I Sell Diamonds: Contrast In Methods

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

I told you that I ‘broke’ three times into diamond trading. The third occasion was when I was introduced to a prominent Antwerp diamond cutter in New York. For some reason he took to me, perhaps because I visited him in a nursing home when he was bored and ill. At any rate, he pressed me to come and see him when I reached Europe, and four weeks later I sat in the great man’s office in the Rue Coquilhat in Antwerp. He was a prince among men, although he could scarcely write his own name, and the outcome of our chance acquaintance was that I was associated with him over a period of six years, during which time my firm distributed throughout China, Indo-China, Japan, the Philippines and Malaya the stones which were cut in my principal’s Antwerp establishment. The strangest thing about it all was that he knew nothing about me; almost equally strange was the fact that although he had the largest diamond factory in Belgium I had never previously heard his name.
‘So you are specializing in pearls,’ he said, ‘and are operating in China at present. Why don’t you go in for diamonds on a large scale?’
‘For the best reason in the world,’ I said, laughing. ‘It takes me all my time to finance my pearl business.’
‘Oh, money be damned,’ he returned. ‘You can buy from me all you want without cash. Your paper is good enough for me.’
‘But paper has to be met,’ said I. ‘And I can’t see myself getting a single night’s sound sleep if I were to buy beyond my strength.’
‘That puts a different complexion on the matter,’ he smiled. ‘But although if you want to sleep, then sleep you must; I had thought you of the calibre of a big merchant who is out for big things and to whom sleep is a secondary matter. How much sleep do you think did Napoleon get in all his life?’ That was no talk for serious merchants. It was foolishness got up as the essence of wisdom. However, while he was still speaking he told his head clerk to bring out the classified series of brilliants which had been finished that morning.
‘These are the class of goods that sell in China,’ he said. ‘You may not know it, but I am well informed on the point. The series comes to approximately £40000. You can make your fifteen percent on it as easily as you can kiss your hand. Will you buy it if I guarantee you a profit?’
A friend who had introduced us in New York sat by my side and I looked at him.
‘Henry,’ I said, ‘I haven’t touched a brilliant for years, I am not au fait with values, I am a steady goer, I take no wild plunges, and my paper if I give it has to be met. Tell our friend here to look for other customers.’
Henry, who was a great expert on brilliants and had for twenty five years never lost touch with the diamond market, and who loved me as a brother, said: ‘Buy!’
I bought the lot; it came to over forty thousand pounds, and I paid with my signature. I did not know then what I had let myself in for. But of that more anon. I shipped the goods out to my brother, who was then in charge of our Manila office.
Suddenly I remembered, even as the goods were on their way, that you might buy diamonds for £40000 on tick if the seller had faith in your integrity, but that the American Collector of Customs in Manila would want to see the color our money before issuing a clearance certificate for the goods. Fifteen percent ad valorem meant £6000 in Customs duty, and this was an outlay which I had not figured on before I had left the Islands. In great perturbation I mentioned this little fact to the seller. He laughed.
‘I gave you credit for forty thousand pounds, so I may as well make forty six thousand,’ he said, grabbed the phone and instructed his bank to make cable transfer to Manila of £6000 in our favor.
That shows you what sort of a Napoleon my credit was. Two weeks later, having been in the interim in London, I went again to Antwerp. I called on my friend. He shook me warmly by the hand and said, without further parley: ‘Your luck’s out. The bottom has fallen out of the diamond market since you bought that parcel from me. You can buy the identical goods today at twenty five percent below the prices you paid me. Can you stand a loss like that without making a fuss about it?’
‘It’s bad news,’ I said calmly, for a man who has been knocked out by a hundred pound weight is quite calm in a manner of speaking, ‘but I have four months in front of me and the East is a big place. In any case, I now have a good reason for not sleeping at night.’
‘Do you know what I would do in your place?’ he asked.
‘Are you going to give me some good advice,’ I said with a wry smile, ‘or do you propose buying the goods back from me at a discount?’
‘No,’ he said, ‘I’m merely asking what you think I would do.’
I pondered. ‘If one were sure, could be sure, that there would be no further drop in price, the obvious thing to do would be to buy another one hundred thousand pounds’ worth of brilliants at today’s prices and strike an average, always provided that one had the cash or the credit and a market to absorb the goods.’
‘Precisely,’ he said, ‘and that was what I was going to suggest to you. I have another series of goods similar to those you bought of me. It does not come to a hundred thousand pounds, but close enough to sixty thousand. I advise you to buy; there will be no further drop; if anything, there will be an upward tendency almost before you can ship the stuff out.’
I inspected the goods. My heart was in my mouth. What was I about? Had I any right to commit myself to such heavy payments? If I bought the parcel I was staking all upon one throw of the dice; if I did not buy it my loss on the first purchase would limit my resources severely for some time to come. As I fumbled with the corn-tongs, idly picking up first one then another flashing stone, not knowing what decision to take for the best, a voice said in my ear: ‘Leap!’
I turned to my creditor. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘you can invoice the lot to me, but easy with the whip when you fix the dates of payment.’
The same day I received a cable from my brother in Manila: ‘Market here gone to pieces; buy nothing, ship nothing.’
‘A fine kettle of fish,’ I commented to myself, but ate a hearty dinner—like the condemned man—and went to a show. What was done was done. Within a week I sailed from Marseilles, China-bound, carrying with me in the purser’s safe the second folly which was to wash out the first.
I was lucky, very lucky. Within ten weeks from the date of my arrival in China I had liquidated for spot cash all my purchases, and had entered into an arrangement with my Antwerp supplier whereby we operated jointly in the Far Eastern markets on a fifty-fifty basis—he to buy the rough and cut it, I to have sole distribution. For six years the association held between us, until civil war in China, an anti-luxury campaign in Japan with its incident legislation, and a tin and rubber slump in Malaya were decisive factors in determining me to beat a retreat before the crisis, which had already taken toll in many good names in the diamond trade at home should claim mine, too.

I Sell Diamonds: Contrast In Methods (continued)

Movies With A Trading Theme

My favorite movies with a trading theme:

- Pi: www.pithemovie.com
- Trading Places: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086465
- Wall Street: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291
- Sting: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070735

Who Pays The Most Bribes

(via Transparency International): According to a survey by Transparency International, more than one in ten has paid bribes in various levels to obtain service (s) across the globe in the past twelve months.

- Cameroon - 79%
- Cambodia - 72%
- Albania - 71%
- Kosovo - 67%
- FYR Macedonia - 44%
- Pakistan - 44%
- Nigeria - 40%
- Senegal - 38%
- Romania - 33%
- Philippines - 32%

Useful link:
www.transparency.org

Salad Oil Scandal

I think the story of Salad Oil Scandal should be told and retold until the end of time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salad_oil_scandal

Rule No.1
Never Lose Money

Rule No.2
Never Forget Rule No.1

A lesson for all.

Gems And Jewelry: India's 'Golden' Growth Story

(via Commodity Online): Some interesting facts on the gems and jewelry sector in India @ http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=38520

Useful link:
www.commodityonline.com

Chinatown

Chinatown (1974)
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Screenplay: Robert Towne
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston

(via YouTube): Roman Polanski
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q34OSPw17o4

Chinatown DVD Extra: Retrospective Interviews (part 1 of 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDt7lXdE58A

Chinatown DVD Extra: Retrospective Interviews (part 2 of 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbD8NsBBLo8

A great film + I enjoyed it.

Lost For Art

Economist writes about Iraqi artists’ works at Qibab Art Gallery + the tiny art scene in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/daily/diary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10235761

Trypillian Threat

Olena Rusina writes about the state of the archeological treasures in Ukraine + the illegal excavations + black archeologists and their methodology + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2389&current=True

The Road To Venice

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

3

To appreciate all that Squarcione’s school at Padua did for Italian art, we must trace its influence into the second and third generation. In addition to the sons of Bellini—to whom we shall return—who were the real founders of Venetian painting, the old contractor had among his pupils Cosimo Tura (1420-95) who founded the School of Ferrara. Tura had a pupil named Bianci, who founded a school in Modena, and there had a pupil greater than any of his predecessors, Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio, from the place of his birth. Of the life of this great man singularly little is known, and apart from his art it does not seem to have been in any way eventful. Vasari tells us that Correggio ‘was of a very timid disposition and, at a great personal inconvenience, worked continually for the family which depended on him. In art he was very melancholy, enduring its labors, but he never allowed difficulties to deter him, as we see in the great tribune of the Duomo of Parma.’

It is with Parma that the name of Correggio is always associated, for his greatest works were executed there between 1518 and 1530, and the Cathedral of Parma is the monument of his genius. In its marvelous complexity and rich invention, his ‘Assumption of the Virgin’ there has no rival in the world. If his fluent and sure drawing was derived from Mantegna, his mastery of light and shade from Leonardo da Vinci, and his tremendous forms and designs borrowed from the storehouse of Michael Angelo, yet his marvelous coloring is entirely his own, and it is as a colorist, above all, that Correggio is supreme.

