I Pass From Paris To London: ‘Malacoot’

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

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

I had had more than the usual share of reverses as a broker in Paris, for which I had had only myself to blame. However, I thought that my ‘luck’ would change if I changed my surroundings. Where should I go? America? Australia? England? I had learned English; it seemed about time that I should practise it in an English-speaking country. It was no toss of the coin that decided me to go to London. The fare there was less than to Perth in Western Australia, or New York. I packed my few belongings without regret. ‘England is the place for me,’ I said.

Jet is the stone associated with that Channel crossing. I do not remember if it was rough or smooth, only that no less than five of the lady passengers wore complete sets of jet ornaments. They were all Englishwomen. Although this fashion may at that time have prevailed in France also, I never noticed it until I came to England.

Anxious to improve my accent, I got into conversation with the husband of one of the jet-wearers. Discreetly questioned, he was rather pleased to enlighten me with the information that this kind of stone came from Whitby in Yorkshire and that it was greatly prized in England for mourning jewelry.

He insisted that jet was a gemstone. ‘The decrees of fashion,’ I remember declaiming at him, ‘may raise a green cheese to the status of a planet, but the textbooks still lay it down that this black substance is a fossil wood, a king of immature coal, and not very hard at that—‘
‘Please do not let my wife hear you say that,’ he said in a frigid tone, ‘for she is excessively proud of her jet ornaments.’ Thereupon he left me abruptly and I saw him no more.
As I gazed intently at the rapidly approaching white cliffs of Dover, a voice spoke in inner ear. It said” ‘There are many ways of putting people against you. But the most sure way of all is to insist on telling them the unpalatable truth.’

After a day or two I found myself in a typical Bloomsbury boarding-house, dining in the company of four Indian law students, a City solicitor, an unfrocked Catholic priest, a newly arrived Capetown stockbroker and his wife, and the divorcée of a brilliant barrister who within the year took silk. The table was presided over by Mrs Francis, the landlady, a tall passée blonde with, as I discovered later, a kind heart. At first I had some difficulty in following the animated conversation, for I was still rather rocky in my knowledge of English, to say the least of it. But presently I realized that the conversation was turning on a green stone in the ring of the South African lady which she described as a ‘malacoot’.

A ‘malacoot’? I had never heard of such a stone. My professional curiosity was aroused. I begged for a sight of the stone. With the greatest of pride and affability she had it passed down to me. In indifferent English, but with the greatest complacency in the world I pronounced it (in a double sense) to be a ‘malachite’, a mineral found in great abundance in the Ural Mountains, which is sometimes used for ornamental tables, mural inlays and decorations.

The South African lady was not greatly impressed. Her stone, she said, was a ‘malacoot’, guaranteed to be nothing else by the reputable Capetown jeweler who had sold it to her. What did I know about South African gems?

At this point tact belatedly overtook me and I allowed her to make her point. But later on, when the ladies and most of the men had adjourned to the drawing-room (this was still the custom even in Bloomsbury boarding-houses), those who had remained, suspecting that I knew what I was talking about, drew me out on the subject of ‘malachite’.

I was only too eager to shine. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Malachite is a very common substance. I don’t think it occurs in South Africa at all. It is a gemstone only by courtesy. Mineralogically speaking it is just a copper carbonate. I have handled large plaques of it and beads by the bushel, I assure you, gentlemen.’

For further information of those who want to be able to distinguish malachite from any other green stone, I may here state that it is a bright green, grained with black, and is a stone which takes on a good polish.

Among the number of less well-known semi-precious stones which at one period kept the family pot boiling was the peridot.

I must confess here that although I had long known the stone by name and had seen it included in lists of potential gem material, I was not at all acquainted with its appearance until some time in 1903 when a German lapidary paid me a visit. I had been recommended to him as one likely to prove of considerable assistance to him, but to my disappointment he revealed that his entire stock-in-trade consisted of peridots, several pounds weight of them, of every size and shape.
‘And what do you expect to do with a stock of that kind in London?’ I asked.
‘Sell it for good English money,’ he replied with an assurance that was rather disconcerting, for I had no doubt whatsoever that a German lapidary on his first visit to London had nothing to teach me about the class of gems saleable in that city.
‘I am sorry to disillusion you,’ I said, ‘but candidly we shall only be wasting our time.’
‘Before the day is out you will think differently,’ he replied. ‘Will you be my broker for the day?’
As my new acquaintance was a good-natured twenty-one stone Teuton with a single-track mind, I did not wish him to feel that he must return to Germany without having had at least a chance of showing his goods to the trade. He would discover for himself fast enough that London was not peridot-minded.

