Charles T Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation writes:
'The ethos of not fooling yourself is one of the best you could possibly have. It's powerful because it's so rare. Organized common (or uncommon) sense -- very basic knowledge -- is an enormously powerful tool. There are huge dangers with computers. People calculate too much and think too little.'
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Edie Weiner: Trend Analyst
(via) Amber Michelle writes:
Edie Weiner, Futurist and Trent Analyst, President, Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc.
“Agent of the population is a huge trend. There are so many people over the age of 60 and we know nothing about them. They have spending power—they are spending on vacations, trips, and grandkids,” comments Weiner. This is an important trend to watch going forward. The first of the Baby Boomers turned 60 in 2006, which translates to 7918 people turning 60 each day in the U.S. By 2030, it is expected that about one in five Americans will be 65 or older.
The U.S is also becoming more of a nation of immigration, says Weiner. “There are more and more immigrant births in the U.S, especially from Latin America and Asia. This is creating a change from European culture.”
More couples are adopting foreign babies, which is creating more multicultural households. “These couples bring in Chinese or African babies to middle-class, conservative neighborhoods in Middle America,” says Weiner, “ and it changes people’s views on the world. Many of these households are intercultural and are trying to connect with both cultures.”
An increasing number of high school dropouts will create a lot of issues, Weiner predicts. “The ‘No Child Left Behind’ program is forcing every kid to be college material and those who aren’t, are not being accommodated. They are being told that there is no place for them. It will create a huge problem in that there will not be enough good people to fill service jobs.”
Source: http://www.rapaport.com
Edie Weiner, Futurist and Trent Analyst, President, Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc.
“Agent of the population is a huge trend. There are so many people over the age of 60 and we know nothing about them. They have spending power—they are spending on vacations, trips, and grandkids,” comments Weiner. This is an important trend to watch going forward. The first of the Baby Boomers turned 60 in 2006, which translates to 7918 people turning 60 each day in the U.S. By 2030, it is expected that about one in five Americans will be 65 or older.
The U.S is also becoming more of a nation of immigration, says Weiner. “There are more and more immigrant births in the U.S, especially from Latin America and Asia. This is creating a change from European culture.”
More couples are adopting foreign babies, which is creating more multicultural households. “These couples bring in Chinese or African babies to middle-class, conservative neighborhoods in Middle America,” says Weiner, “ and it changes people’s views on the world. Many of these households are intercultural and are trying to connect with both cultures.”
An increasing number of high school dropouts will create a lot of issues, Weiner predicts. “The ‘No Child Left Behind’ program is forcing every kid to be college material and those who aren’t, are not being accommodated. They are being told that there is no place for them. It will create a huge problem in that there will not be enough good people to fill service jobs.”
Source: http://www.rapaport.com
How To Grease A Palm
The Economist writes:
Corruption has its own elaborate etiquette
GIVE people power and discretion, and whether they are grand viziers or border guards, some will use their position to enrich themselves. The problem can be big enough to hold back a country's development. One study has shown that bribes account for 8% of the total cost of running a business in Uganda. Another found that corruption boosted the price of hospital supplies in Buenos Aires by 15%. Paul Wolfowitz, the head of the World Bank, is devoting special efforts during his presidency there to a drive against corruption.
For most people in the world, though, the worry is not that corruption may slow down their country's GDP growth. It is that their daily lives are pervaded by endless hassles, big and small. And for all the evidence that some cultures suffer endemic corruption while others are relatively clean, attitudes towards corruption, and even the language describing bribery, is remarkably similar around the world.
In a testament to most people's basic decency, bribe-takers and bribe-payers have developed an elaborate theatre of dissimulation. This is not just to avoid detection. Even in countries where corruption is so common as to be unremarkable and unprosecutable—and even when the transaction happens far from snooping eyes—a bribe is almost always dressed up as some other kind of exchange. Though most of the world is plagued by corruption, even serial offenders try to conceal it.
One manifestation of this is linguistic. Surprisingly few people say: “You are going to have to pay me if you want to get that done.” Instead, they use a wide variety of euphemisms. One type is quasi-official terminology. The first bribe paid by your correspondent, in Ukraine in 1998, went to two policemen so they would let him board a train leaving the country. On the train into Ukraine, the customs officer had absconded with a form that is needed again later to leave the country. The policemen at the station kindly explained that there was a shtraf, a “fine” that could be paid instead of producing the document. The policemen let him off with the minimum shtraf of 50 hryvnia ($25).
Another term widely used at border crossings is “expediting fee”. For a euphemism it is surprisingly accurate: paying it will keep your bags, and perhaps your contraband, from being dumped onto a floor and sifted through at a leisurely pace. (A related term, used in India, is “speed money”: paying it can get essential business permits issued considerably faster.)
Paul Lewis, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit (a sister company to The Economist), describes the quasi-business terminology typically used for bribery in the post-communist privatisations of eastern Europe. A mostly useless but well-connected insider at the company is hired as a “consultant”. The consultant is paid a large official “fee”, nominally for his industry expertise, on the understanding that he will cut in the minister and other decision-makers.
A second type of euphemism dresses up a dodgy payment as a friendly favour done by the bribe-payer. There is plenty of creative scope. Nigerian policemen are known to ask for “a little something for the weekend”. A North African term is “un petit cadeau”, a little gift. Mexican traffic police will suggest that you buy them a refresco, a soft drink, as will Angolan and Mozambican petty officials, who call it a gazoso in Portuguese. A businessman in Iraq told Reuters that although corruption there is quite overt, officials still insist on being given a “good coffee”.
Double meaning can help soothe the awkwardness of bribe-paying. Baksheesh, originally a Persian word now found in many countries of the Middle East, can mean “tip”, “alms” and “bribe”. Swahili-speakers can take advantage of another ambiguous term. In Kenya a machine-gun-wielding guard suggested to a terrified Canadian aid worker: “Perhaps you would like to discuss this over tea?” The young Canadian was relieved: the difficulty could be resolved with some chai, which means both “tea” and “bribe”.
Brown envelopes
Along with the obscurantist language, bribe-taking culture around the world often involves the avoidance of physically handing the money from one person to another. One obvious reason is to avoid detection, which is why bribes are known as “envelopes” in countries from China to Greece. But avoidance of a direct hand-over is common even where there is no chance of detection. There will always be some officials who will take money right from a bribe-payer's hands, but most seem to prefer to find some way to hide the money from view. A bribe to a border guard may be folded into a passport. A sweetener to a traffic cop is often placed in the ticket-book that is handed to the driver. Parag Khanna, who is writing a book about countries on the edge of the rich world that are trying to get rich themselves, describes a bribe-taker he spotted in Georgia who he was sure was a rookie. Why? The scrawny young soldier, forgoing any subtleties, merely rubbed his fingers together in an age-old gesture.
Journalists are an obvious target for bribe-seekers. They often find themselves trying to get past bored, poorly paid guards and officials to see someone or something more important. Moreover, they are often foreigners—and around the world white faces, foreign passports, foreign car number plates and a few other distinguishing features are like blood in the water for those seeking a pay-off.
A journalist for a Western newspaper in Moscow was running late for an important meeting at the Kremlin for which he had waited a long while. On his way he was stopped by the traffic police for some real or invented infraction. In a hurry, the reporter negotiated a modest bribe—but found he had nothing smaller than a 1,000 rouble ($30) note in his wallet. Inspired by desperation, he agreed to pay 1,000 roubles in exchange for a ride to the Kremlin in the police car, with sirens blaring, to make sure he would be on time. The policeman tried to hold out for 1,500 roubles, but the steely nerved journalist got his ride for his offer price.
Inappropriate gifts
Journalists can be on the receiving end of bribes, too, to ensure favourable coverage. A former Africa correspondent for The Economist says that in Nigeria, one of the world's most corrupt countries, journalists are given hundreds of dollars in brown envelopes “for expenses” simply to attend press conferences. An ocean away, Armstrong Williams, an American columnist and television host, was paid $240,000 by the Department of Education to comment “regularly” on “No Child Left Behind”, an education-reform bill. He claimed that he was not a “journalist” but a “commentator”, but conceded that the deal had been ill-judged. Similarly, Maggie Gallagher, another conservative columnist, was paid to promote the Bush administration's “healthy marriage” programme. When challenged, she asked, “Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing [the contract]? I don't know. You tell me.”
The Economist lays down clear rules for its journalists. An envelope stuffed with cash, much less a $240,000 contract, would be inappropriate. Any gift, says the policy, must be consumable in a single day. So a bottle of wine is acceptable, a case of wine is not.
Rich Westerners may not think of their societies as plagued by corruption. But the definition of bribery clearly differs from person to person. A New Yorker might pity the third-world businessman who must pay bribes just to keep his shop open. But the same New Yorker would not think twice about slipping the maître d' $50 to sneak into a nice restaurant without a reservation. Poor people the world over are most infuriated by the casual corruption of the elites rather than by the underpaid, “tip”-seeking soldier or functionary. Indeed, in the world's richest economy, what many see as simple bribery is an integral part of lawmaking. In Washington, DC, it is accepted that a lobbyist's generous campaign contribution to a crucial congressman may help to steer some spending to the lobbyist's client.
But proving corruption requires proving the intent to exchange one favour for another. Brent Wilkes, named as a co-conspirator in the bribery case of a Californian congressman, told the New York Times about a lesson he was taught early in his lobbying career: a cheque must never be handed over at the same time as a lobbying pitch is made. Much better to wait and do it in a hallway later. Proving intent in a courtroom is famously hard to do, so few such exchanges result in convictions. But many ordinary Americans are aware of what is going on. No surprise, then, that Congress is, by some measures, the least popular branch of government.