‘It is considered certain,’ wrote Vasari, ‘that there never was a better colorist, nor any artist who imparted more loveliness or relief to his things, so great was the soft beauty of his flesh tints and the grace of his finish.’ Nearly 400 years have passed since these lines were written, but no connoisseur of today would change a word in this appreciation. The work of Correggio appeals to every human being who is susceptible to the indefinable quality of charm. Whether his subject be frankly pagan, as in ‘The Education of Cupid’ at the National Gallery, or avowedly religious, as in his ‘St Catherine’ at Hampton Court, it is on the satisfaction of the eye, and through the eye of all the senses, that Correggio relies.

So modest was this great colorist, that portrait of himself by himself is known to exist. ‘He was content with little,’ says Vasari, ‘and lived as a good Christian should.’ A modern critic, Mr Berenson, has pronounced Correggio’s paintings to be ‘hymns to the charm of feminity the like of which have never been known before or since in Christian Europe,’ yet from all accounts this artist’s private life was singularly free from amours. Correggio was a model husband and father, and the only thing said against him by his Italian biographer is that ‘he was anxious to save, like everyone who is burdened with a family, and he thus became excessively miserly.’ This closeness is said to have brought about his premature death. ‘Payment of 60 crowns being made to him at Parma in farthings, which he wished to take to Correggio for his affairs, he set out with this burden on foot. Becoming overheated by the warmth of the sun, he took some water to refresh himself, and caught a severe fever, which terminated his life in the fortieth year of his age.’

The Road To Venice (continued)

Diamonds Of Fate

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

Much has been written about the Hope diamond, mainly with the intent to stress the fact that it has brought bad luck to all successive owners. But I do not wish to enlarge upon the aspect. I remember seeing a telegram forty two years ago addressed to my principal in Paris advising him that his father (my uncle) had purchased the Hope diamond at Christie’s sale rooms and that he had already received an offer for it from a New York firm of diamond merchants. It is true that my uncle died at a comparatively early age in the prime of his life and the New York merchant met with financial disaster, and also that another merchant into whose hands the stone had passed, an Armenian named Habib, was drowned in the ill-fated La Seine whilst on his way to Java. His wallet contained amongst other precious stones the Hope diamond. I myself narrowly missed traveling by the same steamer, having missed my connection at Singapore on my way from Australia, so the tragic event is still sharp on my memory. Subsequently an ex-naval deep sea diver whom I met on that occasion in Singapore was instrumental in recovering Habib’s wallet, and with it the Hope diamond.

The later history of the stone is well known can be found in many accounts. I may quote in passing a news item from the London Evening News of May 4th, 1938, which says: ‘Boston, Wednesday—May Yohe, international stage star of the ‘nineties, one-time wearer of the ill-fated Hope diamond, and friend of royalty, now rises at six every morning to do a job of relief work at £3 6s per week. She is working as a research clerk for the Works Progress Administration, and she is living in a four-room flat alongside the railway lines in Boston.’

But although within my own ken the several persons who have had anything to do with that noble gem ended their days in a manner different from that which they might have chosen for themselves, I should be lacking in sincerity if for the sake of playing up to the reader’s desire for a spot of goose-flesh I were to refrain from saying bluntly: ‘Bosh!’ A piece of crystallized pure carbon cannot in itself have baneful influence upon man.’

Before I mention the other stone, the green diamond noted above, you may like to know something about Tavernier, whose name has been given several times already in these pages. This intrepid traveler, gem expert, trader and adventurer in the best sense of the word, Jean Baptiste Tavernier, was born in 1605 at Antwerp. His father, Gabriel Tavernier, was by profession a geographer—a maker of maps and an engraver. Perhaps it was this paternal factor which in some way created in the young Jean Baptiste a desire to travel. Having journeyed much in Europe, Tavernier seized an opportunity which presented itself to travel in the company of two French priests, possibly missionaries, to Constantinople and thence to Persia. That was in 1631. In 1638 he made a second journey, this time visiting Persia and India, trading in jewels and precious stones wherever he went. He must have been what nowadays is called a good mixer, for he seems to have experienced no great difficulty in bringing himself and his wares to the notice of the most eminent persons. Then he made a third journey, which took him to Java, whence he returned to Europe via the Cape. During so much traveling and trading he must have acquired an immense fund of practical knowledge on matters connected with precious stones, and aided by a natural flair, he became a foremost authority on all that concerned gems. At any rate, the splendor-loving Louis XIV became one of his patrons, and it was said that by the sale of jewels to the King alone Tavernier made a profit of £100000. To wealth was added, in 1669, a title of nobility, and he purchased in 1670 the Barony of Aubanne near Geneva. But like many another man, he had a son who could get rid of money faster than the old man had made it, and the young man brought about his father’s financial ruin. After selling his estates to discharge his debts, Tavernier again, at the great age of 84, went in search of fortune. But he did not reach India, the object of his journey. In 1689, while on the way to Persia, he met his end at Moscow. Amongst other writings he left a work in two volumes, Les Six Voyages de J.B.Tavernier, which was published in Paris in 1676.

The green brilliant has a history like a mere postscript to the story of the great blue stone. But it, too, was of unique color, though not in the first rank for size, being only 160 grains (forty carats). It was worn by the King of Saxony when in Court dress. Brilliant cut, it was set ájour, in a plume to be worn as a hat ornament.

45 Social Entrepreneurs

(via Fastcompany): Make a profit + Make a difference = Social Capitalist. I liked the concept. http://www.fastcompany.com/social/2008

Connecting The Dots

(via Fastcompany): Mark Dziersk writes about design + its impact on indusry/commerce if properly delivered + other viewpoints @ http://www.fastcompany.com/resources/design/dziersk/connecting-the-dots-112807.html

Useful links:
www.sirkenrobinson.com
www.fitch.com

Children of Paradise

Children of Paradise (1945)
Directed by: Marcel Carné
Screenplay: Jacques Prévert
Cast: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault

(via YouTube): Children Of Paradise - Trailer (1945)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpmADgSQaxM

Children of Paradise (1945)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUIFRtvUU2A

One-of-a-kind story from a different period + its artistic angle + the love story--I enjoyed it.

The Evolution Of The Taille en Seize

(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:

The Taille en Seize can be seen in early seventeenth-century drawings of jewels by Arnold Lulls, Thomas Cletscher and occasionally others. Designers were still using it a hundred years later, but only in a restricted form—that is, as far as one can ascertain, with never more than sixteen facets, whereas Legare, with his special liking for this design, often used thirty-two.

It seems that the Taille en Seize and the Rose Cut had an influence on each other. Drop-shaped, flat-bottomed diamonds are clearly hybrids. Two such cuts can still be seen in the Imperial Austrian Sceptre, and three in the shoulder knot commissioned by Augustus the Strong. Jeffries depicts this as a standard for Rose Cut Pendeloques. Only a few of them are known actually to have carried—most of the illustrations represent ‘patterns’ of the kind widely distributed among jewelers all over Europe. All they indicate now is the period during which this particular cut was available. The drawings are so numerous that it seems incredible that no actual diamonds of this kind should have survived. All we know is that it was extremely simple to refashion a large Taille en Seize into a Brilliant Cut, and that it involved even less labor to transform a small one into a sixteen-facet cut with a square table facet. Was the Taille en Seize perhaps a premature cut which fascinated the professional but not the consumer?

Ecce Homo
This medallion contains thirty four variously faceted diamonds: ten of them are Tailles en Seize, and the remaining twenty-four are normal Rose Cuts.

Who Buys Old Masters?

Economist writes about a new class of buyers: Russian oligarchs and their acolytes(“market freshness”: a phrase referring to a good painting that has not been on the market for a long time) + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10235514

The Incredible Growing Art Museum

Blake Eskin writes about museums around the globe erecting new structures or expanding their current homes + the global phenomenon + the concept of bringing art and people together + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=988

The Road To Venice

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

2

To enumerate all the artists who were influenced by Mantegna and the School of Squarcione would be to give a list of a hundred names, and to attempt a task beyond the scope of the Outline; but brief mention must be made of one whose life, and particularly whose death, is of unusual and romantic interest. Franceso Francia (1450-1517) was a goldsmith of Bologna who achieved great fame as an engraver of medallion portraits long before the example of Mantegna inspired him to become a painter also. Francia was one of the first artists to make prints from an engraved plate, and served literature by designing the famous italic type for the press of Aldus Manutius. As a painter, Francia began with portraits and proceeded to altar-pieces, in which he displayed a remarkable psychological insight. Both in ancient times and in modern his lunette of the Dead Christ in the lap of the Virgin has been regarded as a most beautiful work, poignant in the intensity of its expression. The half-moon shaped picture is the upper part of a famous alter piece originally painted for the Church of St. Frediano at Lucca, and now in the National Gallery, London. The main picture below shows the Madonna and Child, with the following saints: St. Sebastian, St. Paul, St. Anne, St. Lawrence, and St. Benedict, while in front of the throne is the figure of the young St. John the Baptist; and the wan, expressive face of the young Virgin seems to suggest that she is already forewarned of the tragedy commemorated by the picture.

Francis was at the height of his reputation in Bologna when the young Raphael was working in Rome. The two artists never met, for Raphael was too busy to leave the Vatican and Francia was too old to travel. But they heard much of one another, and Francia as the elder, offered to help his junior in any way he could. He had never seen a picture of Raphael, and longed to view some work by the young man of whom everybody was talking. At last the opportunity came. Raphael was commissioned to paint a panel of ‘St. Cecilia’ for a Bolognese chapel, St. Giovanni in Monte; and when he had finished the painting he sent it to Francia at Bologna with a courteous letter begging the older artist to ‘correct any errors found in it,’ and then set it up on the altar for which it was intended.

