Monday, November 05, 2007
Quick-Change Master
David Galloway writes about Gerhard Richter + his art works + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1080
A Historical Summary Of The Ancient Commerce In Precious Stones
(via Roman Book On Precious Stones: 1950) Sydney H Ball writes:
The center of world trade in Pliny’s time, Rome was the emporium to which the products of the whole world flowed. Aelius Aristides, who lived in the 2nd century A.D wrote: ‘The stuffs of Babylonia and the jewels from the barbarous region of interior Asia reach Rome in much larger quantities, and far more easily, than the products of Naxos and Cynthus reach Athens. In fact, whatever commerce can lay hold and ships can carry, whatever agriculture and the mines produce, whatever industry and the arts create, whatever exists in the earth, and whatever grows upon it, all this is gathered together in the market of Rome.’
In ancient times precious stones were a much more important article of commerce than today. In those days the capacity factor per carrier—were it man, ass, camel, or boat—was small and of necessity the commodities carried, particularly between distant points, must needs be of high value, spices, fine fabrics and, to a lesser degree in total volume and value, precious stones. Important international trade in gems was inaugurated by the amber traders of the Baltic Sea at least 9000 years ago, to be followed about 3000 years later by the Babylonian merchants in lapis lazuli and the Egyptian purveyors of turquoise.
War, to the Romans, was a business, often with plunder as a side line. We find Augustus sending a military expedition against the Nabataeans and the Sabaeans, rich Arabian merchants of spices and precious stones, and Caesar, before he invaded Britain, assembling from all parts of Gaul merchants who had traded in Britain and questioning them as to Britain’s natural resources.
The Roman gem lover was not as particular as to the quality of his gem as is his American counterpart of today and many Roman gems are of so poor a quality that we wonder that the lapidary waster his time upon them. Highly evolved commercial facilities and the expansion of gem mining furnish the modern purchaser a perfection in gems never available to the Roman. At that, the color contrast of Roman gems made effective jewelry, even though the quality of many of the gems was mediocre.
Amber, the desire for which in the early days was a great stimulus of international trade, was used by the Aurignacian and later Paleolithic men of northern Europe from between 50000 and 25000 B.C onward: the source, presumably the Baltic coast of the North Sea. Its beauty of color, its transparency and, above all, its electrical properties—black magic to primitive man—made its ownership imperative. Later Baltic amber reached the Mediterranean, following river valleys south to the mouth of the Po or to that of the Rhone or to the Black Sea, following the Vistula and Dneiper to the southeast. About 1200 B.C Phoenician merchants bartered for amber, particularly that arriving at the head of the Adriatic, and distributed it to the earliest of Greek cities and to many other Mediterranean people. The Greek name electrum evidently is of Phoenician origin (elek, resin). Indeed, the Greeks had more amber in the early days than they had until Rome became a great commercial power centuries later. So outstanding was this trade to the head of the Adriatic that Greek legend located the Electrides Insulae (Amber Islands) at the head of the Adriatic. Later, instead of getting amber at the head of the Adriatic, Phoenician ships sailed to Britain, obtaining tin there and perhaps amber of local origin, or amber obtained by the Britons from nearby parts of the mainland. The Phoenicians themselves may even have reached the Baltic amber fields. These same traders also probably obtained a little amber from pits along the Syrian Coast, but their main source of supply was doubtless the Baltic.
About 600 B.C Phocaea founded Massalia (Marseilles) to control the trade in British tin and Baltic amber which came down the Rhone. Eventually Greeks, through this and other Greek colonial cities (including those on the Black Sea), became an important factor in the amber trade. The increased use of amber beads among the Etruscans soon thereafter indicates how large was the trade. About 340 B.C. Phytheas, a Massalian Greek astronomer and explorer, apparently sailed to the Baltic amber region, and he mentions that amber is cast upon the shores of the Isle Abalus by the high spring tides and tells us that the Guttones of East Prussia traded it to the neighboring tribes. Herodotus, a century earlier, although he recognized that amber came ‘from the remotest parts,’ was not willing to admit that it came from the river Eridanus (our Po) in western Europe. Timaeus (about 260 B.C) gave the source as the island Basilia or Raunonia, and not Abalus; Diodorus Siculus merely mentions the first name. Xenophon of Lampsacus calls it Baltia.