Yet corrupt practices in America and western Europe are nothing like as pervasive as in other parts of the world. There is no single cultural factor that inclines a society towards corruption, but economic factors play a big part. Most clearly, poverty and bribery go together.
But which causes which? Mr Wolfowitz's crusade at the World Bank is based on the idea that corrupt countries fail to develop. But several countries in Asia have grown rapidly at a time when cronyism was common, including Indonesia and South Korea in their time. Today's most conspicuous example is China with its explosive growth. Polls consistently show that corruption is the top complaint of ordinary Chinese. From time to time the Chinese government executes particularly egregious offenders, to no apparent avail. And yet foreign investors cannot pile into the country fast enough. Although most economists agree that corruption slows development, a corrupt country is nevertheless capable of rapid growth. Countries may be corrupt because they are poor, and not the other way round.
Jakob Svensson, an economist at Stockholm University, has cut through cultural stereotypes to search for hard data on corrupt economies. He has found that socialist and recently socialist economies show higher levels of corruption than others. Among the factors he has tested for correlation with corruption is the overall education level of the adult population. A second is openness to imports (measured by imports as a proportion of GDP), which is linked with opportunities for smuggling. A third is freedom of the press (as ranked by Freedom House, a civil-liberties watchdog), on the hypothesis that independent journalists will expose, and thereby curtail, corruption. The fourth is the number of days needed to start a business, a proxy for the number of permits required, and therefore red tape. Mr Svensson found clear correlations between all these variables and the overall level of corruption.
Among the many factors that determine the level of corruption in a country, one stands out. Whether it takes the shape of an American congressman dispensing a $2 trillion budget or a horde of petty officials administering a Bible-sized rulebook, where there is a lot of government, there is a lot of bribery. Corruption thus offers yet another confirmation of the dictum attributed to Thomas Jefferson that “the government is best which governs least.”
More info @ http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8401139
Corruption has its own elaborate etiquette
GIVE people power and discretion, and whether they are grand viziers or border guards, some will use their position to enrich themselves. The problem can be big enough to hold back a country's development. One study has shown that bribes account for 8% of the total cost of running a business in Uganda. Another found that corruption boosted the price of hospital supplies in Buenos Aires by 15%. Paul Wolfowitz, the head of the World Bank, is devoting special efforts during his presidency there to a drive against corruption.
For most people in the world, though, the worry is not that corruption may slow down their country's GDP growth. It is that their daily lives are pervaded by endless hassles, big and small. And for all the evidence that some cultures suffer endemic corruption while others are relatively clean, attitudes towards corruption, and even the language describing bribery, is remarkably similar around the world.
In a testament to most people's basic decency, bribe-takers and bribe-payers have developed an elaborate theatre of dissimulation. This is not just to avoid detection. Even in countries where corruption is so common as to be unremarkable and unprosecutable—and even when the transaction happens far from snooping eyes—a bribe is almost always dressed up as some other kind of exchange. Though most of the world is plagued by corruption, even serial offenders try to conceal it.
One manifestation of this is linguistic. Surprisingly few people say: “You are going to have to pay me if you want to get that done.” Instead, they use a wide variety of euphemisms. One type is quasi-official terminology. The first bribe paid by your correspondent, in Ukraine in 1998, went to two policemen so they would let him board a train leaving the country. On the train into Ukraine, the customs officer had absconded with a form that is needed again later to leave the country. The policemen at the station kindly explained that there was a shtraf, a “fine” that could be paid instead of producing the document. The policemen let him off with the minimum shtraf of 50 hryvnia ($25).
Another term widely used at border crossings is “expediting fee”. For a euphemism it is surprisingly accurate: paying it will keep your bags, and perhaps your contraband, from being dumped onto a floor and sifted through at a leisurely pace. (A related term, used in India, is “speed money”: paying it can get essential business permits issued considerably faster.)
Paul Lewis, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit (a sister company to The Economist), describes the quasi-business terminology typically used for bribery in the post-communist privatisations of eastern Europe. A mostly useless but well-connected insider at the company is hired as a “consultant”. The consultant is paid a large official “fee”, nominally for his industry expertise, on the understanding that he will cut in the minister and other decision-makers.
A second type of euphemism dresses up a dodgy payment as a friendly favour done by the bribe-payer. There is plenty of creative scope. Nigerian policemen are known to ask for “a little something for the weekend”. A North African term is “un petit cadeau”, a little gift. Mexican traffic police will suggest that you buy them a refresco, a soft drink, as will Angolan and Mozambican petty officials, who call it a gazoso in Portuguese. A businessman in Iraq told Reuters that although corruption there is quite overt, officials still insist on being given a “good coffee”.
Double meaning can help soothe the awkwardness of bribe-paying. Baksheesh, originally a Persian word now found in many countries of the Middle East, can mean “tip”, “alms” and “bribe”. Swahili-speakers can take advantage of another ambiguous term. In Kenya a machine-gun-wielding guard suggested to a terrified Canadian aid worker: “Perhaps you would like to discuss this over tea?” The young Canadian was relieved: the difficulty could be resolved with some chai, which means both “tea” and “bribe”.
Brown envelopes
Along with the obscurantist language, bribe-taking culture around the world often involves the avoidance of physically handing the money from one person to another. One obvious reason is to avoid detection, which is why bribes are known as “envelopes” in countries from China to Greece. But avoidance of a direct hand-over is common even where there is no chance of detection. There will always be some officials who will take money right from a bribe-payer's hands, but most seem to prefer to find some way to hide the money from view. A bribe to a border guard may be folded into a passport. A sweetener to a traffic cop is often placed in the ticket-book that is handed to the driver. Parag Khanna, who is writing a book about countries on the edge of the rich world that are trying to get rich themselves, describes a bribe-taker he spotted in Georgia who he was sure was a rookie. Why? The scrawny young soldier, forgoing any subtleties, merely rubbed his fingers together in an age-old gesture.
Journalists are an obvious target for bribe-seekers. They often find themselves trying to get past bored, poorly paid guards and officials to see someone or something more important. Moreover, they are often foreigners—and around the world white faces, foreign passports, foreign car number plates and a few other distinguishing features are like blood in the water for those seeking a pay-off.
A journalist for a Western newspaper in Moscow was running late for an important meeting at the Kremlin for which he had waited a long while. On his way he was stopped by the traffic police for some real or invented infraction. In a hurry, the reporter negotiated a modest bribe—but found he had nothing smaller than a 1,000 rouble ($30) note in his wallet. Inspired by desperation, he agreed to pay 1,000 roubles in exchange for a ride to the Kremlin in the police car, with sirens blaring, to make sure he would be on time. The policeman tried to hold out for 1,500 roubles, but the steely nerved journalist got his ride for his offer price.
Inappropriate gifts
Journalists can be on the receiving end of bribes, too, to ensure favourable coverage. A former Africa correspondent for The Economist says that in Nigeria, one of the world's most corrupt countries, journalists are given hundreds of dollars in brown envelopes “for expenses” simply to attend press conferences. An ocean away, Armstrong Williams, an American columnist and television host, was paid $240,000 by the Department of Education to comment “regularly” on “No Child Left Behind”, an education-reform bill. He claimed that he was not a “journalist” but a “commentator”, but conceded that the deal had been ill-judged. Similarly, Maggie Gallagher, another conservative columnist, was paid to promote the Bush administration's “healthy marriage” programme. When challenged, she asked, “Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing [the contract]? I don't know. You tell me.”
The Economist lays down clear rules for its journalists. An envelope stuffed with cash, much less a $240,000 contract, would be inappropriate. Any gift, says the policy, must be consumable in a single day. So a bottle of wine is acceptable, a case of wine is not.
Rich Westerners may not think of their societies as plagued by corruption. But the definition of bribery clearly differs from person to person. A New Yorker might pity the third-world businessman who must pay bribes just to keep his shop open. But the same New Yorker would not think twice about slipping the maître d' $50 to sneak into a nice restaurant without a reservation. Poor people the world over are most infuriated by the casual corruption of the elites rather than by the underpaid, “tip”-seeking soldier or functionary. Indeed, in the world's richest economy, what many see as simple bribery is an integral part of lawmaking. In Washington, DC, it is accepted that a lobbyist's generous campaign contribution to a crucial congressman may help to steer some spending to the lobbyist's client.
But proving corruption requires proving the intent to exchange one favour for another. Brent Wilkes, named as a co-conspirator in the bribery case of a Californian congressman, told the New York Times about a lesson he was taught early in his lobbying career: a cheque must never be handed over at the same time as a lobbying pitch is made. Much better to wait and do it in a hallway later. Proving intent in a courtroom is famously hard to do, so few such exchanges result in convictions. But many ordinary Americans are aware of what is going on. No surprise, then, that Congress is, by some measures, the least popular branch of government.
Yet corrupt practices in America and western Europe are nothing like as pervasive as in other parts of the world. There is no single cultural factor that inclines a society towards corruption, but economic factors play a big part. Most clearly, poverty and bribery go together.
But which causes which? Mr Wolfowitz's crusade at the World Bank is based on the idea that corrupt countries fail to develop. But several countries in Asia have grown rapidly at a time when cronyism was common, including Indonesia and South Korea in their time. Today's most conspicuous example is China with its explosive growth. Polls consistently show that corruption is the top complaint of ordinary Chinese. From time to time the Chinese government executes particularly egregious offenders, to no apparent avail. And yet foreign investors cannot pile into the country fast enough. Although most economists agree that corruption slows development, a corrupt country is nevertheless capable of rapid growth. Countries may be corrupt because they are poor, and not the other way round.