Yet, before the week was out, my German friend had to send an urgent message home for fresh supplies. So much for my cocksureness. We managed to cash in on a short-lived fashion, however. The wave of popularity that had raised the olive-green transparent lustrous stone, despite its softness, into general favor soon subsided. This is usually the way with the lesser semi-precious stones; unlike the aristocrats, which always have a world-market, the small fry among gems depend very greatly upon the vagaries of fashion.

There are several localities where peridots are mined. Burma is one of these, and New Mexico and Queensland are others, but in the opinion of those best-informed the Egyptian peridot excels all others. In these latter days the stone is little seen in jeweler’s shops, but no doubt sooner or later they will be on view again.

Hallmarking Act Implementation In India

According to the Gems and Jewellery Federation (GJF) in India, the government intends to make gold hallmarking compulsory from January 2008. The proposed amended Act requires every jewelry outlet to obtain a licence to sell hallmarked jewelry. The federation is concerned by the move because they believe the infrastructure for the practical implementation of the Act is inadequate in the country.

Top 10 Startups Worth Watching in 2008

(via Wired): Top 10 Startups Worth Watching in 2008

1. www.23andme.com
2. www.37signals.com
3. www.admob.com
4. www.bittorrent.com
5. www.dash.net
6. www.fon.com
7. www.linkedin.com
8. www.powerset.com
9. www.slide.com
10. www.spock.com

Beautiful Microscope Art

(via Wired): The images via Materials Research Society art competition was really interesting. It's beautiful. Link

Useful links:
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/12/beautiful-mic-1.html
www.mrs.org

Incandescent Light Bulb

The incandescent light bulb will be phased off the U.S. market beginning in 2012 under the new energy law just approved by Congress + this will reduce electricity costs and minimize new bulb purchases in every household in America + earlier this year, Australia became the first country to announce an outright ban by 2010 on incandescent bulbs + The Energy Star website has a good FAQ (frequently asked questions) on CFLs (the compact fluorescent).

Kind Hearts And Coronets

Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949)
Directed by: Robert Hamer
Screenplay: Roy Horniman (novel Israel Rank); Robert Hamer, John Dighton
Cast: Dennis Price, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood, Alec Guinness

(via YouTube): Trailer: Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOGbnECf7NI

Kind Hearts and Coronets clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAA41TwZz1w

A Robert Hamer classic + it's fun noir. I enjoyed it.

Station Masters

(via Guardian Unlimited) Jonathan Glancey writes about SNCF's anniversary exhibition celebrating the love affair between French art and trains + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2231149,00.html

Useful link:
SNCF website

Baffled, Bewildered—And Smitten

Hilarie M. Sheets writes about the 'I-Don't-Get-It Aesthetic' phenomenon when looking at contemporary art + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=766

The Pride Of Flanders

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

The tact of the courtier, as well as the splendid powers of the painter, may be seen of a famous Rubens at the National Gallery, ‘The Blessings of Peace,’ which shows Minerva, goddess of Wisdom, pushing back War, while Peace receives Wealth and Happiness and their smiling children. This picture was presented to the English kind by Rubens soon after his arrival in London as a delicate hint of the advantages to be derived from concluding peace with Spain.

It is said that while he was painting this picture in London an English courtier asked Rubens, ‘Does the Ambassador of his Catholic Majesty amuse himself with painting?’ ‘No,’ replied Rubens, ‘I amuse myself sometimes with being an ambassador.’

On February 21, 1630, Charles I knighted the painter, and soon afterwards Sir Peter Paul Rubens returned to the Continent and again settled in Antwerp. Isabella Brant had been dead about four years, and in December Rubens married Helen Fourment, whom he must have known from childhood. She was one of the seven daughters of Daniel Fourment, a widower, who had married the sister of Ruben’s first wife. Helen was only sixteen when she married.

The last seven years of his life were devoted by Rubens to domestic happiness and his art rather than to politics, which he practically abandoned after 1633. He had a fine country estate near Malines, the Château de Steen, of which we may see a picture in the National Gallery, and there for the most part he lived quietly, happy with his girl-wife and only troubled by attacks of gout. During these last years Rubens produced a quantity of fine pictures; in one year (1638), for example, he dispatched a cargo of 112 pictures by himself and his pupils to the King of Spain. The rapidity of the master’s execution is well illustrated by a story that, having received a repeat order from Philip (after he had received the 112 pictures), and being pressed by the monarch’s brother Ferdinand to deliver the new pictures as quickly as possible, Rubens said he would do them all with his own hand ‘to gain time’.

