Charles T Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation writes:
'The ethos of not fooling yourself is one of the best you could possibly have. It's powerful because it's so rare. Organized common (or uncommon) sense -- very basic knowledge -- is an enormously powerful tool. There are huge dangers with computers. People calculate too much and think too little.'
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Edie Weiner: Trend Analyst
(via) Amber Michelle writes:
Edie Weiner, Futurist and Trent Analyst, President, Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc.
“Agent of the population is a huge trend. There are so many people over the age of 60 and we know nothing about them. They have spending power—they are spending on vacations, trips, and grandkids,” comments Weiner. This is an important trend to watch going forward. The first of the Baby Boomers turned 60 in 2006, which translates to 7918 people turning 60 each day in the U.S. By 2030, it is expected that about one in five Americans will be 65 or older.
The U.S is also becoming more of a nation of immigration, says Weiner. “There are more and more immigrant births in the U.S, especially from Latin America and Asia. This is creating a change from European culture.”
More couples are adopting foreign babies, which is creating more multicultural households. “These couples bring in Chinese or African babies to middle-class, conservative neighborhoods in Middle America,” says Weiner, “ and it changes people’s views on the world. Many of these households are intercultural and are trying to connect with both cultures.”
An increasing number of high school dropouts will create a lot of issues, Weiner predicts. “The ‘No Child Left Behind’ program is forcing every kid to be college material and those who aren’t, are not being accommodated. They are being told that there is no place for them. It will create a huge problem in that there will not be enough good people to fill service jobs.”
Source: http://www.rapaport.com
Edie Weiner, Futurist and Trent Analyst, President, Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc.
“Agent of the population is a huge trend. There are so many people over the age of 60 and we know nothing about them. They have spending power—they are spending on vacations, trips, and grandkids,” comments Weiner. This is an important trend to watch going forward. The first of the Baby Boomers turned 60 in 2006, which translates to 7918 people turning 60 each day in the U.S. By 2030, it is expected that about one in five Americans will be 65 or older.
The U.S is also becoming more of a nation of immigration, says Weiner. “There are more and more immigrant births in the U.S, especially from Latin America and Asia. This is creating a change from European culture.”
More couples are adopting foreign babies, which is creating more multicultural households. “These couples bring in Chinese or African babies to middle-class, conservative neighborhoods in Middle America,” says Weiner, “ and it changes people’s views on the world. Many of these households are intercultural and are trying to connect with both cultures.”
An increasing number of high school dropouts will create a lot of issues, Weiner predicts. “The ‘No Child Left Behind’ program is forcing every kid to be college material and those who aren’t, are not being accommodated. They are being told that there is no place for them. It will create a huge problem in that there will not be enough good people to fill service jobs.”
Source: http://www.rapaport.com
How To Grease A Palm
The Economist writes:
Corruption has its own elaborate etiquette
GIVE people power and discretion, and whether they are grand viziers or border guards, some will use their position to enrich themselves. The problem can be big enough to hold back a country's development. One study has shown that bribes account for 8% of the total cost of running a business in Uganda. Another found that corruption boosted the price of hospital supplies in Buenos Aires by 15%. Paul Wolfowitz, the head of the World Bank, is devoting special efforts during his presidency there to a drive against corruption.
For most people in the world, though, the worry is not that corruption may slow down their country's GDP growth. It is that their daily lives are pervaded by endless hassles, big and small. And for all the evidence that some cultures suffer endemic corruption while others are relatively clean, attitudes towards corruption, and even the language describing bribery, is remarkably similar around the world.
In a testament to most people's basic decency, bribe-takers and bribe-payers have developed an elaborate theatre of dissimulation. This is not just to avoid detection. Even in countries where corruption is so common as to be unremarkable and unprosecutable—and even when the transaction happens far from snooping eyes—a bribe is almost always dressed up as some other kind of exchange. Though most of the world is plagued by corruption, even serial offenders try to conceal it.