Jakob Svensson, an economist at Stockholm University, has cut through cultural stereotypes to search for hard data on corrupt economies. He has found that socialist and recently socialist economies show higher levels of corruption than others. Among the factors he has tested for correlation with corruption is the overall education level of the adult population. A second is openness to imports (measured by imports as a proportion of GDP), which is linked with opportunities for smuggling. A third is freedom of the press (as ranked by Freedom House, a civil-liberties watchdog), on the hypothesis that independent journalists will expose, and thereby curtail, corruption. The fourth is the number of days needed to start a business, a proxy for the number of permits required, and therefore red tape. Mr Svensson found clear correlations between all these variables and the overall level of corruption.
Among the many factors that determine the level of corruption in a country, one stands out. Whether it takes the shape of an American congressman dispensing a $2 trillion budget or a horde of petty officials administering a Bible-sized rulebook, where there is a lot of government, there is a lot of bribery. Corruption thus offers yet another confirmation of the dictum attributed to Thomas Jefferson that “the government is best which governs least.”
More info @ http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8401139
Monday, January 01, 2007
Lighting
Michelle Falkenstein writes about proper steps to protect the art work from light exposure + the challenge for museums and collectors + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=806
Useful links:
www.hunterdouglas.com
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart
www.chubb.com
Useful links:
www.hunterdouglas.com
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart
www.chubb.com
Sunday, December 31, 2006
How To Survive 2007
- Keep your cool, double-check every rumor your hear.
- Listen to all sides of all the hot arguments that will definitely come in 2007
- Never, ever panic.
- Don't give up hope.
- Brave yourself for a roller-coaster ride.
- Listen to all sides of all the hot arguments that will definitely come in 2007
- Never, ever panic.
- Don't give up hope.
- Brave yourself for a roller-coaster ride.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Rumanite
Garry Platt writes:
Romania has several scattered sources of amber. Probably the most famous being that situated around the village of Colti in the Buzau district. Rumanite probably originated from a leguminous tree as the presence of succinite has been analysed to be generally less than 5%. This would therefore make the correct nomenclature of this deposit retinite and not amber. Particles of wood have been found within these amber deposits and have been identified as Sequoioxylon gypsaceum. The age of Rumanite from Colti has been established as Oligocene. Almashite and Muntentite are both names that have been used to describe amber originating from different geographic regions within Romania, Almashite from Piatra and Muntenite from the Oltenia region. Amber has also been recovered from the Cretaceous age at Sibiu in the Carpathians.
Rumanite has had a chequered history as regards its extraction. Known of and recorded by the Romans the mining probably reached its highest point in the 1900’s. The mining was nationalised in later years but never proved a commercial success and the mining was officially abandoned. Examples of this deposit are extremely difficult to come by today. Visitors to Colti may visit a recently opened museum of amber in the village.
More info @ http://www.gplatt.demon.co.uk/typesof.htm
Romania has several scattered sources of amber. Probably the most famous being that situated around the village of Colti in the Buzau district. Rumanite probably originated from a leguminous tree as the presence of succinite has been analysed to be generally less than 5%. This would therefore make the correct nomenclature of this deposit retinite and not amber. Particles of wood have been found within these amber deposits and have been identified as Sequoioxylon gypsaceum. The age of Rumanite from Colti has been established as Oligocene. Almashite and Muntentite are both names that have been used to describe amber originating from different geographic regions within Romania, Almashite from Piatra and Muntenite from the Oltenia region. Amber has also been recovered from the Cretaceous age at Sibiu in the Carpathians.
Rumanite has had a chequered history as regards its extraction. Known of and recorded by the Romans the mining probably reached its highest point in the 1900’s. The mining was nationalised in later years but never proved a commercial success and the mining was officially abandoned. Examples of this deposit are extremely difficult to come by today. Visitors to Colti may visit a recently opened museum of amber in the village.
More info @ http://www.gplatt.demon.co.uk/typesof.htm
Risks Of Financial Institutions
'The beauty of a financial institution is that there are a lot of ways to go to hell in a bucket. You can push credit too far, do a dumb acquisition, leverage yourself excessively -- it's not just derivatives (that can bring about your downfall).'
- Charles T Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation
- Charles T Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation
Werner Spaltenstein
Dark Continent
Gill Baker writes:
Madagascar is home to some of the world’s richest untapped seams of pink sapphires, and as regular multicolour.com visitors will know, pink sapphires are among the hottest colored gemstones to hit the market in recent years. Here at multicolour.com, one very extraordinary man is the linchpin in a fascinating story, which links you, our beautiful stones and the magical, mysterious Dark Continent of Africa.
Werner Spaltenstein is our very own Indiana Jones, with a passion and zest – some say an obsession – for gems, which makes him among the most successful buyers of colored stones in the world. As a young man growing up in Switzerland, Werner absorbed himself in travel and adventure books, and soon his urge to travel the world was hooked. Little did he know that the call of the wild would lead him into a lifelong adventure peppered with terrifying airplane crashes, muggings, endless treks to remote corners of Africa, and journeys spanning the globe in search of his precious quests.
“I'm one of the last adventurers. In the future they won’t exist like me anyone,” he chuckled, recounting the numerous close encounters with the bandits and other dangers that are an everyday hazard for gem buyers. “To survive a plane crash, that makes me a tough guy,” he added with a grin, adding that in his business the priority was staying alive, and he really did not think too far ahead.
While multicolour.com is at the forefront of the internet revolution, the stones on its website must still be tracked down, gleaned from the earth’s crust, and cut by skilled craftsmen in a traditional process which has changed little in centuries.
“You could never do what I am doing by computer,” remarked Werner. Finding, mining and buying gemstones may be an age-old business, but competition is cutthroat, and only the most determined, such as Werner, succeed. So what is the secret of Werner's success as a buyer?
“The different elements have to come together. It’s not only one person, it is a whole chain, and without that element it wouldn't work,” he explained, adding: “I'm only one link in the chain. Without the other partners it would not work.” Part of Werner’s skill is, knowing exactly what price to pay for any given stone – a talent honed from years of experience examining thousands upon thousands of gems. But Werner also has a little something extra which sets him apart from most of his rivals; he has a feel – some say a sixth sense – of the value of a stone.
“It’s easy to buy expensive and impossible to buy too cheap. You have to get to know exactly how much to pay,” he said with the sparkle of a man with a renowned eye for a bargain. His obsession with buying also gives him another edge over his competitors, who are compelled to delegate in order to cover all the myriad sources. Werner refuses to do that.
“It has to do with the confidence of the people who are selling me the stones,” he explained. The bright-eyed Swiss man spends much of his time in Madagascar – the huge island nation in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa where he has built up the trust of local people who now rely on him to offer a tough, but fair price for their finds.
“I'm not trying to buy really very cheap because it is bad for my reputation. If I offer them a fair price, many people get more than they expect,” he said. A sense of value is clearly key to Werner’s work, but experience has also been vital to that, and as with many professions, “the secret is to work very hard,” he said.
Indeed, when he is in a mining area, he will work relentless from 7am to 9pm, quickly but methodically examining gemstone after gemstone presented to him by an eager queue of Africans, and then working late into the night to sort his day’s purchases.
“If someone wants to copy me, they can’t – it's never the same,” he said. His job is made harder by the need to keep track of the changes in market valuations of gemstones in markets, which can be quite volatile for some types of stones.
“It’s a continuous process and the market also changes. It’s a little bit like sport,” he quipped. But he added: “It’s a very brainy sport because every stone is different and every stone has a different price. It's got to fit the mesh, like a picture.”
Indeed sport is the key to what drives the intriguing Mr Spaltenstein – his surname means “stone splitter” in German. He is a man of simple tastes, with no desire for the trappings of wealth; neither is he searching for the biggest or brightest gems in the world.
“My objective is to be a good buyer. If I am very correct with my estimations there is a satisfaction,” he admits, adding that he may make one or two mistakes on price out of a hundred purchases, where others may fall down on ten percent of occasions. Whilst Madagascar is currently the focus of Werner’s work, he has also spent much time in Tanzania and Kenya, and regularly shuttles back and forth to the gem dealing and cutting centers of Thailand. He is under no illusions about the dangers of his work, however.
“I have a very interesting job. I hope I survive – I am doing a very dangerous job,” he admits, with a glint in his eye. Given the precarious value of Madagascar currency exchange rates, he must transport 40kg of local money across the country in order to buy 7kg of stones, and his ability to inject capital into the economy has helped give Werner a buying edge, and benefited ordinary Africans in a very direct way.
“Except for brokers and small merchants, no one has money. They are living from hand to mouth,” said Werner. He is at the coal–face of the gem business – a go-between bridging the African nations, which have little inherent use for gemstones, and the West, which prizes their precious jewels. Werne's happy position enables an African to buy land, or perhaps treasured oxen – a traditional symbol of wealth, while at the same time supplying Americans and Europeans with their own traditional symbols of riches, gems.
“It’s a real gold rush here,” he said. “I may have 100 or 200 people selling to me. It doesn't matter if they are rich or poor; anyone can show me their stones and gets a fair offer. If someone has the luck to find a good stone he should get a good price.” Buying is Werner’s life, and he admits he had no patience for selling.
“Selling is a very slow process,” he explains. He is no sentimental about his acquisitions, but he concedes he is attached to the knowledge of the market associated with them, hence the need to keep track of their resale in order to hone his valuations.
