Up In Arms

The Economist writes about Mrs G.E.P (Jane Penrice Benson) one of the world’s leading scholars and dealers of antique English silver + her passion for collecting edged weapons + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=7933608&story_id=9532950

Chaim Even-Zohar

I think Chaim Even-Zohar is the best diamond industry analyst in the world. Anyone interested in the diamond business should listen to Even-Zohar’s words of wisdom. Who would ever have imagined that GIA would have to reinvent itself after the Certifigate scandal? Even-Zohar’s prophecies did come true. The GIA case is now closed; they have learnt the lessons the hard way. Bill Boyajian resigned, and Donna Baker took over the leadership of GIA. Good luck!

Crime Pays… But Payback Time is Coming
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25070

Bill Boyajian’s Fall From Grace
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25423

GIA Settlement Raises Some Questions About “Standards” – But The Court Case Is Over! (Revised)
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25011

Rap’s GIA Connections
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24832

Certified Profits
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24799

Certifigate": Now The Cover-Up
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24755

Certifigate: No Bribe without a Briber
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24697

Privileged Access
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24657

Salvador Dali’s Art-In-Jewels

2007: I have always been fascinated by Salvador Dali's art + his imaginative concepts. I really liked his art + the interpretations.

(The Australian Gemmologist, Vol.11, No.5, February 1972) P B Lapworth writes:

In June and July of 1971 an exhibition of Art-in-Jewels by Salvador Dali was shown at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. This collection is the property of the Owen Cheatham Foundation of New York, which permits its loan to raise funds for charitable, educational and religious purposes; in this case the exhibition was in aid of the Institute of Child Health, the medical school of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. Some of Dali’s paintings and drawings were also shown.

Dali felt that since Faberge, importance had been given to gems alone, and that ‘imaginative jewelry creations and precious objects d’art had virtually disappeared as a form of art….Inspired by the artists of Renaissance, Dali decided to design jewels to show the jeweler’s art in true perspective—where, as in the work of Cellini, the design and craftsmanship are to be valued above the material worth of the gold and precious stones used in their creation. From this decision came jewels rare in concept, exquisite in execution and with extraordinary appeal as works of art.

Dali’s sketch designs were on view in the exhibition; he personally selected every stone to be used, and the jewels were made by Alemany & Co, New York, in close collaboration with him, and with Charles Vaillant.

‘Rare in concept’ they certainly are, and ‘exquisite in execution’, undoubtedly. But as to the ‘extraordinary appeal as works of art’….. this can only by a matter of taste. Of the 36 exhibits, some appeared to your correspondent to be grotesque and without charm; others were just plain vulgar, so that some of the truly fabulous materials seem to have been misused and the consummate craftsmanship misapplied.

For instance, No. 34 ‘Pax Vobiscum’ (Peace be with you), despite its giant topaz and exquisite peridots, held no appeal for the writer. It is difficult to convey in words any idea of these extraordinary creations, so the catalogue description must suffice. It reads: ‘An Icon of extreme beauty (?) encompassed by a frame of rough-textured 18-karat gold and mounted on a background of sculptured 20-karat gold leaf. The hinged and moving gold-framed door contains a magnificent Gothic-shaped amber topaz weighing 1311.40 carats. The slowly moving door when open reveals the face of the Savior as conceived by Dali, and painted in oils by him. A sunburst crown of platinum spikes pave’ with diamonds, surmounts the head; while the entire surface is criss-crossed with rays of 18-karat gold, interspaced with a total of 84 acid-green peridots mined from the islands of the Red Sea…’

Like the above, many of the exhibits have moving parts, which makes them fascinating to watch and display the scintillating beauty of the gemstones to great advantage. For instance in No.28 ‘The Royal Heart’ a ruby-set interior pulsates, and in No.32, ‘The Falling Angel’ the wings, moving rhythmically, are encrusted with diamonds. But the loveliest of these is No.36 ‘The Psychedelic Flower’— ‘The lattice-work of sculptured 18-karat gold becomes transformed into a flowering bloom; in the center of each of the 96 geometric designs is suspended a shimmering spinel from Ceylon, in a myriad of colors, to a total of 284.16 carats. Rotating slowly and implanted in a bed of tiny uncut rubies totaling 252.20 carats, a single 18-karat golden stem arises from an exquisitely crafted container of blue Russian lapis lazuli in a mosaic of 75 single pieces, joined together by an overlay of vein-like 18-karat gold in a free-form design.’

