blocked the rivers; in another, fire. Lava from a volcano flowed over the diamond field of Copetown in New England some 40 million years ago burying a riverbed under up to 130 ft. of basalt.
Buried alluvial deposits are known as deep leads and some people believe there is a fortune in diamonds in the deep lead at Copeton, in the New England district of New South Wales, but the cost of finding out has made it too great a gamble for anyone to venture as yet. Copeton is unique in being the only place in Australia where a diamond has been found in its original volcanic vent. This was a dolerite (basalt) dyke at Oakey Creek. The vast changes that have taken place on the earth’s surface have given rise to two other types of rocks beside those of an igneous nature. Sedimentary rocks are derived from the weathered waste of older rocks, like sandstone or conglomerate, or precipitated from solution, as gypsum or limestone. Gemstones are sometimes found among the pebbles and rock fragments making up conglomerates.
Richer in ores than the water-formed sediments are the metamorphic rocks. These are created by the transformation of igneous and sedimentary rocks under extremes of heat and pressure. Under these circumstances granite become gneiss and limestone changes to marble. This is known as regional or dynamic metamorphism and may occur over large areas. Metamorphic rocks are a product of the tremendous convulsions of the earth’s surface that I have already mentioned. When magma forces its way into and through existing rocks, changes occur that are described as local or contact metamorphism.
In this, the superheated, concentrated solutions of magmatic water, with its chemical mineralisers, play an important part. As a result, sapphires and rubies, garnets and spinels among other gems occur in contact metamorphic deposits.
In some metamorphic rocks, crystals of mica, garnet, chlorite and other minerals have been lined up so that the rock will break easily along parallel surfaces. Such rocks are called schists. Turquoise is found in veins through some schists and slate —metamorphosed shale from Rockhampton to Brisbane in Queensland, and also at localities in New South Wales and Victoria. Among other gemstones produced from silica solutions are chalcedony, agate and Australia’s pride, the opal.
Opal comes in two forms, common and precious; with the common opal, known to the miners as potch, often acting as a signpost to the better stuff. Potch can be colorless, as hyalite, amber, milky, blue-gray or black, but it lacks iridescence and fire. Precious opal glows in red, blues, and greens, colors that flash and move as the stone is turned in the light, rainbow hues created by the breakdown of light through layers in the gem having slightly different refractive properties.
In Australia precious opal was first discovered as nodules and veins in cracks and cavities of basaltic lava and the quartz-rich igneous rocks called andesite or trachyte. But this mountain opal was disappointingly subject to cracking and crazing on exposure to dry air. The real opal country is the 50000 square miles of sandstone laid under the sea that spread over much of central Australia 120 million years ago. This dry and bare expanse of modest hills and sandstone ridges takes in 52 known mining localities in Queensland as well as White Cliffs and Lightning Ridge in New South Wales.
Mines at Andamooka and Coober Pedy are in sandstone and shale of a similar period and it is likely that important deposits of opal await discovery in the so-called desert sandstones of South Australia. The silica solutions which filled crevices and replaced other substances, such as wood and bone, in the rock also cemented the sandstone into what is called duricrust. As angel stone, shin-cracker and steelband, this hard rock is usually found in layers above opal.
A number of fossils have been turned to opals, including plants, shells and the bones of dinosaurs. Just before the First World War an almost perfect skeleton of a small dinosaur came to light at White Cliffs. Part of a crocodile’s jaw and teeth in blue black opal was dug up at Lightning Ridge, where the celebrated ‘nobbies’ are also of fossil origin. But this is not to say that the opal dates back to dinosaurs. The skeleton of a cat, buried in a miner’s hat, was found to have turned to pale pink opal. Gateposts buried 20 years were found to be opalised at the foot.
Where To Look: (continued)
Monday, September 10, 2007
Jose Carreras
I think the second to be true, because the soul is the center and the source of all these emotions, it's the start of singing, it's inside us; the voice is the instrument, but it's the brain that gives the orders for our actions, so I strongly believe that singing starts in the soul.
Annie Hall
Greatest Opening Film Lines (Annie Hall - 1977):
There's an old joke: Two elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain resort. And one of 'em says: 'Boy, the food in this place is really terrible.' The other one says: 'Yeah, I know. And such small portions.' Well, that's essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly.
There's an old joke: Two elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain resort. And one of 'em says: 'Boy, the food in this place is really terrible.' The other one says: 'Yeah, I know. And such small portions.' Well, that's essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly.
Investing: The Last Liberal Art
Good Books: (via Emergic) Robert Hagstrom’s book Investing: The Last Liberal Art talks about the need for a latticework of mental models. It is inspired by Charlie Munger’s thinking that one needs to have a framework of the best ideas across multiple disciplines. I have been a Charlie Munger fan for a long time. So it wasn't difficult for me to understand the concept. It's a good book.
From the book description: Investing: The Last Liberal Art offers a unique picture of investing within the larger world. It explains how investment management works by borrowing the big ideas from other complex disciplines: biology, economics, mathematics, philosophy, physics, and psychology. In the biology chapter, Hagstrom analyzes the central nervous system and the immune system as complex adaptive systems and then draws parallels with the behavior of the economy and the stock market. In the physics chapter, he explores a mathematical distribution and considers the advantages of scale in relation to the bigger is better models that define the business strategies of Wal-Mart, McDonald's, and Home Depot. This interdisciplinary approach or model describes in which mechanisms the markets work and how to select and hold stocks.
Chetan Parikh writes in his review:
This book is certainly the best book that I have read for a long time. It is a book on how to connect and unify many disciplines - physics, biology, social sciences, psychology, philosophy and literature - to investing and the markets. It also contains some serious advice on how to read a book - a boon to avid bookworms like me.
Ideas just bubble from every page - the author warns in the preface: "Reading this book requires, then, both an intellectual curiosity and a significant measure of patience." - I went through the book in just two sittings, impatient as I was for more. In a way, this book crystallises the thoughts of Charlie Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who believes in a liberal arts understanding of investing and feels that building a latticework of mental models could greatly help people to improve their investment returns. Bill Miller, the investing superstar of Legg Mason, actually practices this by gaining insights from various disciplines to aid his investment thinking.
To be an intellectual Christopher Columbus, an investor should acquire models or concepts from various branches of knowledge and then attempt to recognise patterns of similarity in them. Investment decisions have a higher probability of success when ideas from other disciplines also lead to the same conclusion. As Charlie Munger has stated - "You've got to have models in your head and you've got to array your experience - both vicarious and direct - on this latticework of models." As Benjamin Franklin said it is forming "habits of mind" that seek to link together different disciplines. Intelligence is really a factor of how many connections or links one has learned. As Munger also stated: "You can reach out and grasp the model that better solves the overall problem. All you have to do is know it and develop the right mental habits. Worldly wisdom is mostly very, very simple. There are a relatively small number of disciplines and a relatively small number of truly big ideas. And it's a lot of fun to figure it out. Even better, the fun never stops. Furthermore, there's a lot of money in it, as I can testify from my own personal experience. What I'm urging on you is not that hard to do. And the rewards are awesome. It'll help you in business. It'll help you in law. It'll help you in life. And it'll help you in love. It makes you better able to serve others, it makes you better able to serve yourself, and it makes life more fun."
From the book description: Investing: The Last Liberal Art offers a unique picture of investing within the larger world. It explains how investment management works by borrowing the big ideas from other complex disciplines: biology, economics, mathematics, philosophy, physics, and psychology. In the biology chapter, Hagstrom analyzes the central nervous system and the immune system as complex adaptive systems and then draws parallels with the behavior of the economy and the stock market. In the physics chapter, he explores a mathematical distribution and considers the advantages of scale in relation to the bigger is better models that define the business strategies of Wal-Mart, McDonald's, and Home Depot. This interdisciplinary approach or model describes in which mechanisms the markets work and how to select and hold stocks.
Chetan Parikh writes in his review:
This book is certainly the best book that I have read for a long time. It is a book on how to connect and unify many disciplines - physics, biology, social sciences, psychology, philosophy and literature - to investing and the markets. It also contains some serious advice on how to read a book - a boon to avid bookworms like me.
Ideas just bubble from every page - the author warns in the preface: "Reading this book requires, then, both an intellectual curiosity and a significant measure of patience." - I went through the book in just two sittings, impatient as I was for more. In a way, this book crystallises the thoughts of Charlie Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who believes in a liberal arts understanding of investing and feels that building a latticework of mental models could greatly help people to improve their investment returns. Bill Miller, the investing superstar of Legg Mason, actually practices this by gaining insights from various disciplines to aid his investment thinking.
To be an intellectual Christopher Columbus, an investor should acquire models or concepts from various branches of knowledge and then attempt to recognise patterns of similarity in them. Investment decisions have a higher probability of success when ideas from other disciplines also lead to the same conclusion. As Charlie Munger has stated - "You've got to have models in your head and you've got to array your experience - both vicarious and direct - on this latticework of models." As Benjamin Franklin said it is forming "habits of mind" that seek to link together different disciplines. Intelligence is really a factor of how many connections or links one has learned. As Munger also stated: "You can reach out and grasp the model that better solves the overall problem. All you have to do is know it and develop the right mental habits. Worldly wisdom is mostly very, very simple. There are a relatively small number of disciplines and a relatively small number of truly big ideas. And it's a lot of fun to figure it out. Even better, the fun never stops. Furthermore, there's a lot of money in it, as I can testify from my own personal experience. What I'm urging on you is not that hard to do. And the rewards are awesome. It'll help you in business. It'll help you in law. It'll help you in life. And it'll help you in love. It makes you better able to serve others, it makes you better able to serve yourself, and it makes life more fun."