One manifestation of this is linguistic. Surprisingly few people say: “You are going to have to pay me if you want to get that done.” Instead, they use a wide variety of euphemisms. One type is quasi-official terminology. The first bribe paid by your correspondent, in Ukraine in 1998, went to two policemen so they would let him board a train leaving the country. On the train into Ukraine, the customs officer had absconded with a form that is needed again later to leave the country. The policemen at the station kindly explained that there was a shtraf, a “fine” that could be paid instead of producing the document. The policemen let him off with the minimum shtraf of 50 hryvnia ($25).
Another term widely used at border crossings is “expediting fee”. For a euphemism it is surprisingly accurate: paying it will keep your bags, and perhaps your contraband, from being dumped onto a floor and sifted through at a leisurely pace. (A related term, used in India, is “speed money”: paying it can get essential business permits issued considerably faster.)
Paul Lewis, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit (a sister company to The Economist), describes the quasi-business terminology typically used for bribery in the post-communist privatisations of eastern Europe. A mostly useless but well-connected insider at the company is hired as a “consultant”. The consultant is paid a large official “fee”, nominally for his industry expertise, on the understanding that he will cut in the minister and other decision-makers.
A second type of euphemism dresses up a dodgy payment as a friendly favour done by the bribe-payer. There is plenty of creative scope. Nigerian policemen are known to ask for “a little something for the weekend”. A North African term is “un petit cadeau”, a little gift. Mexican traffic police will suggest that you buy them a refresco, a soft drink, as will Angolan and Mozambican petty officials, who call it a gazoso in Portuguese. A businessman in Iraq told Reuters that although corruption there is quite overt, officials still insist on being given a “good coffee”.
Double meaning can help soothe the awkwardness of bribe-paying. Baksheesh, originally a Persian word now found in many countries of the Middle East, can mean “tip”, “alms” and “bribe”. Swahili-speakers can take advantage of another ambiguous term. In Kenya a machine-gun-wielding guard suggested to a terrified Canadian aid worker: “Perhaps you would like to discuss this over tea?” The young Canadian was relieved: the difficulty could be resolved with some chai, which means both “tea” and “bribe”.
Brown envelopes
Along with the obscurantist language, bribe-taking culture around the world often involves the avoidance of physically handing the money from one person to another. One obvious reason is to avoid detection, which is why bribes are known as “envelopes” in countries from China to Greece. But avoidance of a direct hand-over is common even where there is no chance of detection. There will always be some officials who will take money right from a bribe-payer's hands, but most seem to prefer to find some way to hide the money from view. A bribe to a border guard may be folded into a passport. A sweetener to a traffic cop is often placed in the ticket-book that is handed to the driver. Parag Khanna, who is writing a book about countries on the edge of the rich world that are trying to get rich themselves, describes a bribe-taker he spotted in Georgia who he was sure was a rookie. Why? The scrawny young soldier, forgoing any subtleties, merely rubbed his fingers together in an age-old gesture.
Journalists are an obvious target for bribe-seekers. They often find themselves trying to get past bored, poorly paid guards and officials to see someone or something more important. Moreover, they are often foreigners—and around the world white faces, foreign passports, foreign car number plates and a few other distinguishing features are like blood in the water for those seeking a pay-off.
A journalist for a Western newspaper in Moscow was running late for an important meeting at the Kremlin for which he had waited a long while. On his way he was stopped by the traffic police for some real or invented infraction. In a hurry, the reporter negotiated a modest bribe—but found he had nothing smaller than a 1,000 rouble ($30) note in his wallet. Inspired by desperation, he agreed to pay 1,000 roubles in exchange for a ride to the Kremlin in the police car, with sirens blaring, to make sure he would be on time. The policeman tried to hold out for 1,500 roubles, but the steely nerved journalist got his ride for his offer price.
Inappropriate gifts
Journalists can be on the receiving end of bribes, too, to ensure favourable coverage. A former Africa correspondent for The Economist says that in Nigeria, one of the world's most corrupt countries, journalists are given hundreds of dollars in brown envelopes “for expenses” simply to attend press conferences. An ocean away, Armstrong Williams, an American columnist and television host, was paid $240,000 by the Department of Education to comment “regularly” on “No Child Left Behind”, an education-reform bill. He claimed that he was not a “journalist” but a “commentator”, but conceded that the deal had been ill-judged. Similarly, Maggie Gallagher, another conservative columnist, was paid to promote the Bush administration's “healthy marriage” programme. When challenged, she asked, “Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing [the contract]? I don't know. You tell me.”