“It’s just got to do with whether I was right with my estimation. I try to be as good as possible, and that’s why I need that feedback on supply and demand,” he said. Being aware of subtle changes in the market is crucial to the business. The price of tanzanite, for example, went up and down every year for quite a whole. I miscalculated a little bit on the tanzanite. It was very expensive, the price came down, I bought it, we made very good business: then the production and demand fluctuated around US$250, and then went down to US$120. I was buying again and it went down to US$80 and it backfired. Now its’ US$300–US$400. That is the most unpredictable stone as the supply is so limited.”
And as Werner adds: “Everything depends on the supply, and I don't know what they are going to find in the future.”
More info @ www.multicolour.com
Gill Baker writes:
Madagascar is home to some of the world’s richest untapped seams of pink sapphires, and as regular multicolour.com visitors will know, pink sapphires are among the hottest colored gemstones to hit the market in recent years. Here at multicolour.com, one very extraordinary man is the linchpin in a fascinating story, which links you, our beautiful stones and the magical, mysterious Dark Continent of Africa.
Werner Spaltenstein is our very own Indiana Jones, with a passion and zest – some say an obsession – for gems, which makes him among the most successful buyers of colored stones in the world. As a young man growing up in Switzerland, Werner absorbed himself in travel and adventure books, and soon his urge to travel the world was hooked. Little did he know that the call of the wild would lead him into a lifelong adventure peppered with terrifying airplane crashes, muggings, endless treks to remote corners of Africa, and journeys spanning the globe in search of his precious quests.
“I'm one of the last adventurers. In the future they won’t exist like me anyone,” he chuckled, recounting the numerous close encounters with the bandits and other dangers that are an everyday hazard for gem buyers. “To survive a plane crash, that makes me a tough guy,” he added with a grin, adding that in his business the priority was staying alive, and he really did not think too far ahead.
While multicolour.com is at the forefront of the internet revolution, the stones on its website must still be tracked down, gleaned from the earth’s crust, and cut by skilled craftsmen in a traditional process which has changed little in centuries.
“You could never do what I am doing by computer,” remarked Werner. Finding, mining and buying gemstones may be an age-old business, but competition is cutthroat, and only the most determined, such as Werner, succeed. So what is the secret of Werner's success as a buyer?
“The different elements have to come together. It’s not only one person, it is a whole chain, and without that element it wouldn't work,” he explained, adding: “I'm only one link in the chain. Without the other partners it would not work.” Part of Werner’s skill is, knowing exactly what price to pay for any given stone – a talent honed from years of experience examining thousands upon thousands of gems. But Werner also has a little something extra which sets him apart from most of his rivals; he has a feel – some say a sixth sense – of the value of a stone.
“It’s easy to buy expensive and impossible to buy too cheap. You have to get to know exactly how much to pay,” he said with the sparkle of a man with a renowned eye for a bargain. His obsession with buying also gives him another edge over his competitors, who are compelled to delegate in order to cover all the myriad sources. Werner refuses to do that.
“It has to do with the confidence of the people who are selling me the stones,” he explained. The bright-eyed Swiss man spends much of his time in Madagascar – the huge island nation in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa where he has built up the trust of local people who now rely on him to offer a tough, but fair price for their finds.
“I'm not trying to buy really very cheap because it is bad for my reputation. If I offer them a fair price, many people get more than they expect,” he said. A sense of value is clearly key to Werner’s work, but experience has also been vital to that, and as with many professions, “the secret is to work very hard,” he said.
Indeed, when he is in a mining area, he will work relentless from 7am to 9pm, quickly but methodically examining gemstone after gemstone presented to him by an eager queue of Africans, and then working late into the night to sort his day’s purchases.
“If someone wants to copy me, they can’t – it's never the same,” he said. His job is made harder by the need to keep track of the changes in market valuations of gemstones in markets, which can be quite volatile for some types of stones.
“It’s a continuous process and the market also changes. It’s a little bit like sport,” he quipped. But he added: “It’s a very brainy sport because every stone is different and every stone has a different price. It's got to fit the mesh, like a picture.”
Indeed sport is the key to what drives the intriguing Mr Spaltenstein – his surname means “stone splitter” in German. He is a man of simple tastes, with no desire for the trappings of wealth; neither is he searching for the biggest or brightest gems in the world.
“My objective is to be a good buyer. If I am very correct with my estimations there is a satisfaction,” he admits, adding that he may make one or two mistakes on price out of a hundred purchases, where others may fall down on ten percent of occasions. Whilst Madagascar is currently the focus of Werner’s work, he has also spent much time in Tanzania and Kenya, and regularly shuttles back and forth to the gem dealing and cutting centers of Thailand. He is under no illusions about the dangers of his work, however.
“I have a very interesting job. I hope I survive – I am doing a very dangerous job,” he admits, with a glint in his eye. Given the precarious value of Madagascar currency exchange rates, he must transport 40kg of local money across the country in order to buy 7kg of stones, and his ability to inject capital into the economy has helped give Werner a buying edge, and benefited ordinary Africans in a very direct way.
“Except for brokers and small merchants, no one has money. They are living from hand to mouth,” said Werner. He is at the coal–face of the gem business – a go-between bridging the African nations, which have little inherent use for gemstones, and the West, which prizes their precious jewels. Werne's happy position enables an African to buy land, or perhaps treasured oxen – a traditional symbol of wealth, while at the same time supplying Americans and Europeans with their own traditional symbols of riches, gems.
“It’s a real gold rush here,” he said. “I may have 100 or 200 people selling to me. It doesn't matter if they are rich or poor; anyone can show me their stones and gets a fair offer. If someone has the luck to find a good stone he should get a good price.” Buying is Werner’s life, and he admits he had no patience for selling.
“Selling is a very slow process,” he explains. He is no sentimental about his acquisitions, but he concedes he is attached to the knowledge of the market associated with them, hence the need to keep track of their resale in order to hone his valuations.
“It’s just got to do with whether I was right with my estimation. I try to be as good as possible, and that’s why I need that feedback on supply and demand,” he said. Being aware of subtle changes in the market is crucial to the business. The price of tanzanite, for example, went up and down every year for quite a whole. I miscalculated a little bit on the tanzanite. It was very expensive, the price came down, I bought it, we made very good business: then the production and demand fluctuated around US$250, and then went down to US$120. I was buying again and it went down to US$80 and it backfired. Now its’ US$300–US$400. That is the most unpredictable stone as the supply is so limited.”
And as Werner adds: “Everything depends on the supply, and I don't know what they are going to find in the future.”
More info @ www.multicolour.com
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Circle Of Competence
Charles T Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation writes:
'There are a lot of things we pass on. We have three baskets: in, out, and too tough...We have to have a special insight, or we'll put it in the 'too tough' basket. All of you have to look for a special area of competency and focus on that.'
'There are a lot of things we pass on. We have three baskets: in, out, and too tough...We have to have a special insight, or we'll put it in the 'too tough' basket. All of you have to look for a special area of competency and focus on that.'
Art Jewelry
Collector Cafe writes:
Term for jewelry developed from the 1890s onwards which differed from traditional jewellery in that it was wholly or partly composed of base metals and non-precious stones as well as other materials which had not hitherto been regarded as suitable for personal adornment. Originally it was known as art jewelry (on the same analogy as art glass, art pottery and art silks), alluding to the fact that it was initiated and developed by artist-craftsmen working within the Arts and Crafts Movement in the style of Art Nouveau. Because they worked in much less valuable materials than the traditional jewelers, their products have tended to survive intact in larger quantities, since platinum, gold and diamond tiaras, corsages, bows, pendants and other larger pieces were often broken up when they ceased to be fashionable.
At first, the Arts and Crafts jewelers used semi-precious stones, often uncut, in settings of silver or even copper. Whereas the work of the commercial jewelers was becoming lighter and more delicate, that of the 'artistic' jewelers gradually became more and more massive and chunky. In the former, the setting was designed to be as unobtrusive as possible; in the latter the setting was just as important as the stones, if not more so, and great care was taken in the elaborate ornamentation of the settings.
Silver was cast, wrought, carved, engraved, chased, inlaid or beaten in repousse or martele techniques. In the repousse technique the metal was hammered out from behind to produce raised relief, whereas in the martele technique hollow ware was hammered by hand to produce a soft, fluid look which lent itself admirably to Art Nouveau motifs. The jewelry of such artist-craftsmen as Omar Ramsden, Henry Wilson, Phoebe Traquair and Harold Stabler is self-conscious, often technically poor though highly imaginative. Unfortunately this type of jewelry fell between two stools. It was not glamorous enough for the wealthy, who preferred impeccably cut diamonds in invisible settings, and too expensive for the mass market. As a result, very little of this up-market art jewelry has survived in any appreciable quantity and those pieces which pass through the saleroom tend to fetch correspondingly high prices.
More info @ www.collectorcafe.com
Term for jewelry developed from the 1890s onwards which differed from traditional jewellery in that it was wholly or partly composed of base metals and non-precious stones as well as other materials which had not hitherto been regarded as suitable for personal adornment. Originally it was known as art jewelry (on the same analogy as art glass, art pottery and art silks), alluding to the fact that it was initiated and developed by artist-craftsmen working within the Arts and Crafts Movement in the style of Art Nouveau. Because they worked in much less valuable materials than the traditional jewelers, their products have tended to survive intact in larger quantities, since platinum, gold and diamond tiaras, corsages, bows, pendants and other larger pieces were often broken up when they ceased to be fashionable.