When Francia drew the masterpiece from its case and viewed it in a good light, he was filled with amazement and with chagrin, so Vasari says, at his presumption in offering to help so great a genius:

‘Francia, half dead at the overwhelming power and beauty of the picture, which he had to compare with his own works lying around, though thoroughly discouraged, took it to St. Giovanni in Monte, to the chapel where it was to be. Returning home he took to his bed in an agony, feeling that art could offer him no more, and died, some suppose of grief and melancholy, due to his contemplation of the living picture of Raphael.’

That is the story told by Vasari, and though it may seem incredible to us that any artist should be so fatally affected by seeing the work of another, the fact that so strange a cause of death was related in good faith reveals to us how seriously art was taken in Italy in 1518.

The Road To Venice (continued)

Diamonds Of Fate

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

One of the most recent famous gems is the ‘Jonker,’ said to be amongst the four largest diamonds ever to come to light. It was dug from a muddy hole not far from Pretoria by a colored man in the service of an Afrikander names Jacobus Jonker. Sir Ernest Oppenheimer paid £60000 for it. Like most of these extraordinarily large stones in the rough, the Jonker,too showed defects which made is advisable to split it into several pieces. One of the minor pieces when cut weighed about twenty carats and was sold for a large sum to a London businessman in April, 1938. Although I only heard of the deal going through as I was leaving my office in the evening, one of the leading London papers had already got wind of it and rang me up for any information I could give. I mention this to show that sizable gems of quality are of perennial news value.

One can have too much even of the best. The recital of rare diamonds is no exception, but I cannot bring this chapter to a close without mentioning the two rarest diamonds in the world: one blue and the other green.

It was in the year 1642 that Tavernier bought in India a rough diamond weighing 112¼ carats, of a violet-blue so extremely rare that no other stone of such tint of any appreciable size has been known before or since. When later he sold the stone to Louis XIV in 1668 as a faceted stone, its weight had been reduced to sixty seven and one-eights carats.

Louis, who is spoken of as le roi soleil—the Sun King—owed this flattering epithet less to his mental gifts than to his love of display. On appropriate occasions he could deck himself out i such manner that his person put in the shade the lesser luminaries. ‘The King,’ says a contemporary writer, ‘on occasion of the reception of the Persian Ambassador, was dressed in a black suit ornamented with gold and embroidered with diamonds at a cost of twelve million, five hundred thousand livres. Suspended from a light blue ribbon round his neck he wore a dark-blue diamond as a pendant.’

At the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1792 the French regalia was seized and stored at the Garde Meubles, but whatever else may have remained intact, the blue diamond had disappeared.

Now, when thirty two years had elapsed there appeared in the hands of a dealer, one Daniel Eliason, a blue diamond of a tint identical with that worn by Louis XIV, but it only weighed forty four and a quarter carats, or twenty three and one-eighth carats less than the King’s gem. Was this a new stone that had no connection with the royal jewel? The possibility must be admitted, but in the light of what transpired subsequently we are justified in arriving at a different conclusion.

But before we go in search of clues to the unravelling of the mystery, let us see what Mr Daniel Eliason did with his forty four and a half carat blue diamond. Being a trader, he did not wear it suspended round his neck, but seeking a customer for it, found him in the person of a Mr Henry Thomas Hope, and from the time the gentleman parted with £18000 to get possession of the lovely gem of a beautiful sapphire blue, it became known as the ‘Hope’ diamond. Of this stone E W Streeter, as great a connoisseur of gems as any of his contemporaries, says ‘that because of its extreme brilliancy, faultless texture, exquisite form (7/8-inch in breadth, 1 1/8 inches in length, and of unusual thickness), it is unique’. He estimated its value at £30000. It was his opinion that Louis XIV’s blue diamond had been cloven into two parts: one the size of the Hope diamond (being none other), and another, after allowing for the unavoidable waste in recutting, of ten to eleven carats.

Now for the denouement of the riddle. In the year 1874 there actually came into the market, at a sale of the Duke of Brunswick’s jewels at Geneva, a triangular blue diamond weighing between twelve and thirteen carats; and subsequently elsewhere a very much smaller piece again of the same color and quality. Since all these stones were of the same rare blue tint which has never been encountered in any other diamond known in the world, and since their total weight—allowing for cleavage and cutting—is a rough equivalent of the royal French jewel, no doubt can exist in the mind of any logical person that the thief, whoever it was, had the original stone cut into three pieces as conditioned by its natural cleavage lines.

Diamonds Of Fate (continued)

How To Dream

The book, Dream: A Tale of Wonder, Wisdom & Wishes by Susan V. Bosak is about life's hopes and dreams, inspiring both children and adults.

Useful link:
http://www.tcpnow.com/books/dream.html

When Nature Calls, Use Your Cell Phone

(via Budget Travel): When nature calls, use bathroom locator service @ www.mizpee.com

Here's how it works: Turn on your phone's Web browser, and search for bathrooms by city and street address. The site will fetch a list of the nearest ones, along with details, such as whether each bathroom has a diaper-changing station.

Call MizPee

The Jewelry Channel

www.tjc.tv is interactive + includes user forums + blogs + live broadcast 24 hours a day + a unique shopping experience.

Meet The Woman Who Dictates The Taste Of Coffee

Jenny Gold writes about Tracy May Adair, who holds the grand title of master coffee cupper for Folgers + how to taste Folgers coffee + other viewpoints @ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16671564&ft=1&f=3

In my view, the concept of grading and tasting coffee is similar to colored stone grading / diamond grading / wine tasting / tea tasting + it's subjective, educational.

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane (1941)
Directed by: Orson Welles
Screenplay: Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles
Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead

(via YouTube): Citizen Kane (1941) Full Film - Part 1/12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYbXQmD_Fq8

One of the greatest films + a rare gem + I enjoyed it.

Pearls Of Dubai

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre + Arrow Pearls of Australia would be culturing Akoya pearls in the region (United Arab Emirates) + the pilot project of 100000 oysters would be harvested early in 2009 + the concept is to produce a branded ‘Dubai’ line of cultured pearls, 8-9 mm size + marketed
via local jewelers.

Cultured pearl industry is a highly fragmented industry. In my view, the cultured pearl industry may go through boom and busts in the coming years due to proliferation of producers around the world + the unpredictability of nature.

I also believe the popularity of pearls in the traditional and emerging consumer populations are growing due to improvement in quality, innovative jewelry designers + creative retailers.

Wallinger Takes Turner prize With Re-creation Of Parliament Protest

(via The Guardian) Charlotte Higgins writes about Mark Wallinger, the Turner prize winner + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/turnerprize2007/story/0,,2221510,00.html

The Master Swindler Of Yugoslavia

Konstantin Akinsha writes about Ante Topic Mimara, Yugoslav mystery man: a collector, dealer, painter, restorer, forger, alleged art thief, and probable spy + the Mimara Museum + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=975

The Road To Venice

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

The Art of Mantegna, Francia, Correggio, Bellini, And Giorgione

It takes nine tailors to make a man. So runs the familiar sayings, but one tailor of Padua in the fifteenth century sufficed to found a school of painting which has won immortal fame. In all the history of art no stranger figure exists than than of Franceso Squarcione, tailor and embroiderer of Padua. He had little to do with painting or painters till he was past forty, and yet this man was the master of 137 pupils and the the ‘Father’ of the glorious schools of Venice, Parma, Bologna, Lombardy, and Ferrara.

Here let us pause to explain tht while the succession of painters known as the Florentine School were perfecting their art, as related in the last chapter, groups of artists had already begun to collect in other Italian cities. So far back at 1375, twelve years before the birth of Fra Angelico, a Florentine painter named Justus had settled in Padua; and when Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452, Padua was already famous as an art center.

But to return to our tailor. To the University of Padua came, at one time or another, all the learned men of Italy. Nothing was heard in the streets but talk of ancient lore and the beauty of ancient art. The astute tailor soon found that a fragment of sculpture or a stone with a Greek inscription brought him more and better customers than the display of the latest fashions. Gradually the tailoring and embroidering became a side-line in his complicated business, and the shop of Squarcione gained much fame as a store house of antique treasures of art. Artists came to him asking to be allowed to draw his fine old statues.

Squarcione had a keen eye to the main chance, and the power to discover and use the talents of others. Whether he himself ever painted is doubtful, but in 1441, when he was a man of forty-seven, he managed to qualify himself for admission to the Guild of Painters at Padua. His business instinct would not allow him to let slip a ready-made opportunity. When students sought to study his unrivalled collection of antique models, they found themselves bound as apprentices to Squarcione; and hence forward—on the strength of their work—Squarcione blossomed into the proprietor of a flourishing art business.