Other objects of great beauty were: No.6 ‘Twig Cross,’ whose upper golden limb sprouts emerald leaves, its crosspiece carrying a diamond pave’ swag, which drips ruby drops of blood; No. 14 ‘Explosion’— ‘diamonds, rubies and lapis lazuli bursting from a mound of fluorite to signify the resources of earth and spirit available to all who will seek—the symbolization of radiance and life, the antithesis of decay and death.’

However a visitor to this exhibition may react to the individual work of art, no gemologist could be anything but entranced by the gemstones, used as they are with such lavishness and splendor. Some individual ones are of outstanding size and quality; in No.29 ‘The Angel Cross’ a sculpture 30 inches high, a huge topaz from Brazil, weighing 1687 carats, and quite flawless, forms a door (the door of the tabernacle and the Gate of Heaven) which opens and closes; in No.30 ‘The Space Elephant’ an aquamarine obelisk, mounted on the elephant’s back, weighs 4460 carats; in No.31 ‘The Spider of the Night’ there is an emerald-cut kunzite of pinkish-lilac hue of 208.43 carats. An 89.41 carat sapphire of cornflower blue represents the star born when an angel falls (in The Falling Angel, mentioned earlier), No.33 ‘Daphne’ contains a ‘large topaz of chartreuse color, weighing approximately 4000 carats….possibly the only stone of its kind in existence today’; (in the subdued lighting of the exhibition, however, the stone appeared almost colorless).

In the New York Graphic Society’s handsome pictorial presentation ‘Dali, a Study of his Art-in-Jewels’ which displays color photographs of the exhibits in the Cheatham Collection, Dali writes that his jewels and objects d’art are not intended to ‘rest soullessly in steel vaults.’ He continued: ‘Without an audience, without the presence of spectators, these jewels would not fulfill the function for which they came into being. The viewer, then, is the ultimate artist. His sight, heart, mind—fusing with and grasping with greater or lesser understanding the intent of the creator—gives them life.’

Can You Identify The Stone?

A blue gemstone has an R.I of 1.542-1.551 and shows pleochroism to the naked eye. The dichroscope reveals dark violet blue, medium blue and light yellow. The gemstone is: Iolite

Do You Have Any Advice Or Words Of Wisdom For People Starting Their Own Businesses?

Here is what Rajesh Jain (via Emergic) has to say:
Based on my experience (s), there are three things that I’d like to tell people starting their own businesses:

- Dream Big: I think vision is very important. More than anything else, it is the vision thing that drives an entrepreneur. Passion comes from the vision, the ability to see a future that is different from today. It is this future that the entrepreneur seeks to create. This is the higher-level purpose that an entrepreneur has to build something that does not exist, to explore horizons that others have not. Never be afraid to dream big, but then also take steps to make that dream a reality.

- Use Failure as a Teacher: An entrepreneur must be prepared to experience and learn from failure. As an entrepreneur, there will be more down-days than up-days. These days and periods test the entrepreneur's patience. There are times when one may feel like just giving up. But one must persevere. Failure and success are two sides of the same coin. One will come with the other. Success hides the problems, failures magnify them. It is failure that teaches us how to do things right provided we are prepared to accept failure and learn from it.

- Combine Optimism with Realism: Even as entrepreneurs are the ultimate optimists (and they have to be), that has to be tempered with the ability to also confront reality. A balance is needed. In the early stages of a venture, it is only the optimism of the entrepreneur that will help tide over the challenges. But as time goes on, it is also necessary to do course correction based on the reality of the situation. Entrepreneurs have to be careful not to be blind-sided by developments, and for this it is necessary to expose themselves to alternate viewpoints.

I liked it.

Welch On Winning

Good Books: (via Emergic) Winning by Jack Welch, with Suzy Welch as co-author is an interesting book with lots of tips on managing people + self evaluation + results. I liked the concept.

Newsweek did a cover story on the book and Welch recently, and carried an excerpt:

Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach and build self confidence.

The team with the best players usually does win. And that is why, very simply, you need to invest the vast majority of your time and energy as a leader in three activities.