The Economist lays down clear rules for its journalists. An envelope stuffed with cash, much less a $240,000 contract, would be inappropriate. Any gift, says the policy, must be consumable in a single day. So a bottle of wine is acceptable, a case of wine is not.
Rich Westerners may not think of their societies as plagued by corruption. But the definition of bribery clearly differs from person to person. A New Yorker might pity the third-world businessman who must pay bribes just to keep his shop open. But the same New Yorker would not think twice about slipping the maître d' $50 to sneak into a nice restaurant without a reservation. Poor people the world over are most infuriated by the casual corruption of the elites rather than by the underpaid, “tip”-seeking soldier or functionary. Indeed, in the world's richest economy, what many see as simple bribery is an integral part of lawmaking. In Washington, DC, it is accepted that a lobbyist's generous campaign contribution to a crucial congressman may help to steer some spending to the lobbyist's client.
But proving corruption requires proving the intent to exchange one favour for another. Brent Wilkes, named as a co-conspirator in the bribery case of a Californian congressman, told the New York Times about a lesson he was taught early in his lobbying career: a cheque must never be handed over at the same time as a lobbying pitch is made. Much better to wait and do it in a hallway later. Proving intent in a courtroom is famously hard to do, so few such exchanges result in convictions. But many ordinary Americans are aware of what is going on. No surprise, then, that Congress is, by some measures, the least popular branch of government.
Yet corrupt practices in America and western Europe are nothing like as pervasive as in other parts of the world. There is no single cultural factor that inclines a society towards corruption, but economic factors play a big part. Most clearly, poverty and bribery go together.
But which causes which? Mr Wolfowitz's crusade at the World Bank is based on the idea that corrupt countries fail to develop. But several countries in Asia have grown rapidly at a time when cronyism was common, including Indonesia and South Korea in their time. Today's most conspicuous example is China with its explosive growth. Polls consistently show that corruption is the top complaint of ordinary Chinese. From time to time the Chinese government executes particularly egregious offenders, to no apparent avail. And yet foreign investors cannot pile into the country fast enough. Although most economists agree that corruption slows development, a corrupt country is nevertheless capable of rapid growth. Countries may be corrupt because they are poor, and not the other way round.
Jakob Svensson, an economist at Stockholm University, has cut through cultural stereotypes to search for hard data on corrupt economies. He has found that socialist and recently socialist economies show higher levels of corruption than others. Among the factors he has tested for correlation with corruption is the overall education level of the adult population. A second is openness to imports (measured by imports as a proportion of GDP), which is linked with opportunities for smuggling. A third is freedom of the press (as ranked by Freedom House, a civil-liberties watchdog), on the hypothesis that independent journalists will expose, and thereby curtail, corruption. The fourth is the number of days needed to start a business, a proxy for the number of permits required, and therefore red tape. Mr Svensson found clear correlations between all these variables and the overall level of corruption.
Among the many factors that determine the level of corruption in a country, one stands out. Whether it takes the shape of an American congressman dispensing a $2 trillion budget or a horde of petty officials administering a Bible-sized rulebook, where there is a lot of government, there is a lot of bribery. Corruption thus offers yet another confirmation of the dictum attributed to Thomas Jefferson that “the government is best which governs least.”
More info @ http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8401139
Corruption has its own elaborate etiquette
GIVE people power and discretion, and whether they are grand viziers or border guards, some will use their position to enrich themselves. The problem can be big enough to hold back a country's development. One study has shown that bribes account for 8% of the total cost of running a business in Uganda. Another found that corruption boosted the price of hospital supplies in Buenos Aires by 15%. Paul Wolfowitz, the head of the World Bank, is devoting special efforts during his presidency there to a drive against corruption.
For most people in the world, though, the worry is not that corruption may slow down their country's GDP growth. It is that their daily lives are pervaded by endless hassles, big and small. And for all the evidence that some cultures suffer endemic corruption while others are relatively clean, attitudes towards corruption, and even the language describing bribery, is remarkably similar around the world.