In 1443 he was given the contract to decorate with paintings the Chapel of the Eremitani at Padua, and this contract he fulfilled for the most part by the hand of a boy of twelve, whom two years earlier Squarcione had adopted as his son and pupil. This boy was a nameless orphan, who acquired undying fame as Andrea Mantegna. He was only ten years old when, as the ‘son of Squarcione,’ he was admitted a member of the Padua Guild of Painters, and from this fact alone we can guess his extraordinary precocity. At the age of twelve Mantegna was employed on important paintings for the Chapel of the Eremitani, and it was the reputation of the pupil, rather than that of the master, which brought students in shoals to Padua.

Another great piece of good luck which befell Squarcione was the arrival in Padua of the Venetian painter Jacopo Bellini (c. 1400-71), whom the wily contractor inveigled into his business, and there is little room for doubt that Bellini was for many years the actual teacher of painting in the school of the Paduan contractor. Mantegna got his drawing from observing the Greek statues among Squarcione’s antiques, but he learnt coloring from Bellini, who was his true master. But so precocious was the genius of Mantegna that at seventeen he had already formed his style and brought his natural talents to mature perfection. At this age he painted an altar piece for St. Sophia at Padua, a picture which, as the sixteenth century critic Vasari wrote, ‘might well be the production of a skilled veteran and not of a mere boy.’

Success begets success, and at an early age Mantegna was able to set up for himself. Squarcione became still more furious when Mantegna married the daughter of Jacopo Bellini, who had now broken away from the firm and become a rival. Henceforward the old contractor blamed Mantegna’s works as much as he had previously praised them, ‘saying they were bad, because he had imitated marble, a thing impossible in painting, since stones always possess a certain harshness and never have that softness peculiar to flesh and natural objects.’

It is true that Mantegna’s sense of form was severe and his figures often remind us of marble statues, but the envious carping of his old master in no wise injured his reputation. His fame spread throughout Italy, and Pope Innocent VIII invited him to Rome, where he was employed on painting the walls of the Belvedere. The payments for this work were not so regular as the painter thought they should have been, and one day he ventured to drop a hint to the Pope, who had come to look at Mantegna’s paintings of the Virtues.
‘What is that figure?’ asked the Pontiff.
‘One much honored here, your Holiness,’ said the artist pointedly. ‘It is Prudence.’
‘You should associate patience with her,’ replied the Pope, who understood the allusion, and later when the work was completed we are told Mantegna was ‘richly rewarded.’

After painting in various Italian cities, Mantegna returned to Mantua, where he built himself a handsome house, and there in 1506, he died at the age of seventy five. The peculiar qualities of his art, his austere draughtsmanship and compact design may be seen in many works in England, notably in ‘The Triumph of Julius Caesar’ at Hampton Court, and in his ‘Madonna and Child’ and ‘Triumph of Scipio’ in the National Gallery; but the most perfect example of Mantegna’s art is his great picture ‘Parnassus’ in the Louvre at Paris. Here, Mantegna is able to express all his love of Greek art in picturing the home of the Nine Muses, who dance in homage round Venus and Apollo, while Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, awaits with Pegasus, the winged horse, to bear inspiration from this mythological heaven to the artists and poets of the earth.

The Road To Venice (continued)

Diamonds Of Fate

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

There is another ‘Regent’ called the ‘Regent of Portugal’ to distinguish it from the Pitt. This again was a Brazilian diamond. It was found in 1775 in Brazil by a poor negro slave to whom it brought more luck than usually accrues to him humble discoverers of great gems. For he was given his freedom and a pension of £50 a year. This round stone, whose original weight is not on record, turned the scale when faceted at 215 carats. I have seen its value given by an ‘authority’ as 396800 guineas, supposedly an expert assessment. He must have been a great authority on diamonds indeed who could with such precision put a value on a gem for which there could at no time exist an open market. Great diamonds have no price. They are, like any gem of the first class, worth what they can bring.

From a stone which bears the name of ‘Sea or River of Light’ we can expect no less than that it should be of the finest water, matchless in luster and of a size comparable with the largest of its kind. Certainly the ‘Darya-i-nur,’ possessing all these qualities, is truly well name. One hundred and eighty six carats of flashing fire, reflected by facets cut rose shape, make this diamond one of the mineral wonders of the world. But it is only one of two, for it is one of a pair of marvelous gems of Hindustan origin which are set in two matchless bracelets owned by the Shah of Persia (or should I say Iran?).

The other stone, the celebrated ‘Taj-e-mah,’ is even finer than its mate, for it is undoubtedly the greatest gem in the Persian collection. It also is rose cut and weighs 146 carats, so that the two stones together in the one pair of bracelets weigh 332 carats. Their value, as near as can be given by anyone (bearing in mind my remark about values above) for two such exceptional values, cannot be short of one million pounds sterling.

The Taj-e-mah was brought away from Hindustan by the Perso-Tartar conqueror Nadir Shah in 1739 amongst other looted treasure, his total bag having been estimated as worth between thirty and sixty million pounds. Nadir Shah’s successor, Shah Rokh, was a spineless ruler who had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the resolute Aga Mohammed. Determined not to give up his treasure, which he had had the forethought to hide, Shah Rokh defied the tortures of his implacable enemy and clung tenaciously for a long time to his secret. Hunger, thirst, cold, heat and other intelligent and refined methods of persuasion did Aga Mohammed try upon his luckless victim. Finally he deprived him of his eyesight, and Shah Rokh was persuaded to give up what was left of his inheritance, the great diamond Taj-e-mah amongst the rest. But to Aga Mohammed the stone brought no luck, for he was assassinated.

A stone which is famous for having belonged to Shah Jehan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, to whom it came from Akbar Shah, is called the ‘Akbar Shah’. It is noteworthy for having engraved upon both sides an inscription by which two Moguls hoped to have their names commemorated for ever. The fact that the art of engraving thus appears to have been known at the time might seem to invalidate my argument, in an earlier chapter, against the ‘diamond’ in the High Priest’s breastplate. But the method by which these names were written on the stone was not perhaps true engraving in the technical sense, but done with worms—the juice of certain worms have a unique action upon the incorruptible diamond, or so it was claimed.

Akbar Shah himself had the first writing put upon the diamond:
‘Shah Akbar, The Shah of the World, 1028 A.H’

When it came into the possession of Shah Jahan, he had set upon it these words:
‘To the Lord of Two Worlds, 1039 A.H, Shah Jehan’

But their hopes of immortality were mocked by later events in a world that knows the dead are powerless. The great stone was recut. In Shah Jehan’s time it had weighed 116 carats, but when the two Arabic inscriptions on either side of it had been destroyed, its weight was reduced to seventy two carats. In this state it was purchased by the Gaekwar of Baroda for £35000.

Another great diamond also in the treasury of Baroda is one less well known, but flawless. It is called ‘English Dresden’ after the merchant who sold it and who claimed for it, as another did for the Porter-Rhodes, that it was the most perfect stone for its size in the world. He also claimed that for color it excelled even the Kohinoor. In the rough the English Dresden weighed 119½ carats, but cutting and polishing brought it down to seventy six and a half carats. The Gaekwar of Baroda paid £40000 for it, so it is said.

Diamonds Of Fate (continued)

The Jewels Of Paris

Kate Betts writes about the growing luxury market via emerging markets like China, India, Russia and others + Paris's Place Vendome connection + other viewpoints @ http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1640285,00.html

25 Most Powerful Businesspeople

(via Fortune) Here is a list of the most powerful businesspeople in the world + more.

Companies That Could Change the World

(via The World Economic Forum): Here is a list of startup 'energy' companies that could change business and society:
www.gridpoint.com
www.ls9.com
www.skysails.info
www.nanostellar.com

City Lights

City Lights (1931)
Directed by: Charles Chaplin
Screenplay: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill

(via YouTube): City Lights - S17 Boxing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgAxWIbTqCs

City Lights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpeiPbjDlDs

City Lights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q68ieR7p-p0

Charlie Chaplin City lights scene never added to the film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcLce2QEcmw

A Charlie Chaplin masterpiece + the funny side + his total internal reflections. I enjoyed it.

Feminism's New Look

Barbara Pollack writes about women artists from countries far from major art centers who have received serious international attention + new geographical open-mindedness + finding the right balance between the traditions and cultures of their birthplaces and the esthetics and politics of the mainstream contemporary art world + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=971

The Wonder Of The Renaissance

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

4

Happy the painter who has no history! Life, so cruel to Michael Angelo, had nothing but kindness for his young contemporary, Raphael Sanzio. Born at Urbino in 1483, his way was smoothed for him from the moment (1504) that he left the workshop of his master Perugino to begin an independent career. Beautiful as an angel in person, sweet in disposition, charming in manner and conversation, Raphael was a favorite everywhere. After perfecting his art by study in Florence, he was invited to Rome in 1508 to undertake the decoration of the Stanze in the Vatican. These paintings at once established his reputation, and in 1511 he was appointed Chief Architect of St. Peter’s, Surveyor and Guardian of the Ancient Monuments of Rome, and overwhelmed with commissions for mighty projects of painting which his gentle courtesy had not the determination to refuse.

He walked through Rome, in those years of his glory, amid a throng of assistants and admirers. Thus meeting him once, grim old Michael Angelo growled out, ‘You look like a General at the head of an army.’

Laughing and quite unspoilt, Raphael wittily retorted: ‘And you, sir, like an executioner on the way to the scaffold.’