You have to evaluate making sure the right people are in the right jobs, supporting and advancing those who are, and moving out those who are not.You have to coach guiding, critiquing and helping people to improve their performance in every way.

And finally, you have to build self-confidence pouring out encouragement, caring and recognition. Self-confidence energizes, and it gives your people the courage to stretch, take risks and achieve beyond their dreams. It is the fuel of winning teams.

Too often, managers think that people development occurs once a year in performance reviews. That's not even close. It should be a daily event, integrated into every aspect of your regular goings-on. Customer visits are a chance to evaluate your sales force. Plant tours are an opportunity to meet promising new line managers. A coffee break at a meeting is an opening to coach a team member about to give his first major presentation. Think of yourself as a gardener, with a watering can in one hand and a can of fertilizer in the other. Occasionally you have to pull some weeds, but most of the time, you just nurture and tend. Then watch everything bloom.

This is what Jack Welch has to say on hiring people:
Before you even think about assessing people for a job, they have to pass through three screens.

The first test is for integrity. People with integrity tell the truth, and they keep their word.

The second test is for intelligence. The candidate has a strong dose of intellectual curiosity, with a breadth of knowledge to work with or lead other smart people in today's complex world.

The third ticket to the game is maturity; the ability to handle stress and setbacks, and enjoy success with equal parts of joy and humility.

I then apply the 4-E (And 1-P) Framework for hiring that I've found consistently effective, year after year, across businesses and borders. The first E is positive energy. It means the ability to go go go to thrive on action and relish change. The second E is the ability to energize others, and inspire them to take on the impossible. The third is edge, the courage to make tough yes-or-no decisions. The fourth E is execute the ability to get the job done. Then I look for that final P, passion, a heartfelt, deep and authentic excitement about work.

A Man For All Seasons

The Economist writes about Richard Green, Britain’s leading art dealer, and one of the most influential figures in the international art world + his views on the state of the art market (My experience is that whatever is out of fashion today will certainly become fashionable again in the not-too-distant future) @ http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=7933608&story_id=9638209

Famous Jewelry Collectors

Stefano Papi + Alexandra Rhodes reveals the stories of jewels owned by the rich and famous, along with a peek into the glamorous lives + glittering collections. It's an interesting book about fine jewelry.

Here is a review from Library Journal (via Amazon):
Eighteen magnificent jewelry collections are shown here in clear, vibrant photos of the actual pieces, along with photos of their owners wearing them. The collectors were some of the most glamorous of the 20th century: actresses, an opera singer, royalty, aristocrats, and society women. The fascinating lives of these women are intertwined with accounts of how each acquired her jewelry, when and where she was seen wearing the jewels, and, most interesting of all, the various metamorphoses of many of the pieces of jewelry. Originals and resettings are depicted, as seemingly "old-fashioned" bracelets, brooches, necklaces, rings, and earrings were redesigned to ensure that their owners would remain in the height of fashion. The authors, both directors at Sotheby's, provide the sort of information appearing in auction catalogs that few readers probably have the chance to see. This beautifully produced, very readable book is highly recommended for public and academic library decorative art collections.

This is what the book description says:
An extraordinary treasure trove of fabulous necklaces, bracelets, rings, brooches, and earrings owned by the rich and famous.

For many centuries the collecting of precious gems and the jewelry fashioned from them was the exclusive prerogative of kings and queens, emperors, popes, and maharajahs. But in the last hundred years movie goddesses, opera singers, industrialists, real-estate investors, and rock stars have joined those with the means to deck themselves in glittering bracelets, rings, necklaces, and earrings.

Most of what we know about the jewelry collections of recent times has been revealed though the auctions that have taken place after the collectors' deaths. The famous sale of 1987 uncovered the full extent of the dazzling pieces that belonged to the Duchess of Windsor. By the same token, as this book so handsomely shows, the collections of society women such as Barbara Hutton can now be appreciated and described in detail. Among the royals and aristocrats are Umberto II of Italy, HRH the Princess Royal (Princess Mary) of Great Britain, and the noble German family of Thurn and Taxis; from the world of film and entertainment come the collections of stars like Merle Oberon, Joan Crawford, and Ava Gardner.

Dyed Coral

(via Gems & Gemology, Spring 2007) Here is what Maggie Campbell Pedersen has to say about dyed coral.