Among these new pictures, sent off in February 1639, were the ‘The Judgment of Paris’ and ‘The Three Graces,’ both now at the Prado, and generally held to be the finest as well as the latest of the painter’s many pictures of these subjects. But still the King of Spain wanted more pictures by Rubens. Further commissions arrived, and in May 1640 the great master died in harness, working almost to the last on four large canvases.

Excelling in every branch of painting, and prolific in production, Rubens is a master of whose art only a brief summary can be given. A final word, however, must be said on the landscapes which form a conspicuous feature among his later works, and of which we possess so splendid an example in ‘The Rainbow Landscape’ in the Wallace Collection. The healthy and contented sense of physical well-being, which radiates from every landscape by Rubens, has been expressed in a criticism of this picture by Dr Richard Muther: ‘The struggle of the elements is past, everything glitters with moisture, and the trees rejoice like fat children who have just had their breakfast.’

It has been said that there are landscapes which soothe and calm our spirits, and landscapes which exhilarate. Those by Rubens come under the latter category. He was no mystic in his attitude towards Nature; he approached her without awe, with the friendly arrogance of a strong man who respects strength. Most of his landscapes were painted in the neighborhood of his country seat, and in them we may trace not only the painter’s love of the beauty in Nature, but something also of the landowner’s pride in a handsome and well-ordered estate.

The heir of the great Venetians in his painted decorations, Rubens was a pioneer in all other directions. His portraits were the inspiration of Van Dyck and the English painters of the eighteenth century, his landscapes were the prelude to Hobbema and the ‘natural painters’ of England and Holland; while in pictures like ‘Le Jardin ď Amour’ and ‘The Dance of Villagers’ he invented a new style of pastoral with small figures which Watteau and other later artists delightfully exploited.

The Pride Of Flanders (continued)

Rose-Cut Triplets

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

It is not known for certain to what extend normal Rose Cuts were fastened base to base for a specific purpose; perhaps this was merely an attempt to increase the light effects of thin Roses. One striking example is to be found in the crown made in 1722 for the coronation of Louis XV. The famous Grand Sancy diamond formed the head of the fleur-de-lis on the top of the crown. Six pairs of Roses represented the petals of the emblem, which was three-dimensional. In order to balance the heavy Grand Sancy, each pair of flat Roses was assembled and mounted together with an intervening plate (possibly a flat diamond), the three parts forming a triplet. The eight triplets were then thick enough to match the weight of the Sancy.

By 1729 the crown (now in the Musée du Louvre) had been stripped of all its gems, which were returned to the French Treasury and reset in their original jewels. However, they were replaced with cleverly fashioned paste replicas which, most fortunately, show the exact faceting of the original gems in the crown.

I Pass From Paris To London: ‘Malacoot’

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

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

There was no doubt that he was ready to carry out his threat with interest. The other man sat for a moment and weighed up his chances.
‘Curse you,’ he said, glaring with rage. ‘If you had only telephoned to ask me if the stone had got inadvertently into one of my parcels when I was comparing quality, I should have taken no offence.’
‘You compared nothing,’ I broke in.
‘Where is the stone?’ demanded my client inexorably.
Well, we did not come away without it, anyhow. When my client had it safely in his wallet he turned to the thief and said: ‘Our silence respecting this matter can be bought by a donation of five hundred francs to such and such charity.’

The other went to his safe, and as though it were the most ordinary transaction in the world, laid five notes on the table. Then he sat down at his desk and wrote in a steady, clear and precise hand a receipt worded thus: ‘We, the undersigned (here our names were inserted), in consideration of Blank’s have contributed five hundred francs in cash to a certain charity, undertake solemnly to preserve an unbroken silence during the lifetime of Blank concerning an affair of honor touching him closely. May the good Lord preserve us from all temptation.’
We duly signed, marvelling. Nor have we broken our promise, though Blank has been in the spirit world for many years.

One dealer for whom I often did business was M Roeder, an illiterate self-made man who was an acknowledged expert in rubies and sapphires of the finest grades. He never bought his stones fully cut, but either in the rough (for preference), or Indian cut; that is, indifferently shaped and faceted. M Roeder taught me that it is never wise to send a large parcel of goods to the lapidary, however reputable.

‘There is too much temptation,’ he used to say, ‘to slip in what does not belong. Besides, why give an opportunity to suspect the lapidary if a parcel does not turn out as well as expected?’ It may be necessary to explain that however well graded, a parcel of gems in the rough will often give unpredictable results when the stones have been ground and polished. They may either disappoint or turn out like Cinderella in the fairy tale.