The Etruscans and Romans had Baltic amber in the early days of their civilization, and by Pliny’s time it was a common but precious commodity, arriving largely by the land routes. The Germans brought it as far as Pannonia and from there it was transported to the mouth of the Po. Nero even had Julianus Carnunturm, his gladiatorial fight manager, send a knight to Prussia to obtain, by trade,a store of amber. Tacitus gives details as to the trade of his time (born 55 A.D), stating that the Suebi collect it either from shallow parts of the sea or on the seashore, and were inclined to pay no attention to it until ‘our luxury made it esteemed’. Indeed, the barbaric tribe was a bit baffled by the ‘price they receive for it.’ We are ignorant as to whether the Romans of Pliny’s time obtained amber from the Sicilian mines (artifacts of this amber are found in the ruins of the Swiss Lake Dwellers). W. Arnold Buffum knows of no reference to this source prior to 1639 A.D. Buffum, however, believes some of the amber from Italo-Greek and Etruscan tombs is of Sicilian origin. Nor do we know that the Romans were familiar with the mines of Scythia mentioned by Philemon (amber occurs in several places in Russia), the Syrian mines once worked by the Phoenicians, the Italian deposits of Liguria (operated in the time of Theophrastus), nor those near Bologna. Strabo, Pliny’s predecessor by a generation, mentions them. Amber is still found at Scanello, Castel S Pietro, and in the Cesenate, Italy. We may add that amber was in the past from time found on the shores of England and Scotland. Pliny, quoting Nicias and Ctesias (about 398 B.C), says that amber occurs in India. Archelaus reports that amber from India still has the bark sticking to it! Possibly some other less aged resin is referred to or this may be a reference to the Burmese mines, before World War II relatively important. That the latter inference is not impossible is indicated by the fact that the Burmese mines were known to the Chinese in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C – 220 A.D). Normally, however, Rome exported amber to India and part of this apparently reached even China.
A Historical Summary Of The Ancient Commerce In Precious Stones (continued)
The center of world trade in Pliny’s time, Rome was the emporium to which the products of the whole world flowed. Aelius Aristides, who lived in the 2nd century A.D wrote: ‘The stuffs of Babylonia and the jewels from the barbarous region of interior Asia reach Rome in much larger quantities, and far more easily, than the products of Naxos and Cynthus reach Athens. In fact, whatever commerce can lay hold and ships can carry, whatever agriculture and the mines produce, whatever industry and the arts create, whatever exists in the earth, and whatever grows upon it, all this is gathered together in the market of Rome.’
In ancient times precious stones were a much more important article of commerce than today. In those days the capacity factor per carrier—were it man, ass, camel, or boat—was small and of necessity the commodities carried, particularly between distant points, must needs be of high value, spices, fine fabrics and, to a lesser degree in total volume and value, precious stones. Important international trade in gems was inaugurated by the amber traders of the Baltic Sea at least 9000 years ago, to be followed about 3000 years later by the Babylonian merchants in lapis lazuli and the Egyptian purveyors of turquoise.
War, to the Romans, was a business, often with plunder as a side line. We find Augustus sending a military expedition against the Nabataeans and the Sabaeans, rich Arabian merchants of spices and precious stones, and Caesar, before he invaded Britain, assembling from all parts of Gaul merchants who had traded in Britain and questioning them as to Britain’s natural resources.
The Roman gem lover was not as particular as to the quality of his gem as is his American counterpart of today and many Roman gems are of so poor a quality that we wonder that the lapidary waster his time upon them. Highly evolved commercial facilities and the expansion of gem mining furnish the modern purchaser a perfection in gems never available to the Roman. At that, the color contrast of Roman gems made effective jewelry, even though the quality of many of the gems was mediocre.
Amber, the desire for which in the early days was a great stimulus of international trade, was used by the Aurignacian and later Paleolithic men of northern Europe from between 50000 and 25000 B.C onward: the source, presumably the Baltic coast of the North Sea. Its beauty of color, its transparency and, above all, its electrical properties—black magic to primitive man—made its ownership imperative. Later Baltic amber reached the Mediterranean, following river valleys south to the mouth of the Po or to that of the Rhone or to the Black Sea, following the Vistula and Dneiper to the southeast. About 1200 B.C Phoenician merchants bartered for amber, particularly that arriving at the head of the Adriatic, and distributed it to the earliest of Greek cities and to many other Mediterranean people. The Greek name electrum evidently is of Phoenician origin (elek, resin). Indeed, the Greeks had more amber in the early days than they had until Rome became a great commercial power centuries later. So outstanding was this trade to the head of the Adriatic that Greek legend located the Electrides Insulae (Amber Islands) at the head of the Adriatic. Later, instead of getting amber at the head of the Adriatic, Phoenician ships sailed to Britain, obtaining tin there and perhaps amber of local origin, or amber obtained by the Britons from nearby parts of the mainland. The Phoenicians themselves may even have reached the Baltic amber fields. These same traders also probably obtained a little amber from pits along the Syrian Coast, but their main source of supply was doubtless the Baltic.