At first, the Arts and Crafts jewelers used semi-precious stones, often uncut, in settings of silver or even copper. Whereas the work of the commercial jewelers was becoming lighter and more delicate, that of the 'artistic' jewelers gradually became more and more massive and chunky. In the former, the setting was designed to be as unobtrusive as possible; in the latter the setting was just as important as the stones, if not more so, and great care was taken in the elaborate ornamentation of the settings.
Silver was cast, wrought, carved, engraved, chased, inlaid or beaten in repousse or martele techniques. In the repousse technique the metal was hammered out from behind to produce raised relief, whereas in the martele technique hollow ware was hammered by hand to produce a soft, fluid look which lent itself admirably to Art Nouveau motifs. The jewelry of such artist-craftsmen as Omar Ramsden, Henry Wilson, Phoebe Traquair and Harold Stabler is self-conscious, often technically poor though highly imaginative. Unfortunately this type of jewelry fell between two stools. It was not glamorous enough for the wealthy, who preferred impeccably cut diamonds in invisible settings, and too expensive for the mass market. As a result, very little of this up-market art jewelry has survived in any appreciable quantity and those pieces which pass through the saleroom tend to fetch correspondingly high prices.
More info @ www.collectorcafe.com
Steller's Sea Cow Bone
(via) Gemmology Queensland writes:
A rare ivory look-alike
Steller's sea cow (hydrodamalis gigas) is an extinct ancestor of the dugong that did not survive the 18th century. The first Steller's sea cows were discovered by Danish Captain Vitus Bering who was commisioned by Tsar Peter I (Peter the Great) to determine whether or not Asia and the Americas were one or two separate continents. One a second expedition in 1741, to map the area between Asia and North America, Bering was accompanied by a German doctor-naturalist named Georg Wilhem Steller. During this expedition, the ship ran aground and before his colleagues escaped, by building a new boat out of the timbers of the wrecked vessel. Steller, who died on what is now known as Bering Island, catalogued numerous species of plants and animals, some of which are named after him.
One such marine animal was a large sea cow that is now known as Steller's sea cow. This herbiverous marine mammal was twice the size of the presently living dugong. It had a length of 8.5m, a girth of 6.7m, and weighed up to 3628kg (8000 pounds0. It had no teeth, but its bones were massive. At the time of their discovery it is likely that from 1500-2000 Steller's sea cow were in existence. Due to the delicacy of their meat, by 1768 the last sea cow had been killed, with Stellar dying only four years after the expedition, never knowing of the extinction of the animal that bore his name.
Since the 1800s, there have been reported sightings of small colonies of Steller's sea cows in remote areas away from Russian fishing grounds and boat traffic. The few intact skeletons of Steller's sea cow that still exist can be found in a few museums that are scattered around the world. Today, the skeletal remains of this now extinct sea cow are recovered by indegenous natives from both sides of the Bering Strait, and these bones are either being sold as rough or are carved into some attractive ivory-like objects, such as knife handles--usually after they have been impregnated with a colorless synthetic polymer. The raw material, which seems to be predominantly derived from the large ribs of this now extinct animal, has a grayish to brownish color, is relatively porous, and has a core of or porous cacellous bone and an outer layer of thick cortical bone. This is rare, but very interesting material that could be misidentified as ivory.
A rare ivory look-alike
Steller's sea cow (hydrodamalis gigas) is an extinct ancestor of the dugong that did not survive the 18th century. The first Steller's sea cows were discovered by Danish Captain Vitus Bering who was commisioned by Tsar Peter I (Peter the Great) to determine whether or not Asia and the Americas were one or two separate continents. One a second expedition in 1741, to map the area between Asia and North America, Bering was accompanied by a German doctor-naturalist named Georg Wilhem Steller. During this expedition, the ship ran aground and before his colleagues escaped, by building a new boat out of the timbers of the wrecked vessel. Steller, who died on what is now known as Bering Island, catalogued numerous species of plants and animals, some of which are named after him.
One such marine animal was a large sea cow that is now known as Steller's sea cow. This herbiverous marine mammal was twice the size of the presently living dugong. It had a length of 8.5m, a girth of 6.7m, and weighed up to 3628kg (8000 pounds0. It had no teeth, but its bones were massive. At the time of their discovery it is likely that from 1500-2000 Steller's sea cow were in existence. Due to the delicacy of their meat, by 1768 the last sea cow had been killed, with Stellar dying only four years after the expedition, never knowing of the extinction of the animal that bore his name.
Since the 1800s, there have been reported sightings of small colonies of Steller's sea cows in remote areas away from Russian fishing grounds and boat traffic. The few intact skeletons of Steller's sea cow that still exist can be found in a few museums that are scattered around the world. Today, the skeletal remains of this now extinct sea cow are recovered by indegenous natives from both sides of the Bering Strait, and these bones are either being sold as rough or are carved into some attractive ivory-like objects, such as knife handles--usually after they have been impregnated with a colorless synthetic polymer. The raw material, which seems to be predominantly derived from the large ribs of this now extinct animal, has a grayish to brownish color, is relatively porous, and has a core of or porous cacellous bone and an outer layer of thick cortical bone. This is rare, but very interesting material that could be misidentified as ivory.
How To Become Rich
Warren Buffett lecturing to a group of students at Columbia University:
'I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.'
'I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.'
Ancient Forests
By F.J.Daniels & R.D. Dayvault
Western Colorado Publishing Company
2024 Freedom Court, Grand Junction
Co 81503-9522
U.S.A
970.242.5255
Price: US$89.95 + US$16.75 for shipping
publisher@westerncoloradopublishing.com
Book Review by Arthur Main, Canberra, Australia
The book illustrates American specimens with some 80 pages devoted to choice pieces from American University museums. Nevertheless a range of countries are included with Argentina, Zimbabwe, Indonesia and Australia well represented.
In the introduction to this book the authors state that the emphasis is on beauty and as such many bland specimens were dismissed though they would be of great interest to palaeobotanists.
“Collectors quickly learn that petrified wood usually comes in two general forms. Either it looks like wood on the outside and shows detailed preservation of cellular structure on the inside, or it looks like wood on the outside but exhibits various textures on the inside, none of which resemble wood.”
From the last statement the authors deal with the complex chemical processes involved in the formation of opal and agate. Indeed, many photos were those of agate; but they had a wood-like skin. The many microphotographs show the cell structures of a wide range of trees, both hardwood and softwood, most of which are still living. So how did some trees become petrified?
Like all natural gems there are an awful lot of ‘ifs’. The range of minerals associated with petrification is also astonishing. Over 40 minerals have been identified. Apart from hydrous silica (opaline) and microcrystalline quartz (chalcedony), iron may be present as oxides, hydroxides and sulphides; likewise for copper. The range of actual elements also includes uranium.
This is a highly specialized book dealing in great depth with an often ignored gem material. It brings together components of botany, palaeobotany, geology and mineralogy. But above all: “Beauty is more wonderful when rare and especially so in the presence of perfection.”
Western Colorado Publishing Company
2024 Freedom Court, Grand Junction
Co 81503-9522
U.S.A
970.242.5255
Price: US$89.95 + US$16.75 for shipping
publisher@westerncoloradopublishing.com
Book Review by Arthur Main, Canberra, Australia
The book illustrates American specimens with some 80 pages devoted to choice pieces from American University museums. Nevertheless a range of countries are included with Argentina, Zimbabwe, Indonesia and Australia well represented.
In the introduction to this book the authors state that the emphasis is on beauty and as such many bland specimens were dismissed though they would be of great interest to palaeobotanists.
“Collectors quickly learn that petrified wood usually comes in two general forms. Either it looks like wood on the outside and shows detailed preservation of cellular structure on the inside, or it looks like wood on the outside but exhibits various textures on the inside, none of which resemble wood.”
From the last statement the authors deal with the complex chemical processes involved in the formation of opal and agate. Indeed, many photos were those of agate; but they had a wood-like skin. The many microphotographs show the cell structures of a wide range of trees, both hardwood and softwood, most of which are still living. So how did some trees become petrified?
Like all natural gems there are an awful lot of ‘ifs’. The range of minerals associated with petrification is also astonishing. Over 40 minerals have been identified. Apart from hydrous silica (opaline) and microcrystalline quartz (chalcedony), iron may be present as oxides, hydroxides and sulphides; likewise for copper. The range of actual elements also includes uranium.
This is a highly specialized book dealing in great depth with an often ignored gem material. It brings together components of botany, palaeobotany, geology and mineralogy. But above all: “Beauty is more wonderful when rare and especially so in the presence of perfection.”
Tut’s Gem Hints At Space Impact
BBC writes:
In 1996 in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Italian mineralogist Vincenzo de Michele spotted an unusual yellow green gem in the middle of one of Tutankhamen’s necklaces. The jewel was tested and found to be glass, but intriguingly it is older than the earliest Egyptian civilization. Working with Egyptian geologist Aly Barakat, they traced its origin to unexplained chunks of glass scattered in the sand in a remote region of the Sahara Desert. Gemologically, this glass is termed crater glass.
But the glass is itself a scientific enigma. How did it get to be there and who or what made it? An Austrian astochemist Christian Koeberl had established that the glass had been formed at a temperature so hot that there could be only one known cause: a meteorite impacting with earth. And yet there were no signs of an impact crater, even in satellite images. A natural airburst of that magnitude was unheard of until, in 1994, scientists watched as comet Shoemaker-Levy collided with Jupiter. It exploded in the Jovian atmosphere, and the Hubble telescope recorded the largest incandescent fireball ever witnessed rising over Jupiter’s horizon. Mark Boslough, who specializes in modeling large impacts n supercomputers, created a simulation of a similar impact on earth. The simulation revealed that an impactor could indeed generate a blistering atmospheric fireball, creating surface temperatures of 1800ºC, and leaving behind a field of glass. “What I want to emphasize is that it is hugely bigger in energy than the atomic tests,” says Boslough. “Ten thousand times more powerful.”