When Roeder gave out his goods he weighed each stone separately, noted its weight, drew its contour and finally immersed it in a glass of water to ascertain in which corner of it lay the concentrated coloring matter. His clerk wrote all these particulars down and the parcel was then divided into five or more parts and distributed among as many lapidaries, some in London, some in Paris, some in the French Jura. When they came back faceted he could thus check up pretty well on every stone. If the returns from one or the other of his lapidaries proved repeatedly and startlingly inadequate, he withdrew his custom.

On one occasion he gave out a stone from which he had reason to expect a fine finished specimen, but it was returned apparently a failure of no great quality. He suspected the lapidary, and without telling me why, he instructed me to find him a ruby—the gem was a ruby—of approximately the size and quality he had expected from his own rough stone. He suggested that one of the lapidaries might have such a stone; he mentioned the suspected lapidary by name. I was not to ask point-blank about the required stone, but to make the inquiry vague and not to disclose that it was wanted for a dealer.

I executed the commission and brought back a fine ruby.

‘This is my stone,’ said Roeder as soon as he saw it. According to custom, since I would not leave it with him, he sealed it up and returned it to me. A few hours later the lapidary sent for me and asked me to deliver the stone to Roeder, who had himself settled the account.

How it was settled I learned from Roeder. He had charged the lapidary outright with theft, and when the latter had denied it angrily and threatened legal proceedings, Roeder said calmly: ‘You can take what action you choose. I am going to attach the stone which is now under my seal in the broker’s hands. If you bring an action, I shall challenge you to produce your books and disclose from whom you bought the stone cut, or if in the rough, whether it was in the opinion of the man who sold it to you likely to turn out as well as the stone under dispute. I shall break you and you will be hounded out of the trade. Choose. Give me the stone and you shall still have some of my work, for you are a master of your craft and I do not believe you will deceive me again. Ca y est? Donnez-moi la main, monsieur.’

I Pass From Paris To London: ‘Malacoot’ (continued)

Thai Gem and Jewelry News

Here is what Mr Vichai Assarasakorn of the Thai Gem and Jewellery Traders Association has to say about the state of the industry: "Currently, we do not have our own raw materials, making us reliant solely on imports. Without steady and sustainable raw material supplies, over one million skilled craftsmen will be hard hit in the future.The association sees it as necessary to push forward all efforts to convince the new government to waive existing value-added tax (VAT) on raw-material imports to streamline and promote the free flow of trade in raw materials such as precious stones, diamonds and processed precious stones to the Thai market.

A zero-rate VAT would draw more raw material suppliers to Thailand, improving the competitive edge of Thai producers and providing greater access to raw materials. Thailand has more than 10,000 gem and jewellery businesses but 90% of them are small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition to a raw material shortage, local firms face rising competition, notably in the US and Japan, particularly in the low-end segment, from Chinese and Indian producers. Gems and jewelry are among Thailand's key exports, with 20% growth this year to 170 billion baht. In dollar terms, the figure is expected to grow 30% to about $4.8 billion.’

He cites the success of Dubai, which has become a global gold trading centre due to tax waivers. Last year Dubai's gold trade rose 37% year-on-year to $14.75 billion.

I think the Thai gem and jewelry sector will have to innovate with new concepts and attitudes to compete in the emerging markets.

Good Books

The Science of Success: How Market-Based Management Built the World's Largest Private Company, by Charles Koch

Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement, by Brian Doherty

His Excellency George Washington, by Joseph Ellis

The Island at the Center of the World, by Russell Shorto

I think the lessons you learn will stay with you forever.

DTC Sightholders List: Who's On And What Now?

(via IdexOnline): IdexOnline writes about the newly-named Sightholders + the verification process/reality + the list @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullNews.asp?SID=&id=29129

World's Ultimate Jewels

(via Forbes): World's Ultimate Jewels

1. Chopard
Blue Diamond Ring
www.chopard.com

2. Garrard
Heart of the Kingdom Ruby
www.garrard.com

3. Neil Lane
Diamond Necklace
www.neillanejewelry.com

4. DeBeers
Marie Antoinette Necklace
www.debeers.com

5. H. Stern
Venus Necklace
www.hstern.net

6. Chopard
Emerald Ring
www.chopard.com

7. Tiffany
Novo Yellow Diamond Ring
www.tiffany.com

8. Van Cleef and Arpels
Zip Necklace
www.vancleef-arpels.com

9. Oscar Heyman
Sapphire Ring
www.oscarheyman.com

10. Bulgari
Elisia Sapphire and Diamond Necklace
www.bulgari.com

Beyond The Clouds

(via The Guardian) Zaha Hadid's magnificent designs + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/architecture/story/0,,2229161,00.html

Useful link:
www.zaha-hadid.com

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)
Directed by: Don Siegel Screenplay: Richard Collins (uncredited); Jack Finney (novel); Daniel Mainwaring, Sam Peckinpah (uncredited)
Cast: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter

(via YouTube): Invasion of the Body Snatchers – Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-jzblCbsuA

A nightmare kiss: "Invasion of the body snatchers" (1956)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPl8G5cvdNw

One of the best science fiction movies + suspenseful. I enjoyed it.