About 600 B.C Phocaea founded Massalia (Marseilles) to control the trade in British tin and Baltic amber which came down the Rhone. Eventually Greeks, through this and other Greek colonial cities (including those on the Black Sea), became an important factor in the amber trade. The increased use of amber beads among the Etruscans soon thereafter indicates how large was the trade. About 340 B.C. Phytheas, a Massalian Greek astronomer and explorer, apparently sailed to the Baltic amber region, and he mentions that amber is cast upon the shores of the Isle Abalus by the high spring tides and tells us that the Guttones of East Prussia traded it to the neighboring tribes. Herodotus, a century earlier, although he recognized that amber came ‘from the remotest parts,’ was not willing to admit that it came from the river Eridanus (our Po) in western Europe. Timaeus (about 260 B.C) gave the source as the island Basilia or Raunonia, and not Abalus; Diodorus Siculus merely mentions the first name. Xenophon of Lampsacus calls it Baltia.
The Etruscans and Romans had Baltic amber in the early days of their civilization, and by Pliny’s time it was a common but precious commodity, arriving largely by the land routes. The Germans brought it as far as Pannonia and from there it was transported to the mouth of the Po. Nero even had Julianus Carnunturm, his gladiatorial fight manager, send a knight to Prussia to obtain, by trade,a store of amber. Tacitus gives details as to the trade of his time (born 55 A.D), stating that the Suebi collect it either from shallow parts of the sea or on the seashore, and were inclined to pay no attention to it until ‘our luxury made it esteemed’. Indeed, the barbaric tribe was a bit baffled by the ‘price they receive for it.’ We are ignorant as to whether the Romans of Pliny’s time obtained amber from the Sicilian mines (artifacts of this amber are found in the ruins of the Swiss Lake Dwellers). W. Arnold Buffum knows of no reference to this source prior to 1639 A.D. Buffum, however, believes some of the amber from Italo-Greek and Etruscan tombs is of Sicilian origin. Nor do we know that the Romans were familiar with the mines of Scythia mentioned by Philemon (amber occurs in several places in Russia), the Syrian mines once worked by the Phoenicians, the Italian deposits of Liguria (operated in the time of Theophrastus), nor those near Bologna. Strabo, Pliny’s predecessor by a generation, mentions them. Amber is still found at Scanello, Castel S Pietro, and in the Cesenate, Italy. We may add that amber was in the past from time found on the shores of England and Scotland. Pliny, quoting Nicias and Ctesias (about 398 B.C), says that amber occurs in India. Archelaus reports that amber from India still has the bark sticking to it! Possibly some other less aged resin is referred to or this may be a reference to the Burmese mines, before World War II relatively important. That the latter inference is not impossible is indicated by the fact that the Burmese mines were known to the Chinese in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C – 220 A.D). Normally, however, Rome exported amber to India and part of this apparently reached even China.
A Historical Summary Of The Ancient Commerce In Precious Stones (continued)
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Jewelry Retailers May Miss Analysts Expectations
Nicholas White writes about the state of the jewelry retail sector + other viewpoints @ http://www.glgroup.com/News/Jewelry-Retailers-May-Miss-Analysts-Expectations-18461.html
Can Cigar Smokers Tell Different Brands Apart?
(via Dailyspeculations) Ryan Carlson writes:
Recreational smokers (a few cigars/month) probably couldn't distinguish between most brands but they can definitely tell the difference between a good or bad cigar. There is a large difference in the strength of brands so perhaps that'd be a better reference point.
I have a few favorites and could probably pick them out of a large selection but try not to go beyond a few brands, so I'd be clueless on the rest.
I don't know of anyone who can tell brands apart blind, even experts. Cigars are rated in blind tests; the properties are evaluated, just like wine, but that's merely subjective. They're also like wine in that they're made of tobacco of different vintages, from different origins, often blended, and though manufacturers attempt to maintain some consistency, there can be substantial variation, even from cigar to cigar within a box. The proliferation of seed worldwide, such as Honduran tobacco grown from Cuban seed, and variations in aging make the task more difficult as well.
For instance, one of my favorites, Perdomo's La Tradicion Cabinet Series, is constructed of Cuban-seed fillers grown in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua, with an Ecuadorian binder and wrappers from Connecticut. Their milder line, Tobaccos San Jose, uses a blend of fillers from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Brazil, binders from the Dominican Republic and Connecticut wrappers. The bolder Dos Rios line is primarily Nicaraguan filler with some Dominican Republic tobacco as well, the binder is Nicaraguan, the wrappers Ecuadorian. There are sub-series within the Cabinet Series, as well as the limited Champagne sub-sub-editions, so there's great variation within brands, too.