So that is what possibly created the yellow crater glass in King Tut’s pectoral.
More info @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5196362.stm
In 1996 in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Italian mineralogist Vincenzo de Michele spotted an unusual yellow green gem in the middle of one of Tutankhamen’s necklaces. The jewel was tested and found to be glass, but intriguingly it is older than the earliest Egyptian civilization. Working with Egyptian geologist Aly Barakat, they traced its origin to unexplained chunks of glass scattered in the sand in a remote region of the Sahara Desert. Gemologically, this glass is termed crater glass.
But the glass is itself a scientific enigma. How did it get to be there and who or what made it? An Austrian astochemist Christian Koeberl had established that the glass had been formed at a temperature so hot that there could be only one known cause: a meteorite impacting with earth. And yet there were no signs of an impact crater, even in satellite images. A natural airburst of that magnitude was unheard of until, in 1994, scientists watched as comet Shoemaker-Levy collided with Jupiter. It exploded in the Jovian atmosphere, and the Hubble telescope recorded the largest incandescent fireball ever witnessed rising over Jupiter’s horizon. Mark Boslough, who specializes in modeling large impacts n supercomputers, created a simulation of a similar impact on earth. The simulation revealed that an impactor could indeed generate a blistering atmospheric fireball, creating surface temperatures of 1800ºC, and leaving behind a field of glass. “What I want to emphasize is that it is hugely bigger in energy than the atomic tests,” says Boslough. “Ten thousand times more powerful.”
So that is what possibly created the yellow crater glass in King Tut’s pectoral.
More info @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5196362.stm
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Kimberley Process
What is Kimberley Process?
The Kimberley Process is a joint government, international diamond industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds - rough diamonds that are used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments. The trade in these illicit stones contributed to devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is an innovative, voluntary system that imposes extensive requirements on Participants to certify that shipments of rough diamonds are free from conflict diamonds. The Kimberley Process is composed of 45 Participants, including the European Community. Kimberley Process Participants account for approximately 99.8% of the global production of rough diamonds. The international community, including the UN General Assembly and Security Council, and the World Trade Organisation,have all recognized the importance and effectiveness of the KPCS.
States and regional economic integration organizations who have met the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme are:
Angola
Armenia
Australia
Bangladesh
Belarus
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Central African Republic
China, People's Republic of
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Cote D' Ivoire
Croatia
European Community
Ghana
Guinea
Guyana
India
Indonesia
Israel
Japan
Korea, Republic of
Lao, Democratic Republic of
Lebanon
Lesotho
Malaysia
Mauritius
Namibia
New Zealand
Norway
Romania
Russian Federation
Sierra Leone
Singapore
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Switzerland
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States of America
Venezuela
Vietnam
Zimbabwe
More info @ www.kimberleyprocess.com
The Kimberley Process is a joint government, international diamond industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds - rough diamonds that are used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments. The trade in these illicit stones contributed to devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is an innovative, voluntary system that imposes extensive requirements on Participants to certify that shipments of rough diamonds are free from conflict diamonds. The Kimberley Process is composed of 45 Participants, including the European Community. Kimberley Process Participants account for approximately 99.8% of the global production of rough diamonds. The international community, including the UN General Assembly and Security Council, and the World Trade Organisation,have all recognized the importance and effectiveness of the KPCS.
States and regional economic integration organizations who have met the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme are:
Angola
Armenia
Australia
Bangladesh
Belarus
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Central African Republic
China, People's Republic of
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Cote D' Ivoire
Croatia
European Community
Ghana
Guinea
Guyana
India
Indonesia
Israel
Japan
Korea, Republic of
Lao, Democratic Republic of
Lebanon
Lesotho
Malaysia
Mauritius
Namibia
New Zealand
Norway
Romania
Russian Federation
Sierra Leone
Singapore
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Switzerland
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States of America
Venezuela
Vietnam
Zimbabwe
More info @ www.kimberleyprocess.com
Thought Of The Day
"The idea of caring that someone is making money faster [than you are] is one of the deadly sins. Envy is a really stupid sin because it's the only one you could never possibly have any fun at. There's a lot of pain and no fun. Why would you want to get on that trolley?"
- Charles T Munger
Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation
- Charles T Munger
Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation
Color Story: Trend 2007
(via Leatrice Eiseman) Amber Michelle writes:
A different color story has emerged for 2007, says Eiseman. Gray, especially those shades with a lavender cast--will continue into spring. "Gray is wearable and practical and when women invest in a wardrobe, they want to have it for several reasons," she says.
Silver Peony, described by Eiseman as a soft rosy, peach tone, will be a new neutral to mix with other colors. Strawberry Ice, a warm pink with a mid value tone, will also be important because it is flattering to all skin types. There will also a continuation of brown, forecasts Eiseman. "It will be a Cafe Creme, like you have taken coffee and added cream." She believes that the popularity fo brown diamonds in the past few years has helped to glamorize the color and make it a more popular choice in apparel.
Tarragon, a green that is close to a khaki tone--and that can be used as neutral--will also be important. "It has a classic quality to it," Eiseman says.
Green Sheen, which is a yellow green, is another color of the moment. "It is the newest of the trend colors for fashion," explains Eiseman. "It adds a fresh approach to a wardrobe."
As we move further into 2007, Eiseman predicts that we will see a move away from blue-based meditative, mystical and spiritual purples into red purples that are more sensual and fun. Metallics will also stick around. Eiseman believes that this is a long term color look, as textiles get sparkle adn sheen from new technologies. "Metallics add excitement," says Eiseman. "They are a dichtonomy. Gold and silver have a glamorous aspect, but they are neutral." Black, of course, will always have its place in fashion, says Eiseman. "Women understand black, its dependability and elegance. But it will have a variation in tone or fabric texture."
More info @ www.rapaport.com
Leatrice Eiseman
Trend Forecaster
Director of Pantone Color Institute
Author of More Alive With Color
A different color story has emerged for 2007, says Eiseman. Gray, especially those shades with a lavender cast--will continue into spring. "Gray is wearable and practical and when women invest in a wardrobe, they want to have it for several reasons," she says.
Silver Peony, described by Eiseman as a soft rosy, peach tone, will be a new neutral to mix with other colors. Strawberry Ice, a warm pink with a mid value tone, will also be important because it is flattering to all skin types. There will also a continuation of brown, forecasts Eiseman. "It will be a Cafe Creme, like you have taken coffee and added cream." She believes that the popularity fo brown diamonds in the past few years has helped to glamorize the color and make it a more popular choice in apparel.
Tarragon, a green that is close to a khaki tone--and that can be used as neutral--will also be important. "It has a classic quality to it," Eiseman says.
Green Sheen, which is a yellow green, is another color of the moment. "It is the newest of the trend colors for fashion," explains Eiseman. "It adds a fresh approach to a wardrobe."
As we move further into 2007, Eiseman predicts that we will see a move away from blue-based meditative, mystical and spiritual purples into red purples that are more sensual and fun. Metallics will also stick around. Eiseman believes that this is a long term color look, as textiles get sparkle adn sheen from new technologies. "Metallics add excitement," says Eiseman. "They are a dichtonomy. Gold and silver have a glamorous aspect, but they are neutral." Black, of course, will always have its place in fashion, says Eiseman. "Women understand black, its dependability and elegance. But it will have a variation in tone or fabric texture."
More info @ www.rapaport.com
Leatrice Eiseman
Trend Forecaster
Director of Pantone Color Institute
Author of More Alive With Color
Monday, December 25, 2006
Lev Leviev
(via Wiki) Lev Avnerovich Leviev (born July 30, 1956 in Tashkent) is an Israeli billionaire businessman with wide-ranging interests, including the diamond trade, real estate and chemicals. He is also a supporter of Jewish philanthropic causes and is president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS (FJC), an umbrella body representing Jewish communities across the former Soviet Union. He is the founder of the Ohr Avner Foundation, named for his father.
He lives in Bnei Brak, Israel, with his wife Olga and their nine children. He owns the Israeli TV Russian channel Israel Plus and Africa-Israel Investments, an international holding and investment company involved in residential real estate, shopping malls, energy, fashion, telecom, and media. Furthermore, Leviev, controls diamond mines in Russia and Africa and has emerged as a major competitor to De Beers.
Leviev was born in the then-Soviet city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1956. His father, Rabbi Avner, and his mother, Chana Leviev, were prominent members of the Bukharan Jewish community. In 1971, when he was fifteen, his family emigrated to Israel. Shortly afterwards, Leviev began to work as an apprentice in a diamond polishing plant, and following his military service, established his own diamond polishing plant.
With the fall of Communism in the early 1990s, Leviev expanded his business endeavors into Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He received the blessings for success in business and personal support of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson for his philanthropic activities.
He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Africa-Israel Investments Limited, an investment company active in Israel and the Yesha territories. Known to be a champion of right-wing Jewish politics, in 2005, Leviev's company completed a controversial $230 million 5,800 apartment project in Modi'in Illit, for the Haredi sector.
Leviev is also the owner of the new high-end luxury diamond retailer bearing his name.