As a portrait-painter his ‘Balthasar Castiglione’ at the Louvre, as a painter of altar-pieces his ‘Sistine Madonna’ at Dresden and the ‘Ansidei Madonna’ in the National Gallery have made Raphael familiar to all and love by all. In 1520, he was working on his great ‘Transfiguration’ in the Vatican, when a fever struck him down. On March 27 he laid down the brush that he was never to hold again, and on Good Friday, April 6, his birthday, he died as the sun went down, amid the tears of those who mourned not only the artist but the man. He had lived only thirty seven years, but from that day to this not for one moment has the luster of his name been dimmed.

Diamonds Of Fate

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

One of the greatest gems of the world was the ‘Great Mogul’. Only a particularly magnificent piece is worthy of such a title, and in every way it was worthy of its name.

It was called after Shah Jehan, the fifth in succession to Baber, founder of the so-called Mogul Dynasty in Hindustan. We have a description of the stone from the pen of one who was singularly well qualified to speak, for not only was he an intrepid traveler, one of the world’s foremost dealers in precious stones in his generation, but also he was gifted with a flair for the uncommon, the rare, the exquisite. This was the Frenchman Tavernier, supplier of gems to the ‘Roi Soleil’, Louis XIV. Tavernier gives the weight of the Great Mogul as 319½ carats, which corresponds to 280 European carats, because the rati or Indian carat was only seven-eighths of our own carat weight. In shape it is said to have been round, rather high on one side and of the cut called rose cut, which I have already described.

We know from the records that have come down to us that a certain Hortensio Berghis, a diamond cutter, was commissioned to facet the stone, but that he bungled the work in such a manner that instead of receiving a wage for his labors he was fined 10000 rupees. Shortly after Tavernier saw the gem, in the middle of the seventeenth century, it apparently disappeared from history like so many of the big diamonds of the old days. And yet perhaps its whole tale is not told. According to at least one expert, the ‘Orloff’ diamond, part of the present Russian State treasure, is none other than the Great Mogul.

The story of the so-called Orloff diamond—from the European point of view—begins only in the eighteenth century with one of those thefts which are still so popular as the background for thrillers. It was part of the temple treasure, the eye of a Buddha (not quite the green eye of the little yellow god, but near enough), and a French soldier, dressing himself up a worshipper, managed to steal it. He sold it to an English sea captain at Madras for two thousand pounds, and the sailor sold it in London for three times as much as he gave for it. Finally it reached Amsterdam and was bought by the Russian Prince Orloff for the then stupendous sum of a million and a half florins, almost a hundred thousand pounds. Orloff, who was in disfavor with his queen, Catherine II, bought the gem in order to present it to the Russian Throne, and it now adorns the Imperial sceptre of an Empire which has no use for Emperors. In its present cut state it weighs 193 carats, whereas the Great Mogul’s weight was given as 319½, but this discrepancy might be accounted for by the wastage in the cutting process.

More convincing is the identification of the Kohinoor with the Great Mogul. Except for the fact that the Kohinoor has a history which goes back to the remotest times, a history of blood, rapacity, cruelty, during which period the gem changed hands many times, but never for gold, there might be some color in such a tale. It too is linked with Baber, the great Mogul, who owned it, and when it came to England (to be presented to Queen Victoria on June 3rd, 1850) its weight was then either 186 or 193 carats. The weights are variously given by the authorities I have consulted. That did not prove it had no connection with the other stone, for it is suggested that it might be only a portion of the lost diamond. We are here confronted with a great mystery, however, to which I can add nothing.

The weight of the Kohinoor was reduced by recutting to a mere 106½ carats. Voorsanger was the cutter’s name, a Dutch master of craft who was employed by a Mr Costers. The work was done at the rooms set apart for the restoration of Crown Jewels in London, and the supervisor was Mr Sebastian Garrard, the cost of recutting being £8000. An amusing story is told by an acquaintance of Mr Robert Garrard, another member of the superintending firm.
‘When I met him (Robert Garrard), I said to him: ‘What would you do if the Kohinoor burst?’
‘I would take off my name-plate and bolt,’ he replied.

In the year 1853 a negress was at work at a mine in the province of Minas Gerais, in Brazil, when she dug out of the soil a diamond weighing 254½ carats in the rough. To this gem the name ‘Star of the South’ was attached. The black woman was probably none of the richer for her discovery, but the stone was acquired by a syndicate and subsequently founds its way into the treasure chamber of the Gaekwar of Baroda, who paid £80000 for it. In its cut state, being of oval shape, it turned the scale at 125 carats.

This Indian potentate eventually lost his throne through diamonds. He was rather too fond of prescribing powdered diamonds for those of his subjects who could not see eye to eye with him, and had indeed tried his panacea on the then British resident, Colonel Phayre. A specially commissioned tribunal appointed by the British Government sat on the matter, and having found him guilty, deposed him.

Another brilliant from Brazil, the ‘Pitt’ or ‘Regent’, has an interesting history. It was found as far back as 1701 in the Parteal mines on the Kistna. In the rough state it weighed 410 carats, but cut only 136¾ carats.

The story goes that the slave who found it made a wound in his calf in which to conceal the stone, but another version has it that he merely pretended to be hurt and concealed the stone beneath a bandage. He made his bid for liberty and jumped an outgoing ship, but unfortunately for him he told his story to the captain, who is said to have thrown the fellow overboard after making sure of the gem. Subsequently he sold it for £20000 to Thomas Pitt, Governor of Fort St.George, dissipated the proceeds and hanged himself in a fit of delirium tremens. The stone was offered to the Duke of Orleans in 1717 at a time when Louis XV was still a minor and the Duke his Regent. The price was £135000.

A modern stone without a long and bloody history is the ‘Porter-Rhodes,’ a blue-white diamond from Kimberly, which was found in 1880 and weighed in the uncut state 150 carats. Its original owner proudly claimed that for quality this stone had no rival in the world. Porter-Rhodes, when he visited England, had an audience with Queen Victoria for the purpose of showing her this splendid gem. When she saw it she was surprised, for she confessed she had been under the impression that South Africa produced only yellow diamonds.

The Luxury Index 2007

(via Time Magazine): The Time magazine's The Luxury Index 2007 on styles/designs/colored stones/diamond jewelry was interesting and educational. I liked it.

Useful links:
The Luxury Index 2007
www.time.com/time/specials

Online Jewelry Auctioneer Draws Stock Bidders Too

Paulette Miniter writes about Bidz.com + the CEO David Zinberg (an immigrant from Moldova) + the way they do business online + other viewpoints @ http://www.smartmoney.com/undertheradar/index.cfm?story=20071121&hpadref=1

The Perforated Palace

(via The Guardian) Steve Rose writes about Cologne's new Kolumba art museum + the architect's perception of art + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/architecture/story/0,,2213249,00.html

Closely Watched Trains

Closely Watched Trains (1966)
Directed by: Jirí Menzel
Screenplay: Bohumil Hrabal (also novel), Jirí Menzel
Cast: Václav Neckár, Josef Somr

(via YouTube): Closely Watched Trains – Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igc0Jp62kEg

Closely watched trains
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp-u2HCyZac

A unique Czech film + it's sweetly funny + a moving masterpiece. I enjoyed it.

The ARTnews 200 Top Collectors

Milton Esterow writes about the world's most active collectors + collectors passion for paying good money for quality/rarity + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=953

The Wonder Of The Renaissance

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

Most artists who had received a papal commission of this magnitude began their work with an army of assistants. Bramante, with a show of giving his enemy every assistance, brought some experienced fresco-painters from Florence and erected a scaffolding whereby they might get at the ceiling. Furious and suspicious of everything and everybody, Michael Angelo began by declaring Bramante’s scaffolding to be useless and by raising another. Next he got rid of his assistants. One morning he got there early, destroyed everything they had done, locked himself in, and refused to admit the Florentines.

During the next four years, working feverishly and in secret, the sculptor accomplished the mightiest series of paintings in the world. He had endless troubles and difficulties. The work was new to him, and he had to learn its technique as he went along. Hardly had he finished painting one panel, ‘The Deluge,’ when the surface became mouldy and had to do it all over again. All this time his relatives badgered him for money; the Pope, irritated at his secrecy and seeming slowness, threatened to have him thrown from the top of his scaffolding, and at last, worn out, but still not content with his creations, Michael Angelo, after lying for four years on his back to paint this ceiling, once more stood erect and allowed the scaffolding to be taken down on All Saints Day 1512.

His worst enemies were amazed at the greatness and magnitude of his achievement. Raphael, great enough himself to fear no rival, was the first to praise it, thanking God aloud that he had been born in the same century. No photographs can do justice to what Raphael and his contemporaries then saw. In default of the original, we can but show a single figure, and let the imagination do the rest.

Michael Angelo divided the great ablong space of the ceiling into nine principal sections, or rather three groups of three scenes each. The first group, illustrating ‘The Creation of the World,’ consisted of (1) ‘God Dividing Light from Darkness,’ (2) ‘God Creating the Luminaries,’ and (3) ‘God Blessing the Earth’. The second group, illustrating ‘The Fall of Man’, showed (4) ‘The Creation of Adam’, (5) “The Creation of Eve,’ and (6) ‘The Temptation and Fall.’ The last three, illustrating the uselessness of sacrifice under the old dispensation, represented (7) ‘The Sacrifice of Noah,’ (8) ‘The Deluge,’ and ‘The Drunkenness of Noah.’ These nine panels were knit together by a connecting framework in which were placed single figures of Prophets, Sibyls, and other decorative figures, lunettes and triangles, so that the whole appeared as an elaborate architectural roof ornamented with reliefs and sculptured figures among which nine great pictures had been inserted.