The EC’s SoC Predicament: Is The Secondary Market A Relevant Market?
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about primary and secondary vs. rough diamond markets + the future of secondary rough diamond markets + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=23540
How To Talk To An Artist
Gail Gregg provides useful tips on interacting with artists + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1856
Where To Look
Bill James (Australia) writes:
The geologist is a man with a bunch of keys to nature’s jewel box. But there are many different keys for the box has many locks and most of them are hidden under the dust of ages. The written history of even the oldest and most celebrated jewels is only an infinitesimal part of their story. Their strangest adventures in the world of men are insignificant compared to the wonder of their creation.
Nearly all gemstones are minerals, some of which are rarer than others. This rarity is one of the qualities for which they are prized, for only a minor proportion of all the world’s gemstones exist in localities where they can be readily collected or mined. It is in reading the clues to these localities that the science of geology comes to the aid of gem seeker. It is as if nature had set up a great game of treasure trove for us with gemstones as one of the prizes.
If we were lucky, we may stumble upon a gem deposit by accident. But the odds of doing so are more on our side if we have an idea where to look. Like other minerals, most , but not all, gemstones were formed in association with igneous rocks. Igneous means formed by heat, and these are rocks which resulted from the cooling and solidifying of some of the molten matter making up the interior of the earth.
Many igneous rock are said to be of a crystalline texture. This means that their hard mass is composed of small crystals, the size of which is determined by the length of time it took the rock to cool. Other igneous rocks, such as obsidian, are glassy. According to the conditions under which cooling took place, igneous rocks are classed as either extrusive or intrusive. In other words, they either overflowed the existing surface or spread out beneath it.
Basalt is a typical extrusive rock. It is fine-grained because it cooled quickly on the surface. Granite is an intrusive or plutonic rock. Its texture is coarser than that of basalt because it cooled more slowly underground. At the depth of 40 miles inside the earth there are pockets of molten rock. In conditions of intense heat and pressure, these rocks stew up a superheated mineral soup known to geologists as magma.This magma tends to rise. If it succeeds in escaping through the earth’s crust by means of a volcano, it becomes lava. Otherwise it forms vast, dome-shaped subterranean masses of intrusive rock that are called batholiths and laccoliths according to their shape and size.
In the bygone ages, when the face of the world as we know it was taking shape, batholiths formed the roots and kernel of many high mountain ranges. The surface of a granite batholith many miles in area is exposed around Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. Nowadays when a geologist finds granite or gabbro or any other intrusive rock on the surface, he knows that the forces of erosion have worn away the material that once covered it. He also knows that there is the possibility of ore deposits and gemstones not far away.
When the original batholith was formed, the magma also spread into cracks and fissures of the surrounding rocks. Geologists call the result a dyke. Because it is in conditions different from the parent magma, the material in the dyke becomes a different substance called a pegmatite. This very coarse-grained rock is one of the sources of ores and gemstones which occur as crystals of various shapes.
Owing to the intense pressures in which it is contained, the magma holds quantities of water, chlorine, fluorine and boron in superheated solutions. These substances are known as mineralisers. The mineralisers help to keep the magma liquid and allow a longer period in which the mineral crystals can grow. Sometimes the crystals attain great size. Beryl crystals up to several tons in weight have been mined from pegmatite dykes at Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia.
Emeralds, aquamarines, topaz, tourmaline, zircon and large crystals of cassiterite (tinstone) are all found in pegmatite dykes. So is quartz in various crystalline forms. But not every dyke holds gemstones. It is one of the elements of nature’s hide-and-seek game than an exact combination of chemicals must be present at the right temperature. Most precious stones owe their value to microscopic traces of metallic compounds.
Quartz is sometimes injected into the surrounding rocks by itself as vein quartz. Sometimes, combined with ores of gold or other metals, it is in ‘pipes’. Cavities known to miners as vughs (pronounced ‘vuggs’) occur in the pipes. In these vughs, crystals of the various types of quartz gemstones grow from concentrated silica solutions. These also reach large size and one of the finest recorded in Australia was a 25 lb. rock crystal mined at Kingsgate, near Oban, in New England.
It takes a long time to grow a crystal of this size but it is nothing compared to the immense period over which nature has produced our gemstone resources. The oldest rocks in Australia, occurring in the south-west, date back at least 2000 million years. The forces that create gemstones were already in action then. At that time the earth’s crust was more subject to movement and change than it is now. It was an era of incredible violence. The rocks warped, buckled and broke, spewing out streams of glowing lava under skies darkened by incessant floods of rain and lurid with the smoke and flame of volcanoes. Monstrous upheavals and descents took place over large areas. During the last 1000 million years the Australian continent was split into islands several times by the movement of rocks.
About 135 million years ago, the highlands of the Queensland coast between Cape Melville and Rockhampton were parted from the rest of the continent as it is now. The sea also divided New South Wales and Victoria from Western Australia at this time. During Australia’s geological history there were at least nine periods of tremendous subterranean activity when rocks warped and folded and great batholiths formed. The first and second of these periods took place between 2000 million and 500 million years ago. Six times more the continent was reshaped over the next 300 million years, with the final episode occurring around 75 million years ago.
Most of Australia’s gemstone deposits trace to one or other of these periods. We can pick up stones that are older than the dinosaurs, stones that have endured while mountains higher than Kosciusko have risen and been washed away. Against the dramatics of earthquake and volcanic eruption, the steady stealthy activity of wind and rain, ice and running water has little impact. Nevertheless, these are the forces that have done more than anything else to shape the face of the land.
Where To Look: (continued)
The geologist is a man with a bunch of keys to nature’s jewel box. But there are many different keys for the box has many locks and most of them are hidden under the dust of ages. The written history of even the oldest and most celebrated jewels is only an infinitesimal part of their story. Their strangest adventures in the world of men are insignificant compared to the wonder of their creation.
Nearly all gemstones are minerals, some of which are rarer than others. This rarity is one of the qualities for which they are prized, for only a minor proportion of all the world’s gemstones exist in localities where they can be readily collected or mined. It is in reading the clues to these localities that the science of geology comes to the aid of gem seeker. It is as if nature had set up a great game of treasure trove for us with gemstones as one of the prizes.
If we were lucky, we may stumble upon a gem deposit by accident. But the odds of doing so are more on our side if we have an idea where to look. Like other minerals, most , but not all, gemstones were formed in association with igneous rocks. Igneous means formed by heat, and these are rocks which resulted from the cooling and solidifying of some of the molten matter making up the interior of the earth.
Many igneous rock are said to be of a crystalline texture. This means that their hard mass is composed of small crystals, the size of which is determined by the length of time it took the rock to cool. Other igneous rocks, such as obsidian, are glassy. According to the conditions under which cooling took place, igneous rocks are classed as either extrusive or intrusive. In other words, they either overflowed the existing surface or spread out beneath it.
Basalt is a typical extrusive rock. It is fine-grained because it cooled quickly on the surface. Granite is an intrusive or plutonic rock. Its texture is coarser than that of basalt because it cooled more slowly underground. At the depth of 40 miles inside the earth there are pockets of molten rock. In conditions of intense heat and pressure, these rocks stew up a superheated mineral soup known to geologists as magma.This magma tends to rise. If it succeeds in escaping through the earth’s crust by means of a volcano, it becomes lava. Otherwise it forms vast, dome-shaped subterranean masses of intrusive rock that are called batholiths and laccoliths according to their shape and size.
In the bygone ages, when the face of the world as we know it was taking shape, batholiths formed the roots and kernel of many high mountain ranges. The surface of a granite batholith many miles in area is exposed around Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. Nowadays when a geologist finds granite or gabbro or any other intrusive rock on the surface, he knows that the forces of erosion have worn away the material that once covered it. He also knows that there is the possibility of ore deposits and gemstones not far away.
When the original batholith was formed, the magma also spread into cracks and fissures of the surrounding rocks. Geologists call the result a dyke. Because it is in conditions different from the parent magma, the material in the dyke becomes a different substance called a pegmatite. This very coarse-grained rock is one of the sources of ores and gemstones which occur as crystals of various shapes.
Owing to the intense pressures in which it is contained, the magma holds quantities of water, chlorine, fluorine and boron in superheated solutions. These substances are known as mineralisers. The mineralisers help to keep the magma liquid and allow a longer period in which the mineral crystals can grow. Sometimes the crystals attain great size. Beryl crystals up to several tons in weight have been mined from pegmatite dykes at Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia.
Emeralds, aquamarines, topaz, tourmaline, zircon and large crystals of cassiterite (tinstone) are all found in pegmatite dykes. So is quartz in various crystalline forms. But not every dyke holds gemstones. It is one of the elements of nature’s hide-and-seek game than an exact combination of chemicals must be present at the right temperature. Most precious stones owe their value to microscopic traces of metallic compounds.