Moreover, cigars can/will acquire aromas and tastes of those they're next to in the humidor, so it's important to separate them from one another. Also, as with wine, good cigars improve over time, becoming smoother, more flavorful and complex with age if stored properly. I believe it might possible to tell a frequently smoked cigar with a reasonable consistency apart from others in the blind. I'm nowhere near good enough and don't smoke enough to with regularity, but I might have a better chance than the average Swisher Sweets smoker of batting, let's say, 2%. On the other hand, expert Grade seven rollers and master blenders are certainly capable of carefully examining a cigar and determining the type of tobacco used and its origin — is it a Cuban Cohiba or a Nicaraguan El Fako?
A novice wanting a good, reasonably priced smoke might sample a Monte Cristo #3, the Perdomo La Tradicion Cabinet Series R Champagne Robusto, or the La Flor Dominicana #100 (Tubo), all about $8.00 per. There are many others, these are simply a few that suit me.
All this talk of puros has gotten me fired up, but one last thing in this regard before I head out to the deck to chomp on one of the said Tubo #100s: It would be wise to refrain from entering into a high-stakes blind cigar tasting with a certain former world leader (whom I revere for his ingenuity in tobbaconistic matters). He may very well have found a sure-fire way to gain an advantage in distinguishing his 'brand' from all others in a blind taste test.
A lot of parallels can be drawn to origin determination of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and now tourmalines, by gem dealers and lab gemologists. I think a few gem / diamond dealers specializing in top quality stones may be able to tell the difference between a good or commercial quality stone, beyond that, I doubt it.
Recreational smokers (a few cigars/month) probably couldn't distinguish between most brands but they can definitely tell the difference between a good or bad cigar. There is a large difference in the strength of brands so perhaps that'd be a better reference point.
I have a few favorites and could probably pick them out of a large selection but try not to go beyond a few brands, so I'd be clueless on the rest.
I don't know of anyone who can tell brands apart blind, even experts. Cigars are rated in blind tests; the properties are evaluated, just like wine, but that's merely subjective. They're also like wine in that they're made of tobacco of different vintages, from different origins, often blended, and though manufacturers attempt to maintain some consistency, there can be substantial variation, even from cigar to cigar within a box. The proliferation of seed worldwide, such as Honduran tobacco grown from Cuban seed, and variations in aging make the task more difficult as well.
For instance, one of my favorites, Perdomo's La Tradicion Cabinet Series, is constructed of Cuban-seed fillers grown in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua, with an Ecuadorian binder and wrappers from Connecticut. Their milder line, Tobaccos San Jose, uses a blend of fillers from the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Brazil, binders from the Dominican Republic and Connecticut wrappers. The bolder Dos Rios line is primarily Nicaraguan filler with some Dominican Republic tobacco as well, the binder is Nicaraguan, the wrappers Ecuadorian. There are sub-series within the Cabinet Series, as well as the limited Champagne sub-sub-editions, so there's great variation within brands, too.
Moreover, cigars can/will acquire aromas and tastes of those they're next to in the humidor, so it's important to separate them from one another. Also, as with wine, good cigars improve over time, becoming smoother, more flavorful and complex with age if stored properly. I believe it might possible to tell a frequently smoked cigar with a reasonable consistency apart from others in the blind. I'm nowhere near good enough and don't smoke enough to with regularity, but I might have a better chance than the average Swisher Sweets smoker of batting, let's say, 2%. On the other hand, expert Grade seven rollers and master blenders are certainly capable of carefully examining a cigar and determining the type of tobacco used and its origin — is it a Cuban Cohiba or a Nicaraguan El Fako?
A novice wanting a good, reasonably priced smoke might sample a Monte Cristo #3, the Perdomo La Tradicion Cabinet Series R Champagne Robusto, or the La Flor Dominicana #100 (Tubo), all about $8.00 per. There are many others, these are simply a few that suit me.
All this talk of puros has gotten me fired up, but one last thing in this regard before I head out to the deck to chomp on one of the said Tubo #100s: It would be wise to refrain from entering into a high-stakes blind cigar tasting with a certain former world leader (whom I revere for his ingenuity in tobbaconistic matters). He may very well have found a sure-fire way to gain an advantage in distinguishing his 'brand' from all others in a blind taste test.