The work was completed, but Michael Angelo at thirty-seven was an old man. His health was shattered. Working for months on end with his head thrown back had strained his neck and brought on painful swellings on the glands; his sight was injured to such an extent that for long afterwards he could not read a book or letter unless he held it above his head. Then, when the old Pope, satisfied at last, might have rewarded the heroic artist Julius died and was succeeded by Leo X, who had work for Raphael, but none for Michael Angelo.

The harassed sculptor went back to Florence, where he set to work on another masterpiece of sculpture, the ‘Tomb of Lorenzo de Medici,’ with its beautiful recumbent figures of ‘Night’ and ‘Morning,’ ‘Dawn’ and ‘Twilight.’ Worse troubles were in store for him. Disgusted with all things, including himself, he threw himself into the revolution which convulsed Florence in 1527. Though no engineer like Leonardo, the republican revolutionaries put him in charge of the fortification of the city. Distrustful of everybody, Michael Angelo feared that Malatesta Baglione, the general of the Florentine troops, might betray the city to the troops of the new Pope (Clement VII); his warning unheeded by the authorities, he feared the hostility of the powerful commander, and giving way to attack of nerves he fled to Venice for his life. There he was safe and might have gone to France, but an appeal to his honor brought him back to Florence. Once more he took his place in the fighting line, and six months later Malatesta Baglione, as he foresaw, betrayed the city to the Emperor.

Irony of fate! The life of the wretched sculptor was spared in order that he might work again for the glory of those tyrants, the Medici, against whom he had fought. In 1534, another Pope, Paul III, called him to Rome to enter on a new project. Again the sculptor was asked to paint, to cover the immense wall at the entrance to the Sistine Chapel with a fresco representing ‘The Last Judgment’. He began the work when he was sixty one, and again shutting himself up, accomplished the task in a little over five years. It was no work for an old man of nearly seventy, and the following year the sculptor had to turn from painting to architecture; by command of the Pope he designed the mighty Dome which to all the world today is the sign and symbol of the Eternal City.

Vasari, who visited the old man when he was eighty eight, gives a wonderful picture of Michael Angelo’s last years. He lived like a poor man, ate hardly anything but a little bread and drank but a little wine. Unable to sleep, he would get up at night to work with his chisel, and made himself a paper helmet in which a candle was fixed, so that he might have light to work without embarrassing his hands.

On February 12, 1564, the old man spent the whole day on his feet working at a ‘Pieta’. Two days afterwards he was seized with fever, but with his usual obstinacy refused to see a doctor or to go to bed. On the 17th he consented to be put to bed, and fully conscious, dictated his will, bequeathing ‘his soul to God and his body to the earth’. About five o’ clock on the following afternoon, surrounded by his faithful servant and a few friends, the worn-out genius breathed his last and found that rest which had never been granted him in life.

More About Diamonds. Some Famous Stones

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

There are stories, strange, tragic, humorous or romantic, about all the great stones. Diamonds above all others have attracted to themselves innumerable histories beyond the dreams of mere imagination.

Consider the ‘Braganza,’ the size of a goose’s egg and said to have weighed 1680 carats in the rough. The full story is to be found in Mawe’s Travels in Brazil, but here are the main facts. Three men, whose names were Antonio de Sousa, Jose Felix Gomez and Thomas de Sousa, having been found guilty of various crimes, were banished into the interior of Brazil and forbidden to approach the capital towns or remain in civilized society on pain of perpetual imprisonment. Brazil is very vast and much of its territory is even yet not fully explored. Driven into the unfrequented wilds, the banished men determined to discover and exploit new mines, in the hope that if they were able to make valuable discoveries it would lead to a reversal of their hard sentences. They wandered about for some six years, until at last, coming in a dry season to the exposed river bed of the Abaite, a few leagues to the north of the Rio Plata, they there washed for gold and discovered the big diamond.

They forthwith consulted a priest about the course they should take, who advised them to trust to the mercy of the State, and himself accompanied them to Villa Rica, where the Governor, on hearing the story and seeing the evidence of their good fortune, suspended their sentences.

The gem was then sent to Rio de Janeiro, whence a frigate took it to Lisbon. The priest who had originally advised the surrender of the gem went with it to Portugal, presumably hoping for preferment, and the Portuguese King was sufficiently impressed with his new possession to pardon the exiles, confirming the Governor’s action, and advance the pertinacious cleric. The stone, is however, said to have been allowed to remain in its uncut state, and Rome Delisle gave its value at 300 millions sterling, an astronomically large and almost incredible sum. In his memoir on this diamond Murray says that Don John VI had a hole drilled in the stone and wore it suspended round his neck on gala days. Of its recent history there is none to say. Presumably it is still in the Portuguese treasury, for all the information to the contrary, but no outsider knows for certain. Enquiries are not appreciated by those in authority, possibly because, as some suggest, the gem is not a diamond at all, but a white topaz. If that were indeed true, successive Portuguese Governments may have thought it politic to preserve the legend of the great Braganza by saying nothing to dispel the illusion surrounding their great national possession. Certainly Barbot, who saw the stone, describes it as being of a dark yellow color, which possibly suggests a topaz. The date of its discovery by the three outcasts is variously given as 1741, 1764, and 1797.

A diamond that has always remained in the possession of a native prince is the ‘Matan’, so called because it belongs to the Rajah of Matan, in Dutch Borneo. It was found in 1787 in the Landak mines N.E of Pontianak, among the oldest known and, before the opening of the Rand mines, probably also the most productive in the world. As far back as 1738 the Dutch exported from this district some 300,000 dollars worth of diamonds. Sir Stamford Raffles wrote of that time: ‘Few courts of Europe could boast of a more brilliant display of diamonds than did the Dutch ladies of Batavia in the prosperous days.’ All these diamonds came from Borneo. For over a century the Chinese worked those mines, but they were so cruel and tyrannous in their treatment of the Dyaks, natives of the country, that in the end the latter rebelled and massacred the Chinese almost to a man.

When found, the Matan diamond weighed 367 carats. It is described as being the size of an average walnut (favorite description of very large diamonds, for some reason) and of a bluish metallic luster. It has never been cut. The Dutch Government were very anxious to buy it, and the Governor of Batavia is said to have offered 150000 dollars plus two large war brigs, with full complement of guns and other war material, but the native prince refused the offer. It is still in the Sultan’s treasury, but for fear of arousing the cupidity of scheming despoilers it is not now shown. Occasionally, to gratify the curiosity of exalted visitors, the Rajah displays a crystal replica. When it was still being shown, the Matan was variously valued at anything between £270000 and 350000 sterling.

To its owners the Matan had, like many another great gem, the added virtue of possessing miraculous powers. The water in which it is dipped when the medicine chest of the Rajah’s household requires replenishing is reputed to be a sure cure for life’s ills.

Another great diamond remaining in the hands of a native prince, also still uncut is the ‘Nizam’, property of the Nizam of Hydrerabad, in whose territory were the great mines of Golconda, famous source of the diamonds of the ancients and of medieval men. The Nizam’s ancestors were styled ‘Kings of Golconda’. The Nizam diamond weighs 340 carats and its value was many years ago stated to be £200000, but large as the stone is, it is only part of a bigger stone which before fracturing weighed 440 carats.

A modern gem was the ‘Stewart’ diamond. It was found in 1872 by a man named Spalding in an outside claim (diggings), before the South African Rand had become an El Dorado for diamond miners. Spalding was so overcome by his find that he could neither eat or drink for three full days. Or so it was said. This stone weighed 288 3/8 carats in the rough, was consigned to an important London firm, and since no more transpires, was presumably sold by them to someone who preferred to remain the anonymous owner of a two-ounce diamond.

Beryl Triplets Imitating Natural Emeralds

It's amazing to see beryl triplets in the gem + jewelry market despite information about the imitation (s) via trade journals/ gemological books/ seminars/ workshops by experts from around the world. The victims include jewelers, gemologists, gem traders + the public.

A beryl triplet is a deception. It has no value. It consists of a crown of colorless beryl (goshenite) or any clean, very light colored beryl (pale aquamarine), and a pavilion of the same material cemented together with a green chromium-based cement. The purpose of the goshenite material is to have the refractive index and specific gravity values in the range of beryl. The green layer of cement is reflected throughout the stone by the facets so that the face-up color of these imitations show good emerald-green color.

Immersion in a suitable liquid will easily show the three parts of the triplet. With some practice + proper magnification (loupe + microscope) one should be able to see the separation plane.

Pearl Production In The South Pacific Region

Here is an interesting website on commercial pearl production in the South Pacific region + other viewpoints @ http://www.spc.int/coastfish/News/POIB/17/POIB17.pdf

The Desertec Concept

Desertec concept = bringing technology and deserts into service for energy, water and climate security. http://www.trecers.net/concept.html

Useful link:
www.trecers.net

How Africa's Desert Sun Can Bring Europe Power
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/dec/02/renewableenergy.solarpower

City Of God

City Of God (2002)
Directed by: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund
Screenplay: Paulo Lins (novel); Bráulio Mantovani (screenplay)
Cast: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino

(via YouTube): City of God Original Brazilian Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iISAiUwY9eM

City of God - chase the chicken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoNATPsOsZk

A unique mixture of realism and surrealism + one-of-a-kind film. I enjoyed it.