Quartz is sometimes injected into the surrounding rocks by itself as vein quartz. Sometimes, combined with ores of gold or other metals, it is in ‘pipes’. Cavities known to miners as vughs (pronounced ‘vuggs’) occur in the pipes. In these vughs, crystals of the various types of quartz gemstones grow from concentrated silica solutions. These also reach large size and one of the finest recorded in Australia was a 25 lb. rock crystal mined at Kingsgate, near Oban, in New England.
It takes a long time to grow a crystal of this size but it is nothing compared to the immense period over which nature has produced our gemstone resources. The oldest rocks in Australia, occurring in the south-west, date back at least 2000 million years. The forces that create gemstones were already in action then. At that time the earth’s crust was more subject to movement and change than it is now. It was an era of incredible violence. The rocks warped, buckled and broke, spewing out streams of glowing lava under skies darkened by incessant floods of rain and lurid with the smoke and flame of volcanoes. Monstrous upheavals and descents took place over large areas. During the last 1000 million years the Australian continent was split into islands several times by the movement of rocks.
About 135 million years ago, the highlands of the Queensland coast between Cape Melville and Rockhampton were parted from the rest of the continent as it is now. The sea also divided New South Wales and Victoria from Western Australia at this time. During Australia’s geological history there were at least nine periods of tremendous subterranean activity when rocks warped and folded and great batholiths formed. The first and second of these periods took place between 2000 million and 500 million years ago. Six times more the continent was reshaped over the next 300 million years, with the final episode occurring around 75 million years ago.
Most of Australia’s gemstone deposits trace to one or other of these periods. We can pick up stones that are older than the dinosaurs, stones that have endured while mountains higher than Kosciusko have risen and been washed away. Against the dramatics of earthquake and volcanic eruption, the steady stealthy activity of wind and rain, ice and running water has little impact. Nevertheless, these are the forces that have done more than anything else to shape the face of the land.
Where To Look: (continued)
Greatest Films
The films I like:
Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951)
Diary of a country priest
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)
Death of a Salesman (1951)
The Color of Money (1986)
The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
Battaglia di Algeri, La (1966)
The battle of Algiers
Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951)
Diary of a country priest
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)
Death of a Salesman (1951)
The Color of Money (1986)
The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
Battaglia di Algeri, La (1966)
The battle of Algiers
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Grading Colored Stones vs Flowers
There are similarities between grading of colored gemstones and flowers. In colored gemstones the quality gradation is based on its color, clarity, cut and carat weight. When it comes to grading flowers there is more. Like in colored gemstone grading there are no uniform grading standards for flowers. Overall the quality gradation is based on consistency and proper interpretation. This requires knowledge, experience, an open mind with right attitude + special skills.
Here is an expert's opinion on flower grading.
- Size and shape of flower and its attachment to the stem.
- Size, number and texture of petals, and their colour intensity.
- Condition of calyx.
- Strength, straightness and length of stem.
- Development and condition of foliage.
- Freedom from blemish and damage from pests and diseases.
Here is an expert's opinion on flower grading.
- Size and shape of flower and its attachment to the stem.
- Size, number and texture of petals, and their colour intensity.
- Condition of calyx.
- Strength, straightness and length of stem.
- Development and condition of foliage.
- Freedom from blemish and damage from pests and diseases.
Study: Chocolate Better Than Flouride For Healthy Teeth?
Fox News reviews research findings by Arman Sadeghpour of Tulane University on an extract of cocoa powder that occurs naturally in chocolates, teas, and other products that might be an effective natural alternative to fluoride in toothpaste + other viewpoints @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293434,00.html
The 10 Most Faked Artists
Milton Esterow writes about art forgery + the 10 most faked artists in history + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1853
From Mine To Mistress
Gem Books/Gem Merchants: Chaim Even-Zohar 's From Mine To Mistress is an interesting book. The industry experts describe the book as the bible of diamond business.
Here is what From Mine To Mistress’s site
(www.mine2mistress.com) says about the book:
Heavily revised from the original edition in 2002, the latest version is the definitive work on corporate strategies and government policies in the international diamond industry.Written by one of the world's greatest diamond experts, Chaim Even-Zohar, this 942-page book covers all aspects of the diamond industry, ranging through its history, current circumstances and forecasts for future development.The book is essential reading for everyone involved in the diamond 'pipeline', and follows on from the massive success of the first edition of From Mine to Mistress.
Published by Mining Communications Ltd, From Mine to Mistress reviews the main issues affecting global diamond mining including:
- Economic and political trends
- The diamond value chain
- Industry framework
- Anti-money laundering regulations
- Conflict diamonds
- Political and legal constraints
- Diamond banking
- The branding revolution
- Plus details of 14 producing and 7 manufacturing countries.
Here is what From Mine To Mistress’s site
(www.mine2mistress.com) says about the book:
Heavily revised from the original edition in 2002, the latest version is the definitive work on corporate strategies and government policies in the international diamond industry.Written by one of the world's greatest diamond experts, Chaim Even-Zohar, this 942-page book covers all aspects of the diamond industry, ranging through its history, current circumstances and forecasts for future development.The book is essential reading for everyone involved in the diamond 'pipeline', and follows on from the massive success of the first edition of From Mine to Mistress.
Published by Mining Communications Ltd, From Mine to Mistress reviews the main issues affecting global diamond mining including:
- Economic and political trends
- The diamond value chain
- Industry framework
- Anti-money laundering regulations
- Conflict diamonds
- Political and legal constraints
- Diamond banking
- The branding revolution
- Plus details of 14 producing and 7 manufacturing countries.
Lev Leviev's Diamonds: U.S. Bound
Sophia Chabbott profiles Lev Leviev, his business interests + philosophy + other viewpoints @ http://www.wwd.com/accessories/article/118517?page=0
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Plan 9 From Outer Space
Greatest Opening Film Lines (Plan 9 From Outer Space - 1959):
Greetings, my friends! We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friends; future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable; that is why you are here. And now for the first time we are bringing to you the full story of what happened on that faithful day. We are giving you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimonies of the miserable souls who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places, my friends, we can not keep this a secret any longer; let us punish the guilty, let us reward the innocent. My friends, can your heart stand the shocking facts about the grave robbers from outer space?
Greetings, my friends! We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friends; future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable; that is why you are here. And now for the first time we are bringing to you the full story of what happened on that faithful day. We are giving you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimonies of the miserable souls who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places, my friends, we can not keep this a secret any longer; let us punish the guilty, let us reward the innocent. My friends, can your heart stand the shocking facts about the grave robbers from outer space?
Fakes, Frauds, And Fake Fakers
Milton Esterow writes about prolific counterfeiters in the art areana and their unique skills + the culture of buying authentic pieces and getting copied by a forger, then selling the copy for higher prices + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1852
Scary Romances
Chaim Even-Zohar comments on Michael Hastings article in the Newsweek magazine titled 'Romancing the stone' + his views on synthetic vs. natural diamonds + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=23652
Kashmir Sapphire
In the old days blue stones were exposed by a landslide in the hills of Kashmir. A band of men, with a mule caravan on its way to Delhi, saw the stones as curiosities, picked them up and traded them for salt in Calcutta. They were sold again and resold. News of these transactions reached the Maharaja, who in great wrath demanded them back. This was done all along the line until they were returned to the Maharaja.
- Indian Post - 1934
I don't want to say the days of Kashmir sapphires are over, but it's likely that we are going to see less specimens; the distinct, velvety (cornflower) blue color, the best quality Kashmir sapphire, the benchmark for color excellence. Nature always like to surprise us one way or the other so let's keep our fingers crossed. Most likely what you are going to see in Kashmir today are synthetic flame fusion blue sapphires or low quality blue sapphires.
- Indian Post - 1934
I don't want to say the days of Kashmir sapphires are over, but it's likely that we are going to see less specimens; the distinct, velvety (cornflower) blue color, the best quality Kashmir sapphire, the benchmark for color excellence. Nature always like to surprise us one way or the other so let's keep our fingers crossed. Most likely what you are going to see in Kashmir today are synthetic flame fusion blue sapphires or low quality blue sapphires.
A Small Town In Germany
(via Bangkok Post, September, 6, 2007) Peerawat Jariyasombat writes:
Pforzheim in Baden-Wurttemberg may not find itself on the tourist map, it certainly counts when it comes to high class jewelry. A small town in Germany, Pforzheim is not on the tourist map but for jewelry lovers it has a special meaning. So don’t be surprised if you come across a gold-plated Porsche on its streets. Of course, it is real gold. The one I am talking about is a Porsche Boxster cabriolet, its body clad in 3000 wafer-thin strips of 22-carat gold.
Its proud owner is George Leicht, who operates a jewelry shop downtown. “You are in the city of gold. You can expect a champagne welcome with tiny gold flakes hanging in the bubble,” he said to me.
If you want to learn about German jewelry, Schmuckwelten is a good start for the showroom features world famous brands Chopard, Faberge, Bunz and Wellendorff, all of which are produced in Pforzheim.
What is on show will be enough to stun jewelry lovers. From rings, necklaces and pearls to diamonds, thousands of pieces of jewelry and watches made in Germany and Switzerland are showcased at Schmuckwelten. I had to hold my camera bag carefully just to make sure it didn’t make any scratches on the items on display.