A lot of parallels can be drawn to origin determination of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and now tourmalines, by gem dealers and lab gemologists. I think a few gem / diamond dealers specializing in top quality stones may be able to tell the difference between a good or commercial quality stone, beyond that, I doubt it.
Digital Magnetic Map Goes Global
Liz Seward writes about the international team of researcher's findings on magnetic anomalies caused by differences in the magnetisation of the rocks in the Earth's crust + new information on the geological composition of our planet + other viewpoints @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6982485.stm
Zubin Mehta
(via YouTube) Zubin Mehta is one of the world's greatest conductors + I love his music.
Zubin Mehta Talks to Charlie Rose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B0DWvyECig
On the beautiful Blue Danube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4rUaITuXSg
Zubin Mehta Talks to Charlie Rose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B0DWvyECig
On the beautiful Blue Danube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4rUaITuXSg
Sapphire Mining In Sri Lanka
(via YouTube) White Sapphire Mining and Cutting @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCz1bQ1_CDs
I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed it.
Jonathan Glancey
Good Designs: (via The Guardian) Jonathan Glancey's Classics of everyday design.
Classics of everyday design No 32
Classics of everyday design No 33
Classics of everyday design No 34
I enjoyed it.
Classics of everyday design No 32
Classics of everyday design No 33
Classics of everyday design No 34
I enjoyed it.
Rare Van Gogh On Display In Amsterdam
Toby Sterling writes about a never-before-exhibited painting by the troubled Dutch genius + other viewpoints @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071102/ap_en_ot/art_van_gogh
Who Was the Real Artemisia?
Ann Landi writes about 'Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi: Father and Daughter Painters in Baroque Italy' +Artemisia's unique position as a supremely talented female artist of the 17th century+ other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1063
The Trihedrally Faceted Diamond Point
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
Additional faceting was not necessarily a sign of increasing skill or experience on the part of the cutters, but was forced on them by the irregularities of the rough. One of these, the trisoctahedron, is rarely, if ever, fully developed in the natural rough, but many octahdedrons have one or two faces shaped according to the trisoctahedral distribution of faces; others again have a ‘hexoctahedral design’. Both these types were imitated by very early cutters.
There are in the literature very few examples of trihedral faceting of Point Cuts, and I have found only two: ‘a cutt with diverse triangles’ in the 1587 inventory of the jewels belonging to Queen Elizabeth I of England, and ‘ein facet Steinen pointe mit dray Facetten ab jeder Seit’ in a Prussian document dated 1677, to do with the Orange inheritance. Several Point Cuts of this type have been illustrated, but with no comment on the additional faceting. Two perfectly square trisoctahedrally faceted Point Cut diamonds in pendants from the collection of Duchess Anna of Bavaria were painted by Hans Mielich.
Additional faceting was not necessarily a sign of increasing skill or experience on the part of the cutters, but was forced on them by the irregularities of the rough. One of these, the trisoctahedron, is rarely, if ever, fully developed in the natural rough, but many octahdedrons have one or two faces shaped according to the trisoctahedral distribution of faces; others again have a ‘hexoctahedral design’. Both these types were imitated by very early cutters.
There are in the literature very few examples of trihedral faceting of Point Cuts, and I have found only two: ‘a cutt with diverse triangles’ in the 1587 inventory of the jewels belonging to Queen Elizabeth I of England, and ‘ein facet Steinen pointe mit dray Facetten ab jeder Seit’ in a Prussian document dated 1677, to do with the Orange inheritance. Several Point Cuts of this type have been illustrated, but with no comment on the additional faceting. Two perfectly square trisoctahedrally faceted Point Cut diamonds in pendants from the collection of Duchess Anna of Bavaria were painted by Hans Mielich.
Roman Jewelers And Lapidaries
(via Roman Book On Precious Stones: 1950) Sydney H Ball writes:
We must add a link with today, our friend the pawnbroker. Menander, an early writer of comedies (born 342 B.C) in his Arbitration, referring to the ring of one of his characters, states: ‘Or he may have been at dice and put the ring up as a stake: or perhaps he owed some debt and had no cash, and so paid with the ring. Hundreds of things like that happen at drinking bouts.’ Martial (86 A.D) describes a young Roman blade, faultlessly attired, seated in his sedan chair and accompanied by clerks and pages, who had just pledged a ring at Claudius, the usurer’s for eight sestertii to pay for his supper.’ Juvenal describes the spendthrift who, having used up his patrimony, has only his ring left:
‘At length when nought remains a meal to bring,
The last poor shift, off comes the knightly ring.’