It's The Greatest Time To Be An Entrepreneur

Total internal reflections of Ted Leonsis, who is considered an Internet pioneer and whose business portfolio over the years includes an impressive array of online companies + other viewpoints @ http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1849.cfm

Diamond And Jewelry Industry Crime

(via FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin): Kelly Rose writes about the US law enforcement's dilema tracking stolen jewelry (due to limited knowledge + analytical skills, which is becoming the fastest growing category of stolen property in value behind automobiles in the US) + other viewpoints @ http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2007/feb2007/feb2007leb.htm#page17

I think this will become a common trend in the emerging markets of Asia, South America, Russian Federation + Europe and other select cities in the world in the coming years.

Hrothgar's Rheumy Eyes

Economist writes about the new innnovations in animation technology + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/techview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10170398

The Mod Bod

Hilarie M. Sheets writes about (modified) metaphors for emotions via body exploration + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=934

The Wonder Of The Renaissance

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

In 1501, he returned to Florence to make the famous statue of ‘David’, which was to commemorate the deliverance of the city from her enemies. But no happiness awaited him in his native town. He was foolishly pitted against Leonardo da Vinci, and his envy and jealousy excited by tittle-tattlers. The two great men of time, who ought to have been understanding friends and comrades, were forced into enmity. Michael Angleo grew morose and suspicious. One day as he was walking through the streets of Florence he saw Leonardo discussing a passage in Dante with a group of citizens. Meaning nothing but kindness, Leonardo hailed his rival and said to his friends, ‘Michael Angelo here will explain the verses of which you speak.’

But the embittered sculptor scented an insult in the innocent remark and passionately retorted: ‘Explain them yourself, you who made the model of bronze horse and who, incapable of casting it, left it unfinished—to your shame, be it said.’

This allusion to his equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza, never finished, wounded Leonardo to the quick. Conscious of his fatal tendency to procrastinate, he reddened as Michael Angelo turned his back on him and strode away.

Unhappy in Florence, Michael Angelo was not sorry when in 1505 Pope Julius II called him back to Rome. Later he was to regret still more bitterly that he ever went. Julius desired a colossal mausoleum to be built for his remains, and the sculptor entered into the project with enthusiasm. He spent eight months in Carrara quarries selecting his marbles, and in December returned to Rome, where the blocks began to arrive. But a rival artist, Bramante, hinted to the Pope that it was unlucky to build your tomb in your own lifetime. The Pope hastily dropped the idea of the mausoleum, closed his door to Michael Angelo, who was left not only unpaid for his work and time, but in debt for the marbles he had obtained. The sculptor was driven out of the Vatican by a groom, and quivering with indignation the humiliated genius at once left Rome for Florence.

But no sooner was he in Florence than the Pope wanted him back at Rome. Eventually he got him back, and perhaps the eccentric, inconstant Pope meant kindly; but he reduced Michael Angelo to despair by demanding that the greatest sculptor in the world should spend his time painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Again the architect Bramante was the evil genius; he had prompted the command, believing the sculptor would fail ignominiously. What was meant for his dishonor became his greatest glory.

Michael Angelo never wanted to d the work. Already his young rival Raphael had commenced painting the ‘Stanze’ of the Vatican with unparalleled success. The sculptor pleaded that this ceiling should be given to Raphael, but the Pope insisted and his will was law. On March 10, 1508 the distracted artist wrote: ‘Today I, Michael Angelo, sculptor, began the painting of the chapel.’ The next year, on January 27, 1509, he wrote again: ‘This is not my profession...I am uselessly wasting my time.’ Today the whole world thinks otherwise.

Of all the palaces of art which Europe contains, there is not one more wonderful within, or with a meaner exterior, than the Sistine Chapel. The long barn-like structure, lit by twelve round-headed windows, was built over what was once the Library by Sixtus IV. His aim was to ornament the chapel with scenes from the world’s history pointing to the coming of Christ. All the greatest artists of the preceding generation, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Piero di Cosimo, and Perugino had been called upon to assist in the work, and after the death of Sixtus the completion of the Chapel occupied his nephew Count Guiliano Rovere, who succeeded him as Julius II.

More About Diamonds. Some Famous Stones

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

Another very common way of cutting diamonds is that which provides the stone with twenty four triangular faces. Diamonds cut in that fashion are called rose diamonds, or roses for short. One meets with sizable stones of that kind frequently in old jewelry, but nowadays only small stones are cut in the rose fashion. The jeweler uses them at the dictates of economy, and the layman who notices the difference between a rose cut and full cut diamond is quite often heard to say: ‘These are chips, aren’t they?’

An ultra-modern way of cutting diamonds is the ‘baguette’ or baton shape, which is ideal for the purpose for which it is intended, in connection with the modern designs in flexible jewelry. I am, however, of the opinion that that method of cutting diamonds deprives them of their most important quality—luster.

There was a time, from the middle of the eighteenth century until the discoveries on the South African Rand, when South America supplied the world with its diamonds, just as India had done from the earliest times until Brazil became a great name in the diamond world. Tomorrow (figuratively speaking) the great diamonds may be coming from Patagonia, and the day after from Antarctica, places still both remote from industrial strife. History has already been made by the discovery of precious minerals in unexpected localities. It may, and probably will, be again made in the same way.

The story of the great diamonds is an almost unending feast of romance, tragedy and adventure, too often tinged with the sordidness of criminal greed. Sometimes there is humor in the tale, like a bit of the private history of the Cullinan diamond which I was told.

I had known young Ascher of Amsterdam when he was scarcely out of his teens. He was a shrewd, precise, staid young man, a perfect blend of Jew and Dutchman. Yet he seemed to me to be lacking in one outstanding Jewish trait, in that he appeared to have no sense of humor. That was forty five years before he had become world famous as the head of the great Amsterdam diamond cutting establishment. Yet I was wrong in my estimate of him.

It was the Dutch firm of Ascher that was entrusted with the extremely delicate and responsible job of dividing the prodigiously large Cullinan diamond into several pieces, and for the subsequent shaping and polishing of the now historical stones which were presented to King Edward VII by the Union of South Africa. When at last the wonderful and priceless gems were ready for presentation to Their Britannic Majesties, and the date had been set for the ceremony, Mynheer Ascher crossed over from Holland in order to meet the representatives of the South African Government at Buckingham Palace and hand over the result of many month’s labor, and to be himself presented to the King and Queen.

Extraordinary precautions had been taken for the safe transit of the gems, for not only had the Dutch police sent along several of their astutest secret service men, but also two of Scotland Yard’s keenest detectives had been dispatched to prevent any unfortunate incident from occurring during the trip from the Netherlands.

To make assurance doubly sure, one of Ascher’s own trusty men had one handle of the bag containing the caskets strapped and padlocked to his wrist, while the other handle was secured in the same manner to the wrist of a Scotland Yard officer. Ascher himself held the key to the two padlocks and to the bag itself. With an escort of this kind, there was no question but that short of some accident at sea during the crossing the stones would arrive safely at their destination.

Yet, when the bag was opened in the anteroom where the official personages were to take over, the presentation caskets were found to be empty. There was tremendous consternation, as may readily be imagined. What could possibly have happened? The explanation was forthcoming, to the relieved hilarity of all present, when Mynheer Ascher turned aside and spoke to his personal servant who attended him, an old family retainer of insignificant appearance whom nobody had noticed. The old fellow felt in his pockets and produced from somewhere on his person a large colored handkerchief, into which were tied, peasant fashion, the gems that in a few minutes were to be presented to the ruler of the British Empire.

That is the reason why I think Ascher of Amsterdam must have had a considerably developed bump of humor.

More About Diamonds. Some Famous Stones (continued)

Cobalt-bearing Glass Imitations

Cobalt-bearing glass imitations are still appearing in the gem market in all shapes, sizes and color shades to imitate mainstream colored stones. Watch out for these imitations in Southeast Asia + South Asia + East Africa + alluvial sources. The specimens may have the look and character of the real stones.

Usually 'momentary autism' does the trick because you think you have the right stone + you are in a hurry; you are stitched!

Central Pamir Mountains

It has been reported that gem quality corundum occurs at scattered localities in the Muzkol metamorphic complex in the Central Pamir Mountains of southeastern Tajikistan + according to experts it is associated with scapolite, biotite, muscovite, and chlorite with smaller amounts of tourmaline, apatite rutile and apatite.

Success Depends On Others Failing

Laura Blue writes about a new neurological study, published in the Nov. 23 issue of the journal Science on brain regions that process reward + the practical implications + other viewpoints @ http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1687725,00.html

It was educational and insightful.

Men Buy, Women Shop: The Sexes Have Different Priorities When Walking Down The Aisles

Here is an interesting study titled 'Men Buy, Women Shop' via researchers @ Wharton's Jay H. Baker Retail Initiative + the Verde Group, a Toronto consulting firm + other viewpoints @ http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1848

It was educational and insightful.