Da Vinci Drawings Affected By Mold

Colleen Barry writes about the state of Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus, the largest collection of drawings and writings by the Renaissance master + other viewpoints @
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071221/ap_en_ot/da_vinci_codex

Useful links:
www.ambrosiana.it
www.opificio.arti.beniculturali.it

The So-Called Van Goghs

Timothy W. Ryback writes about Vincent van Gogh fakes + provenance issues/endless debates + van Gogh authenticators + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=751

The Pride Of Flanders

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

A story is told that the Dean of Malines Cathedral was furious when, having ordered a ‘Last Supper’ from Rubens, a young man named Justus van Egmont came down to begin the work. Later on

The great man appeared with his fine calm presence and the urbane manner that was a bulwark against offence or misappreciation. As Rubens corrected the work, enlivened the color or action of the figures, and swept the whole composition with his unerring brushwork towards a beautiful unity of effect, the churchman acknowledged the wisdom of the master, and admitted that the money of the chapter had been safely invested.

Even the beautiful portrait of ‘Susanne Fourment’, known as the ‘Chapeau de Poil,’ a canvas of 1620, which shows Rubens second manner merging into his third—in which the pigment is less solid and fusion of color more subtle—even this work has been thought by some critics to be not altogether the work of Rubens. The late R A M Stevenson considered that ‘the comparatively rude folds of the dress and the trivial details of the feather’ betrayed another hand at work.

The fame of the Flemish master had spread all over Europe, and in January 1622 Rubens was summoned to Paris by the Queen Mother, Marie dé Medici, who wished him to decorate her favorite Luxembourg Palace. ‘The great series of wall paintings, which were the result of this commission, are now one of the glories of the Louvre. These pictures were designed to emphasize the greatness of the Medicis and the splendor resulting from the marriage of Marie dé Medici to King Henri IV of France. How cleverly Rubens fulfilled his double role of courtier and decorator may be seen in ‘Henri IV Receiving the Portrait of Marie dé Medici.’ Here, in a wonderful blending of fable with reality, the artist idealizes the King as monarch and lover, and turns a marriage dictated by reasons of state into a romantic love-match in which Cupid and all the deities of Olympus are deeply concerned.

Endowed by nature with a splendid presence, tactful in disposition and charming in manners, Rubens was a man to win the confidence of any Court. After the death of the Archduke Albert in 1621, his widow the Regent Isabella took Rubens into her inner counsels and employed him in semi-official visits to foreign courts. The great object of the rulers of Flanders was to keep England and Holland friendly with Spain and apart from France. One of the first missions which Rubens received was to secure a renewal of the treaty between Holland and Flanders, a task which took him to The Hague in 1623. It was at this time that he was ennobled by the King of Spain.

When visiting Paris the painter had made the acquaintance of the Duke of Buckingham, the virtual ruler of England under Charles I, and this nobleman had been greatly taken by the talents of the Fleming both as artist and diplomatist. It was Buckingham himself who suggested that Rubens should be sent to Spain in the summer of 1628 to ascertain the real feelings of Philip IV in the war which Buckingham planned against France through hatred of Richelieu, who had separated him from Anne of Austria.

Rubens arrived at Madrid in the course of the summer, bringing with him eight pictures as a present to Philip; but the assassination of Buckingham on September 2nd, 1628, changed the political aspect of affairs and enabled Rubens to give his whole attention to art. An important event in the history of painting was the meeting in Spain of Rubens, now fifty two, with Velazquez, then a man of thirty; the two became great friends, that the younger man was considerably influenced by his elder.

Politically the great result of the Fleming’s stay in Spain was that Philip IV consented to Rubens going as his official representative to King Charles I of England. The artist-diplomat arrived in London on May 25, 1629, and not only arranged the terms of peace between England and Spain but gave a new direction to English painting. Charles commissioned him to paint the ceiling which may still be seen in the Banqueting Saloon in Whitehall, now the United Services Museum, and many of his pictures were bought by the Royal Family and nobility of England.

The Pride Of Flanders (continued)