Other’s pawned their plate. In Ptolemic time in Egypt an unfortunate importunes his friend, ‘Now please redeem my property from Sarapion. It is pledged for two minae.’ After stating that the interest is partly paid, he lists the property pawned. Two bracelets were also pawned with another pawnbroker, one Onetor.
Trogus Pompeius states that his father in the time of Julius Ceasar had as keeper of his cabinet of jewels (libertus a dactyliotheca Caesaris) one Julius Philargyrus. Hadrian also placed his large and valuable collection of jewels in charge of a dactyliotheca Caesaris; this collection was later sold by Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D) at public auction to more than successfully defray the cost of the war with the Marcomanni. Nor were gem collections confined to royalty as those of Maecenas and others show. Indeed as a patron of gem engravers and lovers, Maecenas was the Lorenzo de Medici of his time. The rich had a slave to see that the banquet guests did not pry the gems from the gold drinking cups which were used only on ceremonial occasions. All the emperors from Augustus to the later emperors and, we may add, their wives, had goldsmiths attached to their household staffs.
We must add a link with today, our friend the pawnbroker. Menander, an early writer of comedies (born 342 B.C) in his Arbitration, referring to the ring of one of his characters, states: ‘Or he may have been at dice and put the ring up as a stake: or perhaps he owed some debt and had no cash, and so paid with the ring. Hundreds of things like that happen at drinking bouts.’ Martial (86 A.D) describes a young Roman blade, faultlessly attired, seated in his sedan chair and accompanied by clerks and pages, who had just pledged a ring at Claudius, the usurer’s for eight sestertii to pay for his supper.’ Juvenal describes the spendthrift who, having used up his patrimony, has only his ring left:
‘At length when nought remains a meal to bring,
The last poor shift, off comes the knightly ring.’
Other’s pawned their plate. In Ptolemic time in Egypt an unfortunate importunes his friend, ‘Now please redeem my property from Sarapion. It is pledged for two minae.’ After stating that the interest is partly paid, he lists the property pawned. Two bracelets were also pawned with another pawnbroker, one Onetor.
Trogus Pompeius states that his father in the time of Julius Ceasar had as keeper of his cabinet of jewels (libertus a dactyliotheca Caesaris) one Julius Philargyrus. Hadrian also placed his large and valuable collection of jewels in charge of a dactyliotheca Caesaris; this collection was later sold by Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D) at public auction to more than successfully defray the cost of the war with the Marcomanni. Nor were gem collections confined to royalty as those of Maecenas and others show. Indeed as a patron of gem engravers and lovers, Maecenas was the Lorenzo de Medici of his time. The rich had a slave to see that the banquet guests did not pry the gems from the gold drinking cups which were used only on ceremonial occasions. All the emperors from Augustus to the later emperors and, we may add, their wives, had goldsmiths attached to their household staffs.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Prejudice
Andrea Ravano writes:
Einstein said 'it is easier to break the atom than prejudice' and the same goes for the markets. Prejudice is your worst enemy. The lack of clarity when analyzing data, or your inability to understand the nature of the ever changing cycles, will lead you directly on to the wrong side of the trade.
Andrea Ravano was writing about the cyclical patterns in the stock markets. In my view, it's true in the gem and jewelry markets. There are many desires that make up the complexities of human nature regardless of our culture. People who are looking for shortcuts to make money without hardwork may be in for the mother-of-all surprises.
Einstein said 'it is easier to break the atom than prejudice' and the same goes for the markets. Prejudice is your worst enemy. The lack of clarity when analyzing data, or your inability to understand the nature of the ever changing cycles, will lead you directly on to the wrong side of the trade.
Andrea Ravano was writing about the cyclical patterns in the stock markets. In my view, it's true in the gem and jewelry markets. There are many desires that make up the complexities of human nature regardless of our culture. People who are looking for shortcuts to make money without hardwork may be in for the mother-of-all surprises.
Test Created For Wine Headache Chemicals
Marcus Wohlsen writes about the dreaded 'red wine headache' + the chemical ingredients that induces the effect (s) + the detector + other viwepoints @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071101/ap_on_he_me/wine_test
Father's Little Dividend
(via YouTube) The scenes bewtween Spencer Tracy + Elizabeth Taylor (age 18) is so real, it is art imitating life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z43lW7LKKic
I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed it.
Gem Mining People Of Cambodia
(via YouTube) Gem Mining people of Cambodia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsWHYf0gXhI
It was educational.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsWHYf0gXhI
It was educational.