Situated at the gate of the Black Forest, Pforzheim is a town of 119,000 inhabitants, part of the state of Baden-Wurttemberg in southwest Germany. Its jewelry and watch-making industry dates back 240 years. Besides watches and jewelry, Schmuckwelten has two museums that lead visitors into the world of gems and precious ornaments. One, the world of jewelry showcases precious stones and metals. Visitors can learn their processing. There are 11 diagrams illustrating various processes starting from where the precious metals and stones were found until their transformation into finished pieces of jewelry.
In the basement of the same building is the Mineral Museum featuring 5000 exhibits of rare stones. It focuses on minerals from the Black Forest region and Rhineland, as well as amethyst from Brazil. Among the jewelry manufacturers in Pforzheim is Faberge. It’s jeweled eggs have featured in films such as the 1983 James Bond thriller Octopussy and more recently the Ocean’s Twelve released in 2003, whose plots revolved around attempts to steal Faberge eggs kept in highly fortified vaults.
They are among the original 68 jeweled eggs made by Peter Carl Faberge and his assistants for the Russian tsars and private collectors between 1885 and 1917. The eggs are made of precious metals or hard stones decorated with combinations of enamel and gemstones. The term ‘Faberge Egg’ has become synonymous with luxury and regarded as masterpieces of the jeweler’s art.
Faberge started as a Russian brand. After the revolution, its management fled abroad and tried to rebuild the brand but failed, until Victor Mayer bought the brand in 1905 and settled down in Pforzheim. It has kept up with the old Faberge style and craft since.
Dr Marcus Mohr, the president of Victor Mayer GmbH and workmaster of Faberge, walked me around his factor where the staff were busy making jewelry by hand, in true Faberge tradition. It was wonderful watching the beautiful ornament go through the remarkable making process, from rough drawings on paper to finished products without using high technology. Although staff works in the old way, their designs are not boring, every piece being cut and vibrant in color.
One of the most remarkable Faberge works involves engraving watch dial by hand. “Actually, we can easily make it using machine but then it won’t be priceless. At the present there are only three men in Germany who can do it,” Dr Mohr said.
A stone’s throw from Faberge is the elegant showroom of Wellendorff, the brand that devoutly maintains its traditional design and craftsmanship. Founded in 1893, the brand is famed for its gold rope which is woven from gold thread, but amazingly soft and the more remarkable is its turning ring.
The ring can be turned around since it comes with its own hidden wheel inside. It is assembled from four separate parts. Everything is assembled so nicely that water cannot get inside. The secret of its soft gold rope and the turning ring have made Wellendorff famous, even though they are made of 18 carat gold and do not come with a wide choice of design. “Wellendorff is the tradition. We are not going with the fashion trend. We set our own trend,” its owner Hanspeter Wellendorff said.
For more information about jewelry in Pforzheim, visit:
www.schmuckwelten.de
www.wellendorff.com
www.faberge-jewelry.com
Pforzheim in Baden-Wurttemberg may not find itself on the tourist map, it certainly counts when it comes to high class jewelry. A small town in Germany, Pforzheim is not on the tourist map but for jewelry lovers it has a special meaning. So don’t be surprised if you come across a gold-plated Porsche on its streets. Of course, it is real gold. The one I am talking about is a Porsche Boxster cabriolet, its body clad in 3000 wafer-thin strips of 22-carat gold.
Its proud owner is George Leicht, who operates a jewelry shop downtown. “You are in the city of gold. You can expect a champagne welcome with tiny gold flakes hanging in the bubble,” he said to me.
If you want to learn about German jewelry, Schmuckwelten is a good start for the showroom features world famous brands Chopard, Faberge, Bunz and Wellendorff, all of which are produced in Pforzheim.
What is on show will be enough to stun jewelry lovers. From rings, necklaces and pearls to diamonds, thousands of pieces of jewelry and watches made in Germany and Switzerland are showcased at Schmuckwelten. I had to hold my camera bag carefully just to make sure it didn’t make any scratches on the items on display.
Situated at the gate of the Black Forest, Pforzheim is a town of 119,000 inhabitants, part of the state of Baden-Wurttemberg in southwest Germany. Its jewelry and watch-making industry dates back 240 years. Besides watches and jewelry, Schmuckwelten has two museums that lead visitors into the world of gems and precious ornaments. One, the world of jewelry showcases precious stones and metals. Visitors can learn their processing. There are 11 diagrams illustrating various processes starting from where the precious metals and stones were found until their transformation into finished pieces of jewelry.
In the basement of the same building is the Mineral Museum featuring 5000 exhibits of rare stones. It focuses on minerals from the Black Forest region and Rhineland, as well as amethyst from Brazil. Among the jewelry manufacturers in Pforzheim is Faberge. It’s jeweled eggs have featured in films such as the 1983 James Bond thriller Octopussy and more recently the Ocean’s Twelve released in 2003, whose plots revolved around attempts to steal Faberge eggs kept in highly fortified vaults.
They are among the original 68 jeweled eggs made by Peter Carl Faberge and his assistants for the Russian tsars and private collectors between 1885 and 1917. The eggs are made of precious metals or hard stones decorated with combinations of enamel and gemstones. The term ‘Faberge Egg’ has become synonymous with luxury and regarded as masterpieces of the jeweler’s art.
Faberge started as a Russian brand. After the revolution, its management fled abroad and tried to rebuild the brand but failed, until Victor Mayer bought the brand in 1905 and settled down in Pforzheim. It has kept up with the old Faberge style and craft since.
Dr Marcus Mohr, the president of Victor Mayer GmbH and workmaster of Faberge, walked me around his factor where the staff were busy making jewelry by hand, in true Faberge tradition. It was wonderful watching the beautiful ornament go through the remarkable making process, from rough drawings on paper to finished products without using high technology. Although staff works in the old way, their designs are not boring, every piece being cut and vibrant in color.
One of the most remarkable Faberge works involves engraving watch dial by hand. “Actually, we can easily make it using machine but then it won’t be priceless. At the present there are only three men in Germany who can do it,” Dr Mohr said.
A stone’s throw from Faberge is the elegant showroom of Wellendorff, the brand that devoutly maintains its traditional design and craftsmanship. Founded in 1893, the brand is famed for its gold rope which is woven from gold thread, but amazingly soft and the more remarkable is its turning ring.
The ring can be turned around since it comes with its own hidden wheel inside. It is assembled from four separate parts. Everything is assembled so nicely that water cannot get inside. The secret of its soft gold rope and the turning ring have made Wellendorff famous, even though they are made of 18 carat gold and do not come with a wide choice of design. “Wellendorff is the tradition. We are not going with the fashion trend. We set our own trend,” its owner Hanspeter Wellendorff said.
For more information about jewelry in Pforzheim, visit:
www.schmuckwelten.de
www.wellendorff.com
www.faberge-jewelry.com
Luciano Pavarotti
Opera is one of the most important art forms. It should be listened to and appreciated by everyone.
Luciano Pavarotti (1935 - 2007)
Without a doubt Luciano Pavarotti had a unique god-like voice, and there will never be another Pavarotti. Before a concert he used to say, "I will bring them to their feet." And he did it. I wasn't brought up with opera, but seeing him on TV some years back mesmerized me. Since then I have become a fan. I think he brought pleasure to many people, and he will be rightly missed.
Luciano Pavarotti (1935 - 2007)
Without a doubt Luciano Pavarotti had a unique god-like voice, and there will never be another Pavarotti. Before a concert he used to say, "I will bring them to their feet." And he did it. I wasn't brought up with opera, but seeing him on TV some years back mesmerized me. Since then I have become a fan. I think he brought pleasure to many people, and he will be rightly missed.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Treasure Maps
Bill James (Australia) writes:
If you have done the job properly, the gem material should be concentrated in a small circle in the center of the sieved gravel. Pick the stones out, using tweezers if necessary, and place them in your collecting bottle. Many things happen in the history of a river, the life cycle of which is accomplished only when it has cut its bed down to the level of that lake or sea into which it flows. Even then it may occur that some earth movement raises the land or the sea level falls so that the river is rejuvenated and flows rapidly again.
Rivers often change their course, destroying part of their former deposits and creating new ones. The stream may leave gravels on terraces high above its present bed or its course may be swallowed by a flow of lava—which is what happened to the ancient riverbed now forming the New England diamond fields of Copeton and Bingara. Miners call these prehistoric deposits of buried gravel deep leads.
Alluvial mining for gems on a commercial scale in Australia is now mechanized, with bulldozers stockpiling the gravel for treatment in pulsators. At Copetown, for instance, a revolving screen was used followed by pulsator treatment before hand sieving for diamonds.
Australian methods of alluvial sapphire mining vary according to water supplies, miners in some areas having to rely on dry screening and hand sorting. Fossicking or noodling on mine dumps may call for both the quarter-inch sieve and 3 lb hammer, as no rock of any size should be left unsplit. The golden rule mine dumps is to look for the place where the grass and weeds have been left undisturbed and dig there.
Another tip, as far as the smaller and older type of disused mine is concerned, is to look around for any large rock fragments that may have been scattered in the bush by blasting. They are worth cracking open, too. Old mine workings have a fascination for rockhounds. Normally sensible people are irresistibly lured into these gloomy, damp tunnels although they must be well aware that time, rust and white ants have made everything thoroughly unsafe.