More info @ www.wikipedia.org
He lives in Bnei Brak, Israel, with his wife Olga and their nine children. He owns the Israeli TV Russian channel Israel Plus and Africa-Israel Investments, an international holding and investment company involved in residential real estate, shopping malls, energy, fashion, telecom, and media. Furthermore, Leviev, controls diamond mines in Russia and Africa and has emerged as a major competitor to De Beers.
Leviev was born in the then-Soviet city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1956. His father, Rabbi Avner, and his mother, Chana Leviev, were prominent members of the Bukharan Jewish community. In 1971, when he was fifteen, his family emigrated to Israel. Shortly afterwards, Leviev began to work as an apprentice in a diamond polishing plant, and following his military service, established his own diamond polishing plant.
With the fall of Communism in the early 1990s, Leviev expanded his business endeavors into Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He received the blessings for success in business and personal support of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson for his philanthropic activities.
He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Africa-Israel Investments Limited, an investment company active in Israel and the Yesha territories. Known to be a champion of right-wing Jewish politics, in 2005, Leviev's company completed a controversial $230 million 5,800 apartment project in Modi'in Illit, for the Haredi sector.
Leviev is also the owner of the new high-end luxury diamond retailer bearing his name.
More info @ www.wikipedia.org
Dilip Mehta
Dilip Mehta joined the family business in 1970 and established Rosy Blue N.V. in 1973, in Antwerp, Belgium as the first overseas office of B. Arunkumar (now Rosy Blue India). His efforts led to global expansion through Greenfield growth and acquisitions, resulting in sales, manufacturing and financing offices in 15 countries spanning 4 continents. He also delivered unprecedented results by growing the group turnover and created a new industry benchmark, confirmed Rosy Blue's leadership position in financial transparency, robustness and innovation through the securitisation of inventory and receivables.
He transformed a manufacturer / trader office to a global marketer of a broad range of products and services, demonstrating the group's leadership in value-added, vertically integrated supply partner. You can say that 35 years of strong domestic and international P&L management experience driving market share, revenue and profit growth, made him a high-integrity, energetic entrepreneur and Senior Operating and Management Executive.
More info @ www.rosyblue.com
He transformed a manufacturer / trader office to a global marketer of a broad range of products and services, demonstrating the group's leadership in value-added, vertically integrated supply partner. You can say that 35 years of strong domestic and international P&L management experience driving market share, revenue and profit growth, made him a high-integrity, energetic entrepreneur and Senior Operating and Management Executive.
More info @ www.rosyblue.com
Mines, Mosquitoes and Multicolour: An Adventure in Madagascar
David Weinberg writes:
Multicolour.com’s Bangkok-based partner David Weinberg has just returned from a fact-finding visit with his family to Madagascar where he discovered at first hand the realities of life in a country famed as one of the world’s most prolific sources of gemstones.
Madagascar is an extraordinary country – vibrant, exciting, frightening and fun, all at once. And there are gemstones, everywhere! Touching down on in the Multicolour Single Engine Beechcraft airplane at Andelamena was an experience in itself, as Andelamena International is a grass field with a 385yard runway—easy to land but hard to take off. The French pilot Michele is experienced but even with the three of us it would be hard to take off from the short runway so we had to dump most of the gas. Scary plane rides are all in a day’s work for my partner Werner, and I have to admit I was more worried about the mosquitoes than anything.
African stories about malaria had me worried and then my friend Arnold told me about the German tourist in Tulear who died of encephalitis and how mosquitoes were the most dangerous animals imaginable. My older daughter, who didn’t really want to go to Madagascar anyway, told me they had Ebola too—I believed her of course. And get this—they still have cases of bubonic plague. We went there anyway, despite the worries, and it was fascinating—a 226 square mile island in the Indian Ocean to the east of Africa with just 15 million people living there.
We arrived in the capital, Antananarivo (Tana), after the long flight from Bangkok and Singapore with a stop at the tiny French island of Reunion. Customs were about the same as other third world countries – disorganized, confused, generally disinterested, and looking for handouts. We don’t speak much French so I was happy that Werner came to meet us at the airport. There were mosquitoes in the airport too. Werner offered us a place to stay but there were mosquitoes there as well, so we decided to try the Hilton. We had a business card from another Swiss guy who must have been a big shot because we got a 50% discount after some minor haggling and trying the old "I’m a travel agent" trick. It wasn’t long before the real adventure began, with our visit to the mines at Andelamena, only a plane ride, but a million miles away from the Hilton.
The new deposit is actually about 85 kilometers north of the village. Most of the sellers were either miners or middlemen who had walked the 85 kilometers to sell us the rubies. Like most parts of Madagascar, there are no roads so walking or flying are the only options. As usual there was a big line in front of the Multicolour hut. With 20 years experience buying in the bush, Werner knows the huts have to be specially designed with a separate entrance and exit, and strong enough to withstand all the pushing and shoving. The buying was great—excellent quality for the price. The ruby was a bit violet but the sizes were good and the material looked quite clean. Many of the pieces would yield rubies over a carat and some could make more than three or four carats. I have yet to see the cut stones but Werner says they burn well and the Thais like to buy it if they can. When I arrived, the police or army guys were there to chase all the Thai gem dealers away, but we must have had the right connections because they didn’t bother us.
The long line-up to sell to us quickly developed a party atmosphere, with blasting Malagasy music, tape sellers, and people selling ice cream. We bought for three or four hours and went through 20 or 30kgs of cash. Yes, kilograms – the cash is heavier than the stones! Werner looked at all of the stones and we bought between 60 and 90 percent of what was offered. No time for bargaining, Werner tells them the price and it’s ´yes´ or ´no´. No second chance. Our offers are good and they sometimes come away with more than they expect. But if they show the same stone twice or try to show another parcel with out agreeing on the first one, they get short shrift from the inimitable Werner, and often a light tap on the head with his flashlight!
The plastic bags they carry the stones in are something else. They’ve been repaired with scotch tape a thousand times and they don’t even look like a plastic bag anymore. I ask Werner: "Why don’t they have plastic bags?" He says the tape is cheaper, or they just don’t have any plastic bags. Strange! So many rubies, but no plastic bags to keep them in! The next day we took "Mad Air" down to Tulear [Toliara??] while the Multicolour shuttle flew down to Ilakaka. With space for a bodyguard, a pilot, the buyer and the 40kgs of cash we had to rent a car and would rendezvous the next day. After all that excitement at the mine it was time for a couple of peaceful days on the beach at Ifaty – we ate seafood, including stingray, and saw a bit of everyday Madagascar life.
We went snorkeling over the beautiful coral, and my wife Na, who is an artist, had time to paint some of the local scenery. Just the birds singing and the crickets chirping…No success on the fishing trip though! We savored the fresh air after the smoky atmosphere of Antananarivo, where a lot of charcoal is burned for cooking. The Yamabalaya mixed seafood was excellent, and there was even chilli sauce, much to the delight of Na: And just enough time for the girls to check out the shopping – batiks, shells and local crafts, and for Na to do some painting, despite the unwanted attentions of curious locals.
I was still worried about the mosquitoes, but fortunately they were scarce. We met with Clement, one of our well-connected local partners, and drove up to Ilakaka. The drive was uneventful with the odd baobab tree adding to the excitement for us. It looked like New Zealand, reckoned Na. The road was pretty good with few cars but more ox carts and plenty of the locals just walking. Coming from Thailand, we were all elated to find a Thai restaurant right there in the middle of nowhere near Ilakaka. We had a quick look at the town and went back to the Thai restaurant/hotel to stay for the night. The Thais were out there in the high desert practicing their golf and partying as usual. We all ordered the Thai seafood noodles and my younger daughter Danielle ordered the crab. She always likes crab. It was cold and very windy in the high desert Ilakaka plain, much colder than I expected for a tropical country.
Next day we were in the official buying area, buying again. The government tries to control the business but in general they are hardly involved and free market forces flourish, distributing cash to the miners and diggers, who in turn redistribute it throughout the country with a multiplier effect, which can only be good for such an impoverished nation. As usual the line to sell was long. They start queuing as soon as the plane arrives.
Indeed, even if you don’t have stones, your place in the line is worth money and it can be sold. The security is there mostly for crowd control – five or six army guys with guns, and a couple of police as well as the regular Multicolour black belt bodyguards, trying to prevent the stampeding. It’s not the danger of robbery; it’s more the pushing and shoving of hundreds of over-eager locals anxious to sell to Multicolour because the prices are fair and because we buy all kinds of stones and every quality. The line has rules and the security team is there to see that they are enforced. Women and children come first, everyone gets a chance to show; if you want to bargain, go back to the end of the line; and don’t get caught showing the same stone twice. Sometimes they even dig under the fence to try and cut the queue! At one point the crowd was really pushing and I thought the hut was going to give way with my kids inside. My teenage daughters didn’t want to walk around outside and didn’t appreciate the attention.
One Madagascan lad tried to hold my younger daughter’s hand, which terrified her, and she stifled a cry. I don’t think there was any danger, they’re all just there for the money, but she probably thought otherwise. Trust is the key, especially as many of the sellers don’t know the price. It was amazing – when we arrived there were ten or more shops open for buying. After a few minutes all the other buyers cleared out –it was pointless for them to even attempt to buy as the entire crowd was lined up for Werner. The prices are good and we buy all.
What’s a miner to do with the stones he can’t sell? Put them back in the mine? Finished with that line, we were off again. The girls had had enough anyway. That night we stayed at Les Renes De L’Isalo a beautiful hotel built into the unique rock formations in the Ilakaka area at Isalo National Park. It was a welcome respite and the girls surely appreciated the clean accommodation, while Na thought it was stunning. "It looked like a palace," she said.