Rashid Rana
(via Livemint) Manju Sara Rajan writes about India’s favourite Pakistani artist + his art works + other viewpoints @ http://www.livemint.com/2007/11/01235531/Rashid-Rana--Second-homecomin.html
Much More Than Fifteen Minutes
Tyler Maroney writes about Andy Warhol and his works + a commemorative postage stamp + the founding of Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board to identify fakes + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1047
Roman Jewelers And Lapidaries
(via Roman Book On Precious Stones: 1950) Sydney H Ball writes:
Both the gem trade and the jewelry industry were made up of many small units producing, in most instances at least, individual orders. Mass production did not exist, the piece of jewelry being made and sold in the same shop. The customer might well furnish his gold and even his unset gems. Indeed, the client furnished the gold in Aristophanes time. Various lawsuits, however, show that some jewelers carried considerable stocks of gold and precious stones: some were men of wealth and from their tombstones we know they left large legacies and had many freedmen who served them. Of one such freedmen, Canuleius Zosimus, his patron, who erected the tablet, says: ‘He has never spoken evil of anyone and he did nothing contrary to the wishes of his patron. Though he always had much gold and silver in his possessions, he coveted none of it. He excelled in carving Clodian ware. A retail jeweler laments the death of this 13-year slave and in his epitaph he states:
‘Skilled was his hand in the art of finishing necklaces finely,
And to enclose in handwrought gold, bright glittering jewels.’
The tomb of Evodus, a pearl merchant (margaritarius) can be seen today on the Via Sacra. Most of the merchants were humble folk, but the epitaph of a woman dealing in pearls on the Via Sacra ‘had freedmen and freedwomen of her own,’ for whom she provided a last resting place beside herself.
Many of the gem engravers and lapidaries in Rome particularly after the reign of Augustus were of Greek origin, and frequently slaves. That the so-called Roman engraved gems were in many instances cut by Greek artists is indicated by the frequent use of Greek gods as subjects and the Grecian grouping presented. When the art passed largely into Roman hands, mere size was confused with beauty. Many wealthy Romans of the Late Empire had slave engravers in their homes. Further, it was not infrequent for a patron as a business venture to set up a skilled slave or freedman in the jewelry trade. However, slaves, in instances, saved enough to buy their freedom and as freedmen to finance their own shop. A Roman inscription at Malton, Yorkshire, England, mentions a goldsmith’s shop run by a slave, adding ‘good luck to you slave in running this shop.’
Gem engravers (gemmarii) cut either intaglios or cameos. The cutters of cameos were called caelotores or scalptores; while the artisans who fashioned the intaglios were known as cavatores or signarii. Lapidaries also cut cabochon stones and beads and polished smooth the natural faces of beryls and emeralds. Others fabricated false stones, some producing extraordinarily good imitations of certain gems. Each branch of the trade was handled by a specialist and Saint Augustine (354-430 A.D) compared the lesser gods with their circumscribed power with the craftsmen in the Streets of the Silversmiths, where each article passed through many hands, the mastery of the whole difficult to learn—that of the part, easy.
Guilds of artisans in the same trade must have originated in very early times (Babylonia long previous to 1900 B.C had had guilds) and they had some of the characteristics of our own labor unions; for example, Demetrius was perhaps the union leader of the guild of silversmiths in Ephesus. One of the oldest Collegia in Rome was that of the goldsmiths which is said to have existed in the time of Numa (715-673 B.C). Plutarch tells us that each guild had its own hall, its court, and its religious rituals peculiar to itself. By 150 A.D the guilds of the gold and silversmiths and of the salt miners were among the strongest in Rome. Caesar Augustus’ father was a silversmith. The silversmiths of Rome, as a body, erected (204 A.D) a small triumphal arch in honor of Septimus Severus and his family in the velabrum or cattle market where their shops were. Monsignor X Barbier du Montault gives an epitaph of a goldsmith who belonged to the guild in the time of Marcus Aurelius. In addition to the gold and silversmiths’ guilds there were ringmakers, goldbeaters, and gilders’ guilds.
These Latin guilds, like some of their successors of today, were politically minded. Scrawled on the walls of Pompeii we find, among other political propaganda, the following: ‘All goldsmiths recommend Gauis Cuspuis Pausa for the aedileship’.
In India, guilds are an ancient hereditary institution. The Ramayana or Ayodhya-Kanda describes a procession of trade guilds, jewelers, potters, ivory workers, perfumers, goldsmiths, and cutters of crystal. Among the Jews, unions did not exist before the Babylonian captivity. Some centuries later each guild had its appointed place and all members of the guild sat together in the huge synagogue at Alexandria, Egypt. The Egyptian goldsmiths in Christ’s time had their guilds.