Shafts and underground workings are often filled with carbon dioxide gas, a quick and stealthy killer of people unaware of it. The presence of the gas can be discovered by testing with a naked light, which the gas put out, but my advice is: Steer clear of the old mine workings altogether.
Certainly never go off on your own to work rockfaces or investigate mine tunnels. In fact, it is sound policy never to go off on your own on any long trips, and on short trips always to make a point of telling someone where you are going. If you are going into arid or rough country make sure you take extra food and petrol and at least five gallons of extra water for each person in the party.
Look out for snakes, spiders, ticks and, most of all, sunburn. Buy yourself a shady hat, some tough mittens and boots stout enough to protect your ankles and steel-capped to guard your toes. Don’t forget a rucksack to carry the tools and spoils. Among the extras you will find useful are electric torch, a pocket lens of jeweler’s loupe and a bottle of bromoform or methylene iodide, to enable on-the-spot identification of gemstones through their specific gravity.
It works this way: topaz (specific gravity around 3.5) sinks in bromoform (specific gravity 2.9), while quartz (specific gravity 2.65) floats. Other test liquids such Klein’s, Sonstadt’s and Retger’s solutions are difficult, dangerous or messy to use and best left to the laboratory.
One of the most rewarding ways of opal-hunting is to speck or noodle the dumps on abandoned—make sure it is abandoned—claims at Lightning Ridge or any of the other famous opalfields. The best time for this is just after a heavy shower of rain when gems washed to the surface catch the sunlight.
Many good stones were overlooked in the old days and remain in the dumps, which are now being gone over with mechanical sieves or puddling machines. Without a doubt many deposits of precious opal have yet to be found and worked in the west of Queensland and New South Wales, where lack of water beat the old-time gougers. The same can be said of the north-west of South Australia, where it is officially regarded as ‘quite possible’ that important discoveries remain to be made.
Little more than the surface has been scraped off most of Australia’s gemstone deposits. Sapphires, zircons, topaz—almost every gem in the alphabet—lie scattered in a bed of gravel between a few inches and 50 ft thick over an area of 350 square miles at Anakie, Central Queensland. Although the easily accessible areas are largely worked out, much of the ground is still almost untouched.
This is one of Australia’s richest gemfields; but the picture is typical. Gemstone mining is everywhere an individual effort, crippled by lack of capital. The only full-time miners on many fields are pensioners, picking up little more than the price of their smokes.
While they seem to offer little return for financial investment, the wonderful variety and widespread nature of Australia’s gemstone deposits are now being recognized in the growth of the gemseeking as a most fascinating and rewarding hobby.
If you have done the job properly, the gem material should be concentrated in a small circle in the center of the sieved gravel. Pick the stones out, using tweezers if necessary, and place them in your collecting bottle. Many things happen in the history of a river, the life cycle of which is accomplished only when it has cut its bed down to the level of that lake or sea into which it flows. Even then it may occur that some earth movement raises the land or the sea level falls so that the river is rejuvenated and flows rapidly again.
Rivers often change their course, destroying part of their former deposits and creating new ones. The stream may leave gravels on terraces high above its present bed or its course may be swallowed by a flow of lava—which is what happened to the ancient riverbed now forming the New England diamond fields of Copeton and Bingara. Miners call these prehistoric deposits of buried gravel deep leads.
Alluvial mining for gems on a commercial scale in Australia is now mechanized, with bulldozers stockpiling the gravel for treatment in pulsators. At Copetown, for instance, a revolving screen was used followed by pulsator treatment before hand sieving for diamonds.
Australian methods of alluvial sapphire mining vary according to water supplies, miners in some areas having to rely on dry screening and hand sorting. Fossicking or noodling on mine dumps may call for both the quarter-inch sieve and 3 lb hammer, as no rock of any size should be left unsplit. The golden rule mine dumps is to look for the place where the grass and weeds have been left undisturbed and dig there.
Another tip, as far as the smaller and older type of disused mine is concerned, is to look around for any large rock fragments that may have been scattered in the bush by blasting. They are worth cracking open, too. Old mine workings have a fascination for rockhounds. Normally sensible people are irresistibly lured into these gloomy, damp tunnels although they must be well aware that time, rust and white ants have made everything thoroughly unsafe.
Shafts and underground workings are often filled with carbon dioxide gas, a quick and stealthy killer of people unaware of it. The presence of the gas can be discovered by testing with a naked light, which the gas put out, but my advice is: Steer clear of the old mine workings altogether.
Certainly never go off on your own to work rockfaces or investigate mine tunnels. In fact, it is sound policy never to go off on your own on any long trips, and on short trips always to make a point of telling someone where you are going. If you are going into arid or rough country make sure you take extra food and petrol and at least five gallons of extra water for each person in the party.
Look out for snakes, spiders, ticks and, most of all, sunburn. Buy yourself a shady hat, some tough mittens and boots stout enough to protect your ankles and steel-capped to guard your toes. Don’t forget a rucksack to carry the tools and spoils. Among the extras you will find useful are electric torch, a pocket lens of jeweler’s loupe and a bottle of bromoform or methylene iodide, to enable on-the-spot identification of gemstones through their specific gravity.
It works this way: topaz (specific gravity around 3.5) sinks in bromoform (specific gravity 2.9), while quartz (specific gravity 2.65) floats. Other test liquids such Klein’s, Sonstadt’s and Retger’s solutions are difficult, dangerous or messy to use and best left to the laboratory.
One of the most rewarding ways of opal-hunting is to speck or noodle the dumps on abandoned—make sure it is abandoned—claims at Lightning Ridge or any of the other famous opalfields. The best time for this is just after a heavy shower of rain when gems washed to the surface catch the sunlight.
Many good stones were overlooked in the old days and remain in the dumps, which are now being gone over with mechanical sieves or puddling machines. Without a doubt many deposits of precious opal have yet to be found and worked in the west of Queensland and New South Wales, where lack of water beat the old-time gougers. The same can be said of the north-west of South Australia, where it is officially regarded as ‘quite possible’ that important discoveries remain to be made.
Little more than the surface has been scraped off most of Australia’s gemstone deposits. Sapphires, zircons, topaz—almost every gem in the alphabet—lie scattered in a bed of gravel between a few inches and 50 ft thick over an area of 350 square miles at Anakie, Central Queensland. Although the easily accessible areas are largely worked out, much of the ground is still almost untouched.
This is one of Australia’s richest gemfields; but the picture is typical. Gemstone mining is everywhere an individual effort, crippled by lack of capital. The only full-time miners on many fields are pensioners, picking up little more than the price of their smokes.
While they seem to offer little return for financial investment, the wonderful variety and widespread nature of Australia’s gemstone deposits are now being recognized in the growth of the gemseeking as a most fascinating and rewarding hobby.
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Greatest Opening Film Lines (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House - 1948):
Manhattan, New York, USA. In any discussion of contemporary America and how its people live, we must inevitably start with Manhattan, New York City, USA. Manhattan, glistening modern giant of concrete and steel reaching to the heavens and cradling in its arms seven million, seven million happy beneficiaries of the advantages and comforts this great metropolis has to offer. Its fine, wide boulevards facilitate the New Yorkers' carefree, orderly existence.
Manhattan, New York, USA. In any discussion of contemporary America and how its people live, we must inevitably start with Manhattan, New York City, USA. Manhattan, glistening modern giant of concrete and steel reaching to the heavens and cradling in its arms seven million, seven million happy beneficiaries of the advantages and comforts this great metropolis has to offer. Its fine, wide boulevards facilitate the New Yorkers' carefree, orderly existence.
Looking After Their Own
Susan Emerling writes about artist's choice (s) / passion of keeping certain pieces that have personal significance (s) + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1832
Botswana's Sabotage Of Beneficiation
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about Bostwana's new problem (s) with labor unions + the diamond expatriates dilema (s) + the perception of beneficiation in Bostswana + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
The Human Comedy
Greatest Opening Film Lines (The Human Comedy - 1943) :
I am Matthew Macauley. I have been dead for two years, but so much of me is still living that I know now the end is only the beginning. As I look down on my homeland of Ithaca, California, with its cactus, vineyards and orchards, I feel so much of me is still living there - in the places I've been, in the fields, the streets, the church, and, most of all, my home where my hopes, my dreams, my ambitions, my beliefs still live in the daily lives of my loved ones.
I am Matthew Macauley. I have been dead for two years, but so much of me is still living that I know now the end is only the beginning. As I look down on my homeland of Ithaca, California, with its cactus, vineyards and orchards, I feel so much of me is still living there - in the places I've been, in the fields, the streets, the church, and, most of all, my home where my hopes, my dreams, my ambitions, my beliefs still live in the daily lives of my loved ones.
Talal Abu Ghazaleh
I believe that I was lucky to have suffered. Some people don’t realize that in suffering there is great potential, because if you are deprived for any reason.. politically, financially, socially or otherwise.. and if you set your mind in the right direction, you will find that the only way to survive is for you to excel, by being better so you can be treated better.
The Selling Of Jeff Koons
Kelly Devine Thomas writes about Jeff Koons, the controversial art star + his pop, conceptual, and minimalist art concepts + his unique way of interpreting work of arts + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1829
Treasure Maps
Bill James (Australia) writes:
Most often used by rock-hounds is the inch to a mile scale military map, prepared by the Royal Australian Survey Corps and available from stationers and booksellers. This map gives accurate and detailed information on routes and camping places as well as indicating promising prospecting localities.