I was surprised that no mention was made of Bamboo coral, belonging to the genus Isis, as, in my experience, that is the coral type that we frequently encounter in modern, lower-end jewelry and carvings. It is available at every fair, market, and in the less exclusive shop.

White it is true that expensive or antique red coral items tend to be Corallium corals—dyed or not—there are masses of bamboo coral about that are simulating red Corallium coral. Bamboo coral also has the striations that are typical of Corallium corals, but whereas the Corallium’s striations are very fine—0.25 to 0.5mm apart—those of bamboo coral are ~ 1mm apart, so the two corals are easily distinguishable. Further, bamboo coral items often show a hint of the nodes of horny material that separate the internodes of calcium carbonate. These do not occur in Corallium corals and so help with identification. As regards color, bamboo coral does not naturally occur in red, so any bamboo coral encountered in red (and quite often orange) is dyed, and therefore does not need to be tested. I feel that to omit mention of bamboo corals altogether could lead your readers to believe that any coral displaying striations is a Corallium coral which needs to be tested. This is not the case.

Nummite

Nummite is a gemstone from Greenland. It was discovered by Peter Appel, a Danish geologist of the Greenland Geological Survey while prospecting for wolfram (tungsten) in Godthãb Fjord.

The overall color of nummite is brown, with golden inclusions oriented in many directions. The material is opaque, with a specific gravity of about 3.20, and a spot refractive index of approximately 1.65.

At first the gemstone was called Nukkite, after the Greenland capital, Nuuk (Godthãb); then changed to Nummite, which means ‘from Nuuk’. It is an attractive stone.

Greatest Films

The films I like:

Patton (1970)

Magnolia (1999)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Manhattan (1979)

Casino (1995)

All the King’s Men (1949)

Anna and the King of Siam (1946)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

The Birds (1963)

The Cider House Rules (1999)

The Daily Drucker

Good Books: (via Emergic) The Daily Drucker is a compilation of Drucker’s writings in easy-to-absorb capsules. The Daily Drucker is a must read + requires commitment + habitualize reading with action. It's not that easy.

He writes:
General George C. Marshall followed Five Simple Decision Steps in making people decisions. First, Marshall carefully thought about the assignment. Job descriptions may last a long time, but job assignments change all the time. Second, Marshall always looked at several qualified people. Formal qualifications, such as those listed in a resume, are no more than a starting point. Their absence disqualifies a candidate. However, the most important thing is that the person and assignment fit each other. To find the best fit, you need to consider at least three to five candidates. Third, Marshall studied the performance records of all three to five candidates to find what each did well. He looked at the candidates strengths. The things a person cannot do are of little importance; instead, you must concentrate on the things they can do and determine whether they are the right strengths for this particular assignment. Performance can only be built on strengths. Fourth, Marshall discussed the candidates with others who worked with them. The best information often comes through informal discussions with a candidate’s former bosses and colleagues. And fifth, once the decision was made, Marshall made sure the appointee understood the assignment. Perhaps the best way to do this is to ask the new person to carefully think over what they have to do to be a success, and then, ninety days into the job, have the person to commit it to writing.

This excerpt is via 800-CEO-Read:
Drucker’s primary contribution is not a single idea, but rather an entire body of work that has one gigantic advantage: nearly all of it is essentially right. Drucker has an uncanny ability to develop insights about the workings of the social world, and to later be proved right by history. His first book, The End of Economic Man, published in 1939, sought to explain the origins of totalitarianism; after the fall of France in 1940, Winston Churchill made it a required part of the book kit issued to every graduate of the British Officer’s Candidate School. His 1946 book The Concept of the Corporation analyzed the technocratic corporation, based upon an in-depth look at General Motors. It so rattled senior management in its accurate foreshadowing of future challenges to the corporate state that it was essentially banned at GM during the Sloan era. Drucker’s 1964 book was so far ahead of its time in laying out the principles of corporate strategy that his publisher convinced him to abandon the title Business Strategies in favor of Managing for Results, because the term strategy was utterly foreign to the language of business.

There are two ways to change the world: with the pen (the use of ideas) and with the sword (the use of power). Drucker chooses the pen, and has rewired the brains of thousands who carry the sword.

Drucker’s genius shines best in the short paragraph or single sentence that cuts through the clutter and messiness of a complex world and exposes a truth. Like a Zen poet, Drucker packs universal truth into just a few words; we can return to his teachings repeatedly, each time with a deeper level of understanding. This wonderful collection presents these pearls of insight in one place, where you can reflect upon them one at a time, without having to read all 10,000 pages.