In a testament to most people's basic decency, bribe-takers and bribe-payers have developed an elaborate theatre of dissimulation. This is not just to avoid detection. Even in countries where corruption is so common as to be unremarkable and unprosecutable—and even when the transaction happens far from snooping eyes—a bribe is almost always dressed up as some other kind of exchange. Though most of the world is plagued by corruption, even serial offenders try to conceal it.
One manifestation of this is linguistic. Surprisingly few people say: “You are going to have to pay me if you want to get that done.” Instead, they use a wide variety of euphemisms. One type is quasi-official terminology. The first bribe paid by your correspondent, in Ukraine in 1998, went to two policemen so they would let him board a train leaving the country. On the train into Ukraine, the customs officer had absconded with a form that is needed again later to leave the country. The policemen at the station kindly explained that there was a shtraf, a “fine” that could be paid instead of producing the document. The policemen let him off with the minimum shtraf of 50 hryvnia ($25).
Another term widely used at border crossings is “expediting fee”. For a euphemism it is surprisingly accurate: paying it will keep your bags, and perhaps your contraband, from being dumped onto a floor and sifted through at a leisurely pace. (A related term, used in India, is “speed money”: paying it can get essential business permits issued considerably faster.)
Paul Lewis, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit (a sister company to The Economist), describes the quasi-business terminology typically used for bribery in the post-communist privatisations of eastern Europe. A mostly useless but well-connected insider at the company is hired as a “consultant”. The consultant is paid a large official “fee”, nominally for his industry expertise, on the understanding that he will cut in the minister and other decision-makers.
A second type of euphemism dresses up a dodgy payment as a friendly favour done by the bribe-payer. There is plenty of creative scope. Nigerian policemen are known to ask for “a little something for the weekend”. A North African term is “un petit cadeau”, a little gift. Mexican traffic police will suggest that you buy them a refresco, a soft drink, as will Angolan and Mozambican petty officials, who call it a gazoso in Portuguese. A businessman in Iraq told Reuters that although corruption there is quite overt, officials still insist on being given a “good coffee”.
Double meaning can help soothe the awkwardness of bribe-paying. Baksheesh, originally a Persian word now found in many countries of the Middle East, can mean “tip”, “alms” and “bribe”. Swahili-speakers can take advantage of another ambiguous term. In Kenya a machine-gun-wielding guard suggested to a terrified Canadian aid worker: “Perhaps you would like to discuss this over tea?” The young Canadian was relieved: the difficulty could be resolved with some chai, which means both “tea” and “bribe”.
Brown envelopes
Along with the obscurantist language, bribe-taking culture around the world often involves the avoidance of physically handing the money from one person to another. One obvious reason is to avoid detection, which is why bribes are known as “envelopes” in countries from China to Greece. But avoidance of a direct hand-over is common even where there is no chance of detection. There will always be some officials who will take money right from a bribe-payer's hands, but most seem to prefer to find some way to hide the money from view. A bribe to a border guard may be folded into a passport. A sweetener to a traffic cop is often placed in the ticket-book that is handed to the driver. Parag Khanna, who is writing a book about countries on the edge of the rich world that are trying to get rich themselves, describes a bribe-taker he spotted in Georgia who he was sure was a rookie. Why? The scrawny young soldier, forgoing any subtleties, merely rubbed his fingers together in an age-old gesture.
Journalists are an obvious target for bribe-seekers. They often find themselves trying to get past bored, poorly paid guards and officials to see someone or something more important. Moreover, they are often foreigners—and around the world white faces, foreign passports, foreign car number plates and a few other distinguishing features are like blood in the water for those seeking a pay-off.
A journalist for a Western newspaper in Moscow was running late for an important meeting at the Kremlin for which he had waited a long while. On his way he was stopped by the traffic police for some real or invented infraction. In a hurry, the reporter negotiated a modest bribe—but found he had nothing smaller than a 1,000 rouble ($30) note in his wallet. Inspired by desperation, he agreed to pay 1,000 roubles in exchange for a ride to the Kremlin in the police car, with sirens blaring, to make sure he would be on time. The policeman tried to hold out for 1,500 roubles, but the steely nerved journalist got his ride for his offer price.