The military map is most useful in conjunction with one of the detailed geological maps produced by the Commonwealth Bureau of Mineral Resources or the Mines Department of the various States. When planning a prospecting trip, it is wise to have several alternatives in mind, so as to avoid disappointment. In a granite area, for instance, we may wish to try our luck on the rockface and talus, on mine dumps and also at what we work out as the most promising stretch of the river.
We require a good deal of equipment to tackle the rockface. A pick and showel, a light mineralogist’s pick-hammer, a striking hammer of about 3lb weight—one with a square face and a chisel peen is the most useful—and half-a-dozen rock gads of various sizes. A steel crowbar or prybar of the type known to American rockhounds as a pocket robber is invaluable. This tool, which varies from 18 in. to 45 in. according to taste, has a 30 degree bend at each end to provide powerful leverage.
A sledgehammer up to about 14 lb in weight may also be needed. The rockface offers three collecting areas—the face itself, the talus, and the eluvial deposits buried beneath the talus which have been concentrated by gravity. Both the last-named present few problems except hard pick and showel work, cracking any lumps of rock that look as if they could contain crystals. A quarter or eighth-inch sieve will be required to deal with the smaller gravel.
The rockface is another matter. Weathered rock can be a deathtrap even to a properly equipped and experienced climber. But you are neither experienced nor properly equipped. If the face is in any way difficult, you will be a fool try climbing and working on it. Leave it alone and concentrate on the easier stuff. That goes for quarries too, but there the owner will probably insist that you remain on terra firma, anyway.
It may happen that a pegmatite dyke or sill or a rock cavity occurs in a position where you can attack it safely. The finest gem crystals are often found in gas holes of pink or red granites and plants growing out of the rockface may indicate such a cavity.
In basalts, the steamholes or amygdales may be filled with opal or agate. Amethysts are found in quartz veins as a druse—a cavity lined with crystals of the same nature as the host rock, as distinct from a geode. Gem pockets are usually found in the midst of the thickest part of pegmatite dykes and sills. The rock should be tested at these points with the pick and will be found to break open comparatively easily over a pocket of crystals.
Cavities in the rock mostly have to be opened by splitting with a succession of gads and the prybar then used carefully to break off and bring out the crystals. Sometimes these cavities are filled with clay and the contents must be sieved to make sure no gems are lost.
Sieves, a bucket and shovel, with maybe a pick and a crowbar to shift the boulders are what we require to deal with river gravels. Some people use a miner’s pan but the best equipment for gemstones is two sieves which fit together. I prefer the half-inch and quarter-inch mesh in general, but a quarter-inch sieve and an eight-inch or even a one-sixteenth-inch are better if there is any chance of picking up diamonds.
Standing gumboot deep in a river agitating a couple of sieves becomes hard work very quickly. However, special aluminum sieves are now available to lighten the load for rockhounds. It is no use looking for gem gravels on the steep slopes where the river runs swiftly most of the time and torrentially in heavy rain. But as soon as the surface becomes more level or some obstruction checks the flow, the heavier part of the gravels will be discarded.
Deposits are formed on the inside of bends and on the downstream side of obstructions. Any gutters, hollows and crevices in the streambed become natural traps for gemstones. Boulders trundled along the river by floods pin down the gravels wherever they come to rest. Any gravel bar or dump of tailings from an alluvial dredge is worth a try on a river known to contain gemstones. The method is to fit the two sieves together with the wider mesh on top and then fill the upper sieve with gravel. Dip both sieves in the river so that the water covers the gravel and rotate to and fro vigorously. Continue this action until all the finer material has dropped into the lower sieve.
Carefully go over the pebbles remaining in the top sieve for any gem material before emptying it. Then take the lower sieve, immerse it until the gravel is just below water level and agitate thoroughly once more. The object is to bring all the heavier material, including gemstones, to the bottom of the sieve. Give the sieve a final to-and-fro jerk, take it smartly from the water and turn it over on the nearest handy piece of flat ground.
Treasure Maps: (continued)
Most often used by rock-hounds is the inch to a mile scale military map, prepared by the Royal Australian Survey Corps and available from stationers and booksellers. This map gives accurate and detailed information on routes and camping places as well as indicating promising prospecting localities.
The military map is most useful in conjunction with one of the detailed geological maps produced by the Commonwealth Bureau of Mineral Resources or the Mines Department of the various States. When planning a prospecting trip, it is wise to have several alternatives in mind, so as to avoid disappointment. In a granite area, for instance, we may wish to try our luck on the rockface and talus, on mine dumps and also at what we work out as the most promising stretch of the river.
We require a good deal of equipment to tackle the rockface. A pick and showel, a light mineralogist’s pick-hammer, a striking hammer of about 3lb weight—one with a square face and a chisel peen is the most useful—and half-a-dozen rock gads of various sizes. A steel crowbar or prybar of the type known to American rockhounds as a pocket robber is invaluable. This tool, which varies from 18 in. to 45 in. according to taste, has a 30 degree bend at each end to provide powerful leverage.
A sledgehammer up to about 14 lb in weight may also be needed. The rockface offers three collecting areas—the face itself, the talus, and the eluvial deposits buried beneath the talus which have been concentrated by gravity. Both the last-named present few problems except hard pick and showel work, cracking any lumps of rock that look as if they could contain crystals. A quarter or eighth-inch sieve will be required to deal with the smaller gravel.
The rockface is another matter. Weathered rock can be a deathtrap even to a properly equipped and experienced climber. But you are neither experienced nor properly equipped. If the face is in any way difficult, you will be a fool try climbing and working on it. Leave it alone and concentrate on the easier stuff. That goes for quarries too, but there the owner will probably insist that you remain on terra firma, anyway.
It may happen that a pegmatite dyke or sill or a rock cavity occurs in a position where you can attack it safely. The finest gem crystals are often found in gas holes of pink or red granites and plants growing out of the rockface may indicate such a cavity.
In basalts, the steamholes or amygdales may be filled with opal or agate. Amethysts are found in quartz veins as a druse—a cavity lined with crystals of the same nature as the host rock, as distinct from a geode. Gem pockets are usually found in the midst of the thickest part of pegmatite dykes and sills. The rock should be tested at these points with the pick and will be found to break open comparatively easily over a pocket of crystals.
Cavities in the rock mostly have to be opened by splitting with a succession of gads and the prybar then used carefully to break off and bring out the crystals. Sometimes these cavities are filled with clay and the contents must be sieved to make sure no gems are lost.
Sieves, a bucket and shovel, with maybe a pick and a crowbar to shift the boulders are what we require to deal with river gravels. Some people use a miner’s pan but the best equipment for gemstones is two sieves which fit together. I prefer the half-inch and quarter-inch mesh in general, but a quarter-inch sieve and an eight-inch or even a one-sixteenth-inch are better if there is any chance of picking up diamonds.
Standing gumboot deep in a river agitating a couple of sieves becomes hard work very quickly. However, special aluminum sieves are now available to lighten the load for rockhounds. It is no use looking for gem gravels on the steep slopes where the river runs swiftly most of the time and torrentially in heavy rain. But as soon as the surface becomes more level or some obstruction checks the flow, the heavier part of the gravels will be discarded.
Deposits are formed on the inside of bends and on the downstream side of obstructions. Any gutters, hollows and crevices in the streambed become natural traps for gemstones. Boulders trundled along the river by floods pin down the gravels wherever they come to rest. Any gravel bar or dump of tailings from an alluvial dredge is worth a try on a river known to contain gemstones. The method is to fit the two sieves together with the wider mesh on top and then fill the upper sieve with gravel. Dip both sieves in the river so that the water covers the gravel and rotate to and fro vigorously. Continue this action until all the finer material has dropped into the lower sieve.
Carefully go over the pebbles remaining in the top sieve for any gem material before emptying it. Then take the lower sieve, immerse it until the gravel is just below water level and agitate thoroughly once more. The object is to bring all the heavier material, including gemstones, to the bottom of the sieve. Give the sieve a final to-and-fro jerk, take it smartly from the water and turn it over on the nearest handy piece of flat ground.
Treasure Maps: (continued)
Gemstones With Change Of Color
To anyone who has ever viewed a fine quality piece of alexandrite, the phenomena of change of color must certainly rank among the greatest wonders of the gem kingdom. Change of color or the alexandrite effect as it is known is a relatively recent discovery. The gem was christened alexandrite, in honor of the future Czar Alexander II on whose birthday it was supposedly found. After its discovery it achieved rapid popularity, not only for its interesting color change, but also because the two colors, green and red, were the colors of the Czarist Russian army. Fine quality alexandrites are today among the most desirable precious stones. Besides the normal criteria for judging gems, the quality of an alexandrite is based primarily on the quality of color change and the intensity and purity of those colors. The best colors would those of a fine emerald or ruby and this stone would be described as having a one hundred percent change. Stones of this quality may be difficult to find, but most specimens show a change of only twenty to thirty percent with the two colors being diluted with brown and yellow.