Roman Jewelers And Lapidaries (continued)
Both the gem trade and the jewelry industry were made up of many small units producing, in most instances at least, individual orders. Mass production did not exist, the piece of jewelry being made and sold in the same shop. The customer might well furnish his gold and even his unset gems. Indeed, the client furnished the gold in Aristophanes time. Various lawsuits, however, show that some jewelers carried considerable stocks of gold and precious stones: some were men of wealth and from their tombstones we know they left large legacies and had many freedmen who served them. Of one such freedmen, Canuleius Zosimus, his patron, who erected the tablet, says: ‘He has never spoken evil of anyone and he did nothing contrary to the wishes of his patron. Though he always had much gold and silver in his possessions, he coveted none of it. He excelled in carving Clodian ware. A retail jeweler laments the death of this 13-year slave and in his epitaph he states:
‘Skilled was his hand in the art of finishing necklaces finely,
And to enclose in handwrought gold, bright glittering jewels.’
The tomb of Evodus, a pearl merchant (margaritarius) can be seen today on the Via Sacra. Most of the merchants were humble folk, but the epitaph of a woman dealing in pearls on the Via Sacra ‘had freedmen and freedwomen of her own,’ for whom she provided a last resting place beside herself.
Many of the gem engravers and lapidaries in Rome particularly after the reign of Augustus were of Greek origin, and frequently slaves. That the so-called Roman engraved gems were in many instances cut by Greek artists is indicated by the frequent use of Greek gods as subjects and the Grecian grouping presented. When the art passed largely into Roman hands, mere size was confused with beauty. Many wealthy Romans of the Late Empire had slave engravers in their homes. Further, it was not infrequent for a patron as a business venture to set up a skilled slave or freedman in the jewelry trade. However, slaves, in instances, saved enough to buy their freedom and as freedmen to finance their own shop. A Roman inscription at Malton, Yorkshire, England, mentions a goldsmith’s shop run by a slave, adding ‘good luck to you slave in running this shop.’
Gem engravers (gemmarii) cut either intaglios or cameos. The cutters of cameos were called caelotores or scalptores; while the artisans who fashioned the intaglios were known as cavatores or signarii. Lapidaries also cut cabochon stones and beads and polished smooth the natural faces of beryls and emeralds. Others fabricated false stones, some producing extraordinarily good imitations of certain gems. Each branch of the trade was handled by a specialist and Saint Augustine (354-430 A.D) compared the lesser gods with their circumscribed power with the craftsmen in the Streets of the Silversmiths, where each article passed through many hands, the mastery of the whole difficult to learn—that of the part, easy.
Guilds of artisans in the same trade must have originated in very early times (Babylonia long previous to 1900 B.C had had guilds) and they had some of the characteristics of our own labor unions; for example, Demetrius was perhaps the union leader of the guild of silversmiths in Ephesus. One of the oldest Collegia in Rome was that of the goldsmiths which is said to have existed in the time of Numa (715-673 B.C). Plutarch tells us that each guild had its own hall, its court, and its religious rituals peculiar to itself. By 150 A.D the guilds of the gold and silversmiths and of the salt miners were among the strongest in Rome. Caesar Augustus’ father was a silversmith. The silversmiths of Rome, as a body, erected (204 A.D) a small triumphal arch in honor of Septimus Severus and his family in the velabrum or cattle market where their shops were. Monsignor X Barbier du Montault gives an epitaph of a goldsmith who belonged to the guild in the time of Marcus Aurelius. In addition to the gold and silversmiths’ guilds there were ringmakers, goldbeaters, and gilders’ guilds.
These Latin guilds, like some of their successors of today, were politically minded. Scrawled on the walls of Pompeii we find, among other political propaganda, the following: ‘All goldsmiths recommend Gauis Cuspuis Pausa for the aedileship’.
In India, guilds are an ancient hereditary institution. The Ramayana or Ayodhya-Kanda describes a procession of trade guilds, jewelers, potters, ivory workers, perfumers, goldsmiths, and cutters of crystal. Among the Jews, unions did not exist before the Babylonian captivity. Some centuries later each guild had its appointed place and all members of the guild sat together in the huge synagogue at Alexandria, Egypt. The Egyptian goldsmiths in Christ’s time had their guilds.
Roman Jewelers And Lapidaries (continued)
Million-dollar Outfits Worth Weight In Gold
Reuters Life writes about a Tokyo design school's (Bunka Fashion College) new concept: models decked out in more than 1,500 Austrian gold coins clinking down the catwalk + other viewpoints @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071101/lf_nm_life/japan_dress_gold_dc
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