Werner flew off for more buying in the capital and we took the scenic route – 703 km from Ilakaka to Antananirvo, or rather 14 long tortuous hours off twists and turns: The "Long and Winding Road" to be sure. Fianaratsoa was a milestone of sorts with the old combination French-Chinese style hotel serving as our accommodation for two nights while we went sightseeing to Ranomafana National Park. The road was really bad and it took four hours to negotiate the 120 km round trip. The waterfalls were well worth the trip, however, but we didn’t see any of the lemurs the island is famed for. There was also plenty of opportunity for Na to paint as well, and a spot of shopping for crafts and a very nice chess set.
On Sunday we drove the last 405 kilometers. The locals seemed to like hats from the 50’s and were all dressed up in the Sunday best for church. Antsirabe was another highlight with some interesting colonial architecture and generally nice scenery. It seems to be a manufacturing area but they still have cholera and I was worried about that. I always like a big meal and we had a wonderful fondue bourguignon the last night before the return flight. I tell my wife: "We need carbohydrate loading for marathon airplane flights." Customs seemed like they wanted kickbacks for anything – even the wooden chess set we bought. Back to reality, I suppose, until the next time...
More info @ www.multicolour.com
Multicolour.com’s Bangkok-based partner David Weinberg has just returned from a fact-finding visit with his family to Madagascar where he discovered at first hand the realities of life in a country famed as one of the world’s most prolific sources of gemstones.
Madagascar is an extraordinary country – vibrant, exciting, frightening and fun, all at once. And there are gemstones, everywhere! Touching down on in the Multicolour Single Engine Beechcraft airplane at Andelamena was an experience in itself, as Andelamena International is a grass field with a 385yard runway—easy to land but hard to take off. The French pilot Michele is experienced but even with the three of us it would be hard to take off from the short runway so we had to dump most of the gas. Scary plane rides are all in a day’s work for my partner Werner, and I have to admit I was more worried about the mosquitoes than anything.
African stories about malaria had me worried and then my friend Arnold told me about the German tourist in Tulear who died of encephalitis and how mosquitoes were the most dangerous animals imaginable. My older daughter, who didn’t really want to go to Madagascar anyway, told me they had Ebola too—I believed her of course. And get this—they still have cases of bubonic plague. We went there anyway, despite the worries, and it was fascinating—a 226 square mile island in the Indian Ocean to the east of Africa with just 15 million people living there.
We arrived in the capital, Antananarivo (Tana), after the long flight from Bangkok and Singapore with a stop at the tiny French island of Reunion. Customs were about the same as other third world countries – disorganized, confused, generally disinterested, and looking for handouts. We don’t speak much French so I was happy that Werner came to meet us at the airport. There were mosquitoes in the airport too. Werner offered us a place to stay but there were mosquitoes there as well, so we decided to try the Hilton. We had a business card from another Swiss guy who must have been a big shot because we got a 50% discount after some minor haggling and trying the old "I’m a travel agent" trick. It wasn’t long before the real adventure began, with our visit to the mines at Andelamena, only a plane ride, but a million miles away from the Hilton.
The new deposit is actually about 85 kilometers north of the village. Most of the sellers were either miners or middlemen who had walked the 85 kilometers to sell us the rubies. Like most parts of Madagascar, there are no roads so walking or flying are the only options. As usual there was a big line in front of the Multicolour hut. With 20 years experience buying in the bush, Werner knows the huts have to be specially designed with a separate entrance and exit, and strong enough to withstand all the pushing and shoving. The buying was great—excellent quality for the price. The ruby was a bit violet but the sizes were good and the material looked quite clean. Many of the pieces would yield rubies over a carat and some could make more than three or four carats. I have yet to see the cut stones but Werner says they burn well and the Thais like to buy it if they can. When I arrived, the police or army guys were there to chase all the Thai gem dealers away, but we must have had the right connections because they didn’t bother us.
The long line-up to sell to us quickly developed a party atmosphere, with blasting Malagasy music, tape sellers, and people selling ice cream. We bought for three or four hours and went through 20 or 30kgs of cash. Yes, kilograms – the cash is heavier than the stones! Werner looked at all of the stones and we bought between 60 and 90 percent of what was offered. No time for bargaining, Werner tells them the price and it’s ´yes´ or ´no´. No second chance. Our offers are good and they sometimes come away with more than they expect. But if they show the same stone twice or try to show another parcel with out agreeing on the first one, they get short shrift from the inimitable Werner, and often a light tap on the head with his flashlight!
The plastic bags they carry the stones in are something else. They’ve been repaired with scotch tape a thousand times and they don’t even look like a plastic bag anymore. I ask Werner: "Why don’t they have plastic bags?" He says the tape is cheaper, or they just don’t have any plastic bags. Strange! So many rubies, but no plastic bags to keep them in! The next day we took "Mad Air" down to Tulear [Toliara??] while the Multicolour shuttle flew down to Ilakaka. With space for a bodyguard, a pilot, the buyer and the 40kgs of cash we had to rent a car and would rendezvous the next day. After all that excitement at the mine it was time for a couple of peaceful days on the beach at Ifaty – we ate seafood, including stingray, and saw a bit of everyday Madagascar life.
We went snorkeling over the beautiful coral, and my wife Na, who is an artist, had time to paint some of the local scenery. Just the birds singing and the crickets chirping…No success on the fishing trip though! We savored the fresh air after the smoky atmosphere of Antananarivo, where a lot of charcoal is burned for cooking. The Yamabalaya mixed seafood was excellent, and there was even chilli sauce, much to the delight of Na: And just enough time for the girls to check out the shopping – batiks, shells and local crafts, and for Na to do some painting, despite the unwanted attentions of curious locals.
I was still worried about the mosquitoes, but fortunately they were scarce. We met with Clement, one of our well-connected local partners, and drove up to Ilakaka. The drive was uneventful with the odd baobab tree adding to the excitement for us. It looked like New Zealand, reckoned Na. The road was pretty good with few cars but more ox carts and plenty of the locals just walking. Coming from Thailand, we were all elated to find a Thai restaurant right there in the middle of nowhere near Ilakaka. We had a quick look at the town and went back to the Thai restaurant/hotel to stay for the night. The Thais were out there in the high desert practicing their golf and partying as usual. We all ordered the Thai seafood noodles and my younger daughter Danielle ordered the crab. She always likes crab. It was cold and very windy in the high desert Ilakaka plain, much colder than I expected for a tropical country.
Next day we were in the official buying area, buying again. The government tries to control the business but in general they are hardly involved and free market forces flourish, distributing cash to the miners and diggers, who in turn redistribute it throughout the country with a multiplier effect, which can only be good for such an impoverished nation. As usual the line to sell was long. They start queuing as soon as the plane arrives.
Indeed, even if you don’t have stones, your place in the line is worth money and it can be sold. The security is there mostly for crowd control – five or six army guys with guns, and a couple of police as well as the regular Multicolour black belt bodyguards, trying to prevent the stampeding. It’s not the danger of robbery; it’s more the pushing and shoving of hundreds of over-eager locals anxious to sell to Multicolour because the prices are fair and because we buy all kinds of stones and every quality. The line has rules and the security team is there to see that they are enforced. Women and children come first, everyone gets a chance to show; if you want to bargain, go back to the end of the line; and don’t get caught showing the same stone twice. Sometimes they even dig under the fence to try and cut the queue! At one point the crowd was really pushing and I thought the hut was going to give way with my kids inside. My teenage daughters didn’t want to walk around outside and didn’t appreciate the attention.
One Madagascan lad tried to hold my younger daughter’s hand, which terrified her, and she stifled a cry. I don’t think there was any danger, they’re all just there for the money, but she probably thought otherwise. Trust is the key, especially as many of the sellers don’t know the price. It was amazing – when we arrived there were ten or more shops open for buying. After a few minutes all the other buyers cleared out –it was pointless for them to even attempt to buy as the entire crowd was lined up for Werner. The prices are good and we buy all.
What’s a miner to do with the stones he can’t sell? Put them back in the mine? Finished with that line, we were off again. The girls had had enough anyway. That night we stayed at Les Renes De L’Isalo a beautiful hotel built into the unique rock formations in the Ilakaka area at Isalo National Park. It was a welcome respite and the girls surely appreciated the clean accommodation, while Na thought it was stunning. "It looked like a palace," she said.
Werner flew off for more buying in the capital and we took the scenic route – 703 km from Ilakaka to Antananirvo, or rather 14 long tortuous hours off twists and turns: The "Long and Winding Road" to be sure. Fianaratsoa was a milestone of sorts with the old combination French-Chinese style hotel serving as our accommodation for two nights while we went sightseeing to Ranomafana National Park. The road was really bad and it took four hours to negotiate the 120 km round trip. The waterfalls were well worth the trip, however, but we didn’t see any of the lemurs the island is famed for. There was also plenty of opportunity for Na to paint as well, and a spot of shopping for crafts and a very nice chess set.
On Sunday we drove the last 405 kilometers. The locals seemed to like hats from the 50’s and were all dressed up in the Sunday best for church. Antsirabe was another highlight with some interesting colonial architecture and generally nice scenery. It seems to be a manufacturing area but they still have cholera and I was worried about that. I always like a big meal and we had a wonderful fondue bourguignon the last night before the return flight. I tell my wife: "We need carbohydrate loading for marathon airplane flights." Customs seemed like they wanted kickbacks for anything – even the wooden chess set we bought. Back to reality, I suppose, until the next time...
More info @ www.multicolour.com
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