Brazil

Brazil (1985)
Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Screenplay: Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro

(via YouTube): Brazil montage/trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pbpv8_3Dw4

"Brazil" Ending (2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71us9TunjWU&feature=related

A unique comic fantasia. Part futurist. Part retro. I enjoyed it.

The Wild Ones

(via The Guardian) Here is an interesting perspective on fairies and other spirits that have long haunted the words and images of English literature + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2216168,00.html

Wyeth's Black Models

Mary Lynn Kotz writes about Andrew Wyeth + the artist's depictions of his African American friends and neighbors + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=916

Sierra Leone’s Presidential Beneficiation Visions: A Reality Test

Chaim Even Zohar writes about Sierra Leone's plans to join the diamond beneficiation concept + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp

The Wonder Of The Renaissance

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

3

Nine people out of ten, if asked to name the greatest artist who ever lived, would reply Michael Angelo Buonarotti, who was born in 1475 at Castel Caprese, a small town near Florence, of which his father was chief magistrate. The babe was put out to nurse with the wife of a marble worker, and in later days the great sculptor jokingly attributed his vocation to his foster-mother’s milk. His father had other ideas for him, and used a stick freely to impress on the lad the advantages of a commercial career, but Michael Angelo was obstinate and intractable. At last the father gave way, and when the son was thirteen he apprenticed him to Ghirlandaio for three years. Long before his apprenticeship was out, the boy had shown a preference for sculpture. His talent in modeling was brought to the notice of Lorenzo de Medici, who nominated him for the famous ‘Garden School’ of sculpture which he had founded under the direction of Donatello’s chief assistant Bartoldo. The ruler of Florence, pleased with the progress of his protege took him to his household, and made him an allowance of 500 ducats a month. This lasted till 1492, when Lorenzo died, and the youth had to make his own way in the world. Meanwhile a new influence came into his life.

In 1400, when Michael Angelo was boy of fifteen, Savanarola had begun to preach his impassioned sermons in Florence. The whole city trembled at the terrible voice, which hurled thunderbolts at the Pope himself. All Florence was like a revival meeting; people rushed about the street weeping and shouting, wealthy citizens became monks, high officials abdicated their positions.

Michael Angelo for the first time in his life was afraid, afraid of the unknown horrors predicted for Florence. He was miserable under the degenerate Piero de Medici, a stupid tyrant who wasted his time and his talent by commanding him to model a statue in snow. One night a poet friend of the sculptor dreamt that the dead Lorenzo appeared to him and bade him warn Piero that soon he would be driven from his house, never to return. He told the Prince, who laughed and had him well cudgelled; he told Michael Angelo, who believed and fled to Venice.

That was in October 1494. A month later Piero fled in his turn, and Florence, with the support of Savonarola, was declared a republic, owning no king but Jesus Christ. Michael Angelo soon got over his superstitious terrors. That winter he spent at Bologna in learned circles, and forgetting Savonarola, he read Dante and Petrarch; he was absorbed by the beauty of Nature and the dignity of the antique world. At the very time when his contemporaries at Florence were fanatically indulging in a religious revival, Michael Angelo seemed to assert his paganism by carving a ‘Sleeping Cupid’ so full of Greek feeling that it was sold in Rome to the Cardinal San Giorgio as an antique by a Greek sculptor. When he discovered he had been cheated, the deceived collector was so delighted to think a living Italian could rival the dead Greeks that he sent for the young sculptor and took him under his protection. In 1496, while the Florentines were heaping pagan pictures, ornaments, and books on Savonarola’s ‘Bonfire of Vanities’, when his own brother, the monk Leonardo, was being prosecuted for his faith in the Friar, Michael Angelo in Rome seemed anxious to prove himself a pagan of pagans, producing a ‘Bacchus,’ an ‘Adonis,’ and the lovely ‘Cupid’ which is now at South Kensington.

On May 23, 1498, the fickle populace of Florence turned against its idol. Savonarola was burnt to death at the stake. Still Michael Angelo appeared to take no notice. No mention of Savonarola or his martyrdom can be found in any of the sculptor’s letters.

But in his own art he made his own comment. From 1498 to 1501 he worked feverishly, perhaps remorsefully, on a marble group the like of which had never before been seen; a Virgin whose haunting face is impressed with a ‘sorrow more beautiful than beauty’s self,’ across whose knees is lying a Christ of such serene physical beauty and perfection that we say, ‘His is not dead but sleepeth.’

This was Michael Angelo’s confession to his Maker, the supreme ‘Pieta’ at St. Peter’s Rome: a work of which the exquisite beauty is only equalled by its ineffable sadness. Botticelli, too, was more moved by the end of Savonarola than ever he had been by his preaching. But Botticelli was then an old man: Michael Angelo had just turned twenty three and was only on the threshold of his career. Already his pagan days were over. Melancholy claimed him for her own, and never after let him go. In five years he had established his reputation as the greatest sculptor in the world, but then, as now, glory is not necessarily remunerative. His family believed he was making a fortune; and too proud to acknowledge his true poverty-stricken condition, he starved himself to give alms to his kindred. His own father pestered and abused him worst of all; his whole family bled him white, and then denounced him as being mean.

More About Diamonds. Some Famous Stones

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

Most people know that diamonds can be white, yellow or blue white, and that blue white stones are considered to be the best, also that off-colored or yellow stones are the least esteemed.

What the average person does not realize is that diamonds may be of any color or tint, from coal-black to emerald green or rose-pink. Their coloring is due to various metallic oxides. When, therefore, diamonds are for some time exposed to high temperatures, their color is apt to change, though only temporarily. An experiment with diamond, probably the first of its kind, was carried out by Sir William Crookes, who embedded a pale-yellow diamond in radium bromide for eleven weeks. At the end of that time, the pale yellow had changed into a bluish green.

I myself saw and handled an eight carat stone which, by the same means, had been turned from brown into a poor tourmaline-green. In my opinion the stone had been utterly spoilt by the treatment, for not only had its market value not improved, but it looked a most uninteresting stone. Whether the color was permanent, no one, of course, was in a position to judge. The stone might either gradually drift back to its original color or change suddenly and unpredictably. In either case the buyer was due for an unpleasant surprise. If anyone asked my advice about such a stone I should certainly tell him not to buy, whatever the price and however attractive the new color might be, for the radioactivity to which it had been exposed is still an unknown quantity, and no one could tell what bio-chemical changes it might bring about in the body of the wearer, detrimental to his or her health. And if to wear a radium-treated stone exposes the wearer to unknown dangers, the purveyor likewise risks being mulcted of heavy damages.

Lovers of diamonds, however, need not have much fear of buying a radium-treated stone unawares, for such experiments are rare and costly and only carried out to satisfy the curiosity of savants. Likewise, the diamond-wearing classes may also calmly rejoice in their possessions without worrying much about laboratory-made diamonds, lest overnight some experimenter should make diamonds two a penny. Diamond crystals of microscopic size have, indeed, been produced in the laboratory crucible, but their cost of production stood in inverse ratio to their dimensions, which goes to prove that a laboratory success can be at the same time a financial disaster.

Not so many years ago, and not long enough ago for those of my generation to have forgotten the incident, a rogue of a French chemist managed to extract a considerable sum of money from the diamond-making process; but not by making genuine diamonds, merely by ‘telling the tale’ to a great diamond magnate and coaxing the shekels from his well-buttoned pocket.

The Frenchman claimed that he could produce good sized diamonds in the laboratory. With unerring psychological insight he approached a man already so rich that a further accretion of wealth could cause him no thrill. Such a man could be touched by only one appeal—the threat of losing what he already had. All his money was in diamonds. He was thus an easier mark than you or I would have been, and a little sleight of hand did the rest. It was money for jam until the magnate chose to test the process for himself. Then he brought the cheat into court and the whole diamond trade rocked with laughter. If I had been that magnate I should have bought the impostor’s silence for a large sum.

I wonder how many of those fortunate people who can afford to wear diamonds know how many facets there are in a brilliant, and how those facets are distributed? Not a great many, I expect, for most people are not particularly observant in small matters (or even in large ones, often).

Even the average dealer in gems and professional jeweler, who might be able to answer unhesitatingly and correctly that there are in all fifty eight facets in a full cut standard representative brilliant, might not be able to give the technical names of them. Now, if you look at a brilliant carefully, you will see that the stone is divided by the girdle into two parts, top and bottom. The girdle is that part which impinges upon the metal setting. The top is, of course, that portion of the stone which is visible in a piece of jewelry and the bottom that which is hidden in wear.

The most prominent facet is the flat surface on top called the table. Grouped around it are the eight star facets, four bezels, four lozenges, eight cross and eight skill facets. These facets, thirty three in all, account for the light reflecting surfaces placed at different angles in the top part of a representative diamond. There are, of course, other methods of cutting, both old and new, but that subject demands half a dozen chapters to itself, and would probably not interest the layman anyway. Enough to add that the underside of a diamond cut like the above has fewer facets than the top, twenty five to be exact. Their respective names and numbers are: the culet (that part which opposed to the table), four pavilion facets, four quoins, eight cross, and eight skill facets.

More About Diamonds. Some Famous Stones (continued)