Gagosian The Great

Economist writes about Larry Gagosian, the king of the art world + his unique way of doing business + his ability to win the trust of both artists and collectors + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9673257

New Mountains Of Transparency

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about diamond and jewelry industry specific Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance programs + data collection constraints + administrative burdens and costs + the impact on worldwide diamond pipeline @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25103

Diamonds Are A Guerrilla's Best Friend

Ray Fisman writes about Angola's diamonds + Israeli diamantaire Lev Leviev + tragic mismatch between the social imperative to end war and the business imperatives of incumbent firms to maintain their entry barriers + other viewpoints @ http://www.slate.com/id/2172333

Fillers For Emerald Treatment

In the trade, gem chefs (dealers/treaters) use different types of fillers for emeralds. Ideally the fillers should be colorless and stable within the emerald, but treatments are always full of surprises. Here is list of fillers that are frequently used by gem chefs to improve color or clarity of emeralds from different sources.

- Araldite 6010 prepolymer resin
- (Merck) Cedarwood oil
- Unhardened Opticon
- (Schroeder) Paraffin oil
- (Sigma) Canada balsam mixed with Cedarwood oil
- (NOA) Norland Optical Adhesive, type 65
- Surface-hardened Opticon 224 prepolymer resin
- Green Opticon
- Joban oil
- (Grooms) ExCel
- Gematrat
- Permasafe

Can You Identify This Stone?

(via The Canadian Gemmologist, Vol.III, No.4, Spring, 1982) Strongly pleochroic, with an R.I of 1.66 – 1.68, I can be green, yellow, or lilac colored, and occasionally a very beautiful and rare emerald green. Monoclinic with deeply etched crystals, I often have rutile needles in me, and am indeed sometimes mined more for my rutile than for my merit of my own. What a let down. What am I?
Answer: Spodumene

Greatest Films

The films I like:

The Great Dictator (1940)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Annie Hall (1977)

Ben-Hur (1959)

The Green Mile (1999)

Platoon (1986)

The Graduate (1967)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Gandhi (1982)

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Big Bang: The Origin Of The Universe

Good Books: (via Emergic) Simon Singh’s Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe is an interesting read.

Here is what the Publishers Weekly has to say (in a review on Amazon’s site):
It was cosmologist Fred Hoyle who coined the term "big bang" to describe the notion that the universe exploded out of nothing to kick-start space and time. Ironically, Hoyle himself espoused the steady state theory, positing that the universe is eternal and never really changes. Former BBC producer and science writer Singh (Fermat's Enigma) recounts in his inimitable down-to-earth style how the big bang theory triumphed. Readers will find here one of the best explanations available of how Cepheid stars are used to estimate the distance of other galaxies. Singh highlights some of the lesser-known figures in the development of the big bang theory, like Henrietta Leavitt, a volunteer "computer" at the Harvard College Observatory who in 1912 discovered how Cepheid stars can be used to measure galactic distances. Singh shows how the creation of the heavier elements was a major stumbling block to widespread adoption of the big bang until Hoyle (once again boosting the theory that he so fervently opposed) proved that they were created in stars' nuclear furnaces and strewn throughout the universe via supernova explosions. Readers who don't need a review of the early development of cosmology may wish that Singh had adopted a somewhat less leisurely pace. But his introductory chapters hold a lot of worthwhile material, clearly presented for the science buff and lay reader. There's no better account of the big bang theory than this.

His personal website has more info.

ReviewsOfBooks quotes Scientific American:
Singh spins out the drama with verve and wit. We meet scientists who are shy and retiring and others with a flair for contention, epic discoveries made serendipitously and beautiful theories shot down by intractable facts, a pooch named Kepler and a persistent pigeon that made its home in the Bell Labs telescope. This is a perfect book for anyone who wants to know what science is all about.

Premier Guy Verhofstadt Declares HRD Board As “Illegal” In Belgian Version of “West Wing” Soap Opera

Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the real life drama between the premier of Belgium and HRD (I believe the problem has been solved, but it's an interesting spin; it could happen elsewhere) + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25166

HRD’s Choice: Globalization Versus Nationalism
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25132