There are various gemstones which display the phenomenon of change of color. Synthetic alexandrite has been manufactured in Russia, USA and other countries by flux and Czochralski (pulling) process. Both types display a fine change from bluish green to purplish red, just as in the natural stones. The flux grown gem materials show inclusions such as wispy flux fingerprints, platinum plates and crystals and angular zoning. Stones grown by the Czochralski process are usually free of inclusions, but may show gas bubbles and/or curved growth lines.
Of all the gem materials which show a change of color, none is more commonly seen than the synthetic color change (alexandrite-like) sapphire. This material is not synthetic chrysoberyl, but instead is flame fusion synthetic corundum. By adding a trace of vanadium to the growth mixture, a color change is produced. The color is grayish green in daylight and purplish red in incandescent light. Often this gem will be offered for sale as synthetic alexandrite or even worse, as natural alexandrite. The stone is not difficult to identify as the color change is not exactly the same as true alexandrites. Proper examination will reveal curved striae and possibly gas bubbles. Natural color change sapphires do exist and show a change that varies from violetish blue to grayish green in daylight, to purplish red in incandescent light. The change of color can be attributed to vanadium, chromium, iron and titanium in various proportions. Fine quality color change sapphires are prized by collectors.
Next to alexandrite, the stone with the most dramatic change of color is probably the color change garnet. Color change garnets show a change very similar to that of alexandrite from a bluish green to purplish red. Glass imitations have been made to simulate a color change as well. Since the stone does not really change color from one light source to another it should not considered as a true change of color.
There are various gemstones which display the phenomenon of change of color. Synthetic alexandrite has been manufactured in Russia, USA and other countries by flux and Czochralski (pulling) process. Both types display a fine change from bluish green to purplish red, just as in the natural stones. The flux grown gem materials show inclusions such as wispy flux fingerprints, platinum plates and crystals and angular zoning. Stones grown by the Czochralski process are usually free of inclusions, but may show gas bubbles and/or curved growth lines.
Of all the gem materials which show a change of color, none is more commonly seen than the synthetic color change (alexandrite-like) sapphire. This material is not synthetic chrysoberyl, but instead is flame fusion synthetic corundum. By adding a trace of vanadium to the growth mixture, a color change is produced. The color is grayish green in daylight and purplish red in incandescent light. Often this gem will be offered for sale as synthetic alexandrite or even worse, as natural alexandrite. The stone is not difficult to identify as the color change is not exactly the same as true alexandrites. Proper examination will reveal curved striae and possibly gas bubbles. Natural color change sapphires do exist and show a change that varies from violetish blue to grayish green in daylight, to purplish red in incandescent light. The change of color can be attributed to vanadium, chromium, iron and titanium in various proportions. Fine quality color change sapphires are prized by collectors.
Next to alexandrite, the stone with the most dramatic change of color is probably the color change garnet. Color change garnets show a change very similar to that of alexandrite from a bluish green to purplish red. Glass imitations have been made to simulate a color change as well. Since the stone does not really change color from one light source to another it should not considered as a true change of color.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Gems From New South Wales, Australia
It has been reported that there at least seven alluvial sapphire localities producing pink, red and purple corundums + blue, yellow and green corundums at Barrington Tops, Macquarie River, Cudgegong River, Swan Brook, Bingara, Tumbarumba and Yarrowitch Valley. The samples specimens may be useful to study the unique chemisty + origin of ruby and sapphire deposits and their economic significance in New South Wales, Australia.
A Case Study: VNU As Its Competitor’s Best Promoter
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about media conglomerates' operating system (s) + the impact when bad decisions are made by their managers + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24470
My dealer, Saint And Sinner
The Economist profiles the Wildensteins + the powerful dealers of the art world + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9748579
Treasure Maps
Bill James (Australia) writes:
An up-to-date survey map offers rock hounds as many clues to buried treasure as any pirate chart of the Spanish Main ever did.
Contour lines make up the bulk of clues. These lines indicate the rise and fall of the land surfaces by connecting points at the same level and thus outline the shapes of hills and valleys as seen from above. The lines are drawn at regular intervals and distance between them indicates the steepness of the slope. Where the lines are spaced evenly, the land is rising gradually. Where they bunch together, the rise is abrupt, as on a cliff face.
Other details are shown by symbols explained in the margin of the map. Tiny green sketches represent scattered woodland, green patches shows the heavier bush and rivers appear as wavy blue lines. Creeks which only flow in wet weather are shown in broken blue lines. Careful study of this map tells the gem seeker where he is likely to find bare rocks above talus slopes littered with fragments from the weathered face and also the places to which streams and rivers have carried debris from the rocks.
We can trace the pattern of blue lines on the hillside where a multitude of trickles feed a brook and a multitude of brooks feed a river. Study of this drainage system shows how gemstones are gathered from thousands of acres of hillside. Checking the course of the river against contours shown on the map discloses the places where the current slows down and the gem gravels pile up.
Obviously a river cannot collect gemstones unless it flows among gem-bearing rocks. To identify rocks, the survey map must be compared against a geological map of the area. On the geological map, the rocks occurring beneath the soil level are picked out in contrasting colors and named.
If the rocks of the area are granite, there is a good chance of finding beryl, feldspar, topaz, tourmaline and gem varieties of quartz. Basalt and volcanic tuffs may contain chalcedony, opal, jasper and agate, both in the form of seams and thunder eggs. Gneiss, schists and marbles yield sapphire, garnets, spinel and zircon.
But that is not to say that rocks of any given variety must necessarily be gem-bearing. Some granites, for instance, produce no gems, but in that case the survey map again provides a clue. Strong mineralized granites are the ones which becomes weathered most quickly, forming smoothly rounded hills, well covered with the trees and bushes marked on the map.
Pale streaks of quartz veins or quartz floaters may be visible on such granites. Pegmatites may outcrop, showing glittering mica surfaces in the sunshine, or rock crystals peep among the grass roots to pinpoint a pocket of gemstones.
Almost certainly the survey map will show mines in the vicinity—mines for wolfram, or tin, or silver-lead, or any one of half-a-dozen other minerals. Given permission by the owners, fossicking on mullock heaps of mines and quarries can be a rich source of gem materials.
Treasure Map: (continued)
An up-to-date survey map offers rock hounds as many clues to buried treasure as any pirate chart of the Spanish Main ever did.
Contour lines make up the bulk of clues. These lines indicate the rise and fall of the land surfaces by connecting points at the same level and thus outline the shapes of hills and valleys as seen from above. The lines are drawn at regular intervals and distance between them indicates the steepness of the slope. Where the lines are spaced evenly, the land is rising gradually. Where they bunch together, the rise is abrupt, as on a cliff face.
Other details are shown by symbols explained in the margin of the map. Tiny green sketches represent scattered woodland, green patches shows the heavier bush and rivers appear as wavy blue lines. Creeks which only flow in wet weather are shown in broken blue lines. Careful study of this map tells the gem seeker where he is likely to find bare rocks above talus slopes littered with fragments from the weathered face and also the places to which streams and rivers have carried debris from the rocks.
We can trace the pattern of blue lines on the hillside where a multitude of trickles feed a brook and a multitude of brooks feed a river. Study of this drainage system shows how gemstones are gathered from thousands of acres of hillside. Checking the course of the river against contours shown on the map discloses the places where the current slows down and the gem gravels pile up.
Obviously a river cannot collect gemstones unless it flows among gem-bearing rocks. To identify rocks, the survey map must be compared against a geological map of the area. On the geological map, the rocks occurring beneath the soil level are picked out in contrasting colors and named.
If the rocks of the area are granite, there is a good chance of finding beryl, feldspar, topaz, tourmaline and gem varieties of quartz. Basalt and volcanic tuffs may contain chalcedony, opal, jasper and agate, both in the form of seams and thunder eggs. Gneiss, schists and marbles yield sapphire, garnets, spinel and zircon.
But that is not to say that rocks of any given variety must necessarily be gem-bearing. Some granites, for instance, produce no gems, but in that case the survey map again provides a clue. Strong mineralized granites are the ones which becomes weathered most quickly, forming smoothly rounded hills, well covered with the trees and bushes marked on the map.
Pale streaks of quartz veins or quartz floaters may be visible on such granites. Pegmatites may outcrop, showing glittering mica surfaces in the sunshine, or rock crystals peep among the grass roots to pinpoint a pocket of gemstones.
Almost certainly the survey map will show mines in the vicinity—mines for wolfram, or tin, or silver-lead, or any one of half-a-dozen other minerals. Given permission by the owners, fossicking on mullock heaps of mines and quarries can be a rich source of gem materials.
Treasure Map: (continued)
Specialty Glasses
Aventurine Glass is man-made paste with the addition of fine copper spangles. The reddish brown variety is sometimes met with under the name gold stone or gold star stone. Spangled-aventurine-effect is due to triangular or hexagonal scales of copper. The blue variety (lapis imitation) is colored by cobalt and will appear red under the Chelsea Color Filter.
Slocum Stone is a recent (1976) opal imitation named after its Canadian inventor. It is a composite paste, probably consisting of a body of crown glass of low R.I. (about 1.52) and melting point, into which are pressed fragments of thin films of blown glass of differing R.I. Colors are probably due to interference between layers of differing R.I. The diagnostic features are flow lines and bubbles distorted by pressure during manufacture. Slocum stone triplets are now on the market as well. Slocum stone has been marketed under the deceptive name 'Opal Essence'. Slocum stone can be an extraordinarily good opal simulant. It is reported that the results of production can vary from batch to batch. Some stones display pinfire-type play of color; others may show much broader triangular flashes of color. The background may be black, translucent or nearly completely transparent like fine crystal opal. Low power magnification under the gemological microscope will reveal the twisted tinsel-like nature of the color flashes.
Rhinestone refers to transparent paste which, colorless in the main, shows patches of various colors. Most specimens consist of a thin metallic film which has been vacuum-sputtered onto the surface of the glass thereby causing iridescence.
Imori Glass or Meta Jade is a partially devitrified, translucent green glass produced by Imori in Japan. Slow cooling cause partial crystallization, which often appears as a dendritic (fern-like or tree-like) structure under magnification. The stones may show gas bubbles.
In some cases asterism is obtained by engraving fine, intersecting lines, or by impressing three sets of intersecting lines, on the back of a cabochon. The stones then are frequently backed by colored foil to lend color and increase reflectivity. On the other hand, cat's-eye-like effects can be obtained by the incorporation of parallel glass fibers or by the elongation of included bubbles.
Slocum Stone is a recent (1976) opal imitation named after its Canadian inventor. It is a composite paste, probably consisting of a body of crown glass of low R.I. (about 1.52) and melting point, into which are pressed fragments of thin films of blown glass of differing R.I. Colors are probably due to interference between layers of differing R.I. The diagnostic features are flow lines and bubbles distorted by pressure during manufacture. Slocum stone triplets are now on the market as well. Slocum stone has been marketed under the deceptive name 'Opal Essence'. Slocum stone can be an extraordinarily good opal simulant. It is reported that the results of production can vary from batch to batch. Some stones display pinfire-type play of color; others may show much broader triangular flashes of color. The background may be black, translucent or nearly completely transparent like fine crystal opal. Low power magnification under the gemological microscope will reveal the twisted tinsel-like nature of the color flashes.
Rhinestone refers to transparent paste which, colorless in the main, shows patches of various colors. Most specimens consist of a thin metallic film which has been vacuum-sputtered onto the surface of the glass thereby causing iridescence.
Imori Glass or Meta Jade is a partially devitrified, translucent green glass produced by Imori in Japan. Slow cooling cause partial crystallization, which often appears as a dendritic (fern-like or tree-like) structure under magnification. The stones may show gas bubbles.
In some cases asterism is obtained by engraving fine, intersecting lines, or by impressing three sets of intersecting lines, on the back of a cabochon. The stones then are frequently backed by colored foil to lend color and increase reflectivity. On the other hand, cat's-eye-like effects can be obtained by the incorporation of parallel glass fibers or by the elongation of included bubbles.
Monday, September 03, 2007
John Huston
You walk through a series of arches, so to speak, and then, presently, at the end of a corridor, a door opens and you see backward through time, and you feel the flow of time, and realize you are only part of a great nameless procession.
Better Presentations
Good Books: (via Emergic) Cliff Atkinson book Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire. is about how to improve presentations using PowerPoint. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and reviews. I really learned a lot.
Here is one of Cliff Atkinson’s blog posts entitled Center of Gravity:
Whenever I look at a PowerPoint presentation for the first time, I go to Slide Sorter view to get the lay of the land: Can I see a clear story across the entire experience? Then I'll shift to Notes Page view: Are the projected visuals and spoken words planned together? And last I'll go to Normal view: Can I easily understand the main idea of this slide?
It's usually the case that the answer is No to all three questions. More often than not, the presentations are very difficult to understand, packed with more text and data than anyone's cognitive ability can process; and little if any narrative structure. What I commonly find is that any single presentation is actually multiple presentations that are yearning to be liberated. Where we might try to load up the slides to save time by creating a one-size-fits-all presentation, we actually end up with a situation where one-size-confuses-all. One solution to the problem is the discipline of completing Act I of your story template. When you write the statements that form the headlines of the first five slides, you are making purposeful decisions that will sort, distill and structure information in a way that makes sense to your specific audience.
Franz Dill of IFTF Future Now writes:
Atkinson's approach is very nicely tailored for important, complex presentations. His model is that of telling a story ... storyboard it, use minimal text (no bullets), engage the audience. He picks a board presentation scenario and goes through it in some detail. Very thoughtfully done. I also like the fact that he covers other parts of the process ... how you present the slides, pacing, and how to tailor it for later emailing to people that could not attend, now a very common situation. I have been saving presentations for reference for some time, and am often amazed at how incomprehensible a slideshow can become. In fact the latter situation has often made me use more text and slide detail than I would otherwise.
Lars Bergstrom adds in a review on Amazon: I believe that the book's greater contribution is pointing out that most people structure presentations as a dump of data rather than taking into account their audience and the goal of their presentation -- why are people there? What do you want them to do or believe after you're done presenting? Even if you disagree with Cliff's convincing points on removing bullets from your decks, you should take to heart his framework for developing concepts and decks.
Cliff Atkinson said in an interview with Management Consulting News:
When we start talking about text on a slide, it’s important to begin by affirming the research: presenting text that is identical to narration actually harms the ability of the audience to understand. Removing the text from the screen improves the ability of the audience to retain the information by 28%, and improves their ability to apply the information by 79%. Keeping in mind the imperative to minimize text on the screen, the bulk of writing text for a PowerPoint presentation should be in the headlines that form your story structure. Then you write the narrative explanation of each of those headlines in Notes Page view. Because the words have already been captured in the form of the headlines and notes, the screen is much less dependent on text to convey information and more dependent on you to communicate it with your spoken words and expressions. With this approach, the PowerPoint screen becomes a much more creative and interesting tool that can hold a few words, or no words at all.
Dave Pollard has an excellent analysis of the process:
What this book does is provide a process to supply the pictures to go along with the story, so your presentation becomes "a blend of movie and live performance". The process has three steps: Writing a script to focus your ideas, storyboarding the script to clarify the ideas, and producing the script to engage the audience. My previous posts have told you about the art of crafting a good story. The storyboard for a movie script is actually sketches of visuals, but for purposes of this book it's merely parsing of the critical parts of the story onto successive slides. Then you use graphics -- and few words -- to reinforce the key points of the story with memorable images.
Here is one of Cliff Atkinson’s blog posts entitled Center of Gravity:
Whenever I look at a PowerPoint presentation for the first time, I go to Slide Sorter view to get the lay of the land: Can I see a clear story across the entire experience? Then I'll shift to Notes Page view: Are the projected visuals and spoken words planned together? And last I'll go to Normal view: Can I easily understand the main idea of this slide?
It's usually the case that the answer is No to all three questions. More often than not, the presentations are very difficult to understand, packed with more text and data than anyone's cognitive ability can process; and little if any narrative structure. What I commonly find is that any single presentation is actually multiple presentations that are yearning to be liberated. Where we might try to load up the slides to save time by creating a one-size-fits-all presentation, we actually end up with a situation where one-size-confuses-all. One solution to the problem is the discipline of completing Act I of your story template. When you write the statements that form the headlines of the first five slides, you are making purposeful decisions that will sort, distill and structure information in a way that makes sense to your specific audience.
Franz Dill of IFTF Future Now writes:
Atkinson's approach is very nicely tailored for important, complex presentations. His model is that of telling a story ... storyboard it, use minimal text (no bullets), engage the audience. He picks a board presentation scenario and goes through it in some detail. Very thoughtfully done. I also like the fact that he covers other parts of the process ... how you present the slides, pacing, and how to tailor it for later emailing to people that could not attend, now a very common situation. I have been saving presentations for reference for some time, and am often amazed at how incomprehensible a slideshow can become. In fact the latter situation has often made me use more text and slide detail than I would otherwise.
Lars Bergstrom adds in a review on Amazon: I believe that the book's greater contribution is pointing out that most people structure presentations as a dump of data rather than taking into account their audience and the goal of their presentation -- why are people there? What do you want them to do or believe after you're done presenting? Even if you disagree with Cliff's convincing points on removing bullets from your decks, you should take to heart his framework for developing concepts and decks.
Cliff Atkinson said in an interview with Management Consulting News:
When we start talking about text on a slide, it’s important to begin by affirming the research: presenting text that is identical to narration actually harms the ability of the audience to understand. Removing the text from the screen improves the ability of the audience to retain the information by 28%, and improves their ability to apply the information by 79%. Keeping in mind the imperative to minimize text on the screen, the bulk of writing text for a PowerPoint presentation should be in the headlines that form your story structure. Then you write the narrative explanation of each of those headlines in Notes Page view. Because the words have already been captured in the form of the headlines and notes, the screen is much less dependent on text to convey information and more dependent on you to communicate it with your spoken words and expressions. With this approach, the PowerPoint screen becomes a much more creative and interesting tool that can hold a few words, or no words at all.
Dave Pollard has an excellent analysis of the process:
What this book does is provide a process to supply the pictures to go along with the story, so your presentation becomes "a blend of movie and live performance". The process has three steps: Writing a script to focus your ideas, storyboarding the script to clarify the ideas, and producing the script to engage the audience. My previous posts have told you about the art of crafting a good story. The storyboard for a movie script is actually sketches of visuals, but for purposes of this book it's merely parsing of the critical parts of the story onto successive slides. Then you use graphics -- and few words -- to reinforce the key points of the story with memorable images.
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