Inappropriate gifts
Journalists can be on the receiving end of bribes, too, to ensure favourable coverage. A former Africa correspondent for The Economist says that in Nigeria, one of the world's most corrupt countries, journalists are given hundreds of dollars in brown envelopes “for expenses” simply to attend press conferences. An ocean away, Armstrong Williams, an American columnist and television host, was paid $240,000 by the Department of Education to comment “regularly” on “No Child Left Behind”, an education-reform bill. He claimed that he was not a “journalist” but a “commentator”, but conceded that the deal had been ill-judged. Similarly, Maggie Gallagher, another conservative columnist, was paid to promote the Bush administration's “healthy marriage” programme. When challenged, she asked, “Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing [the contract]? I don't know. You tell me.”
The Economist lays down clear rules for its journalists. An envelope stuffed with cash, much less a $240,000 contract, would be inappropriate. Any gift, says the policy, must be consumable in a single day. So a bottle of wine is acceptable, a case of wine is not.
Rich Westerners may not think of their societies as plagued by corruption. But the definition of bribery clearly differs from person to person. A New Yorker might pity the third-world businessman who must pay bribes just to keep his shop open. But the same New Yorker would not think twice about slipping the maître d' $50 to sneak into a nice restaurant without a reservation. Poor people the world over are most infuriated by the casual corruption of the elites rather than by the underpaid, “tip”-seeking soldier or functionary. Indeed, in the world's richest economy, what many see as simple bribery is an integral part of lawmaking. In Washington, DC, it is accepted that a lobbyist's generous campaign contribution to a crucial congressman may help to steer some spending to the lobbyist's client.
But proving corruption requires proving the intent to exchange one favour for another. Brent Wilkes, named as a co-conspirator in the bribery case of a Californian congressman, told the New York Times about a lesson he was taught early in his lobbying career: a cheque must never be handed over at the same time as a lobbying pitch is made. Much better to wait and do it in a hallway later. Proving intent in a courtroom is famously hard to do, so few such exchanges result in convictions. But many ordinary Americans are aware of what is going on. No surprise, then, that Congress is, by some measures, the least popular branch of government.
Yet corrupt practices in America and western Europe are nothing like as pervasive as in other parts of the world. There is no single cultural factor that inclines a society towards corruption, but economic factors play a big part. Most clearly, poverty and bribery go together.
But which causes which? Mr Wolfowitz's crusade at the World Bank is based on the idea that corrupt countries fail to develop. But several countries in Asia have grown rapidly at a time when cronyism was common, including Indonesia and South Korea in their time. Today's most conspicuous example is China with its explosive growth. Polls consistently show that corruption is the top complaint of ordinary Chinese. From time to time the Chinese government executes particularly egregious offenders, to no apparent avail. And yet foreign investors cannot pile into the country fast enough. Although most economists agree that corruption slows development, a corrupt country is nevertheless capable of rapid growth. Countries may be corrupt because they are poor, and not the other way round.
Jakob Svensson, an economist at Stockholm University, has cut through cultural stereotypes to search for hard data on corrupt economies. He has found that socialist and recently socialist economies show higher levels of corruption than others. Among the factors he has tested for correlation with corruption is the overall education level of the adult population. A second is openness to imports (measured by imports as a proportion of GDP), which is linked with opportunities for smuggling. A third is freedom of the press (as ranked by Freedom House, a civil-liberties watchdog), on the hypothesis that independent journalists will expose, and thereby curtail, corruption. The fourth is the number of days needed to start a business, a proxy for the number of permits required, and therefore red tape. Mr Svensson found clear correlations between all these variables and the overall level of corruption.
Among the many factors that determine the level of corruption in a country, one stands out. Whether it takes the shape of an American congressman dispensing a $2 trillion budget or a horde of petty officials administering a Bible-sized rulebook, where there is a lot of government, there is a lot of bribery. Corruption thus offers yet another confirmation of the dictum attributed to Thomas Jefferson that “the government is best which governs least.”
More info @ http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8401139
Monday, January 01, 2007
Lighting
Michelle Falkenstein writes about proper steps to protect the art work from light exposure + the challenge for museums and collectors + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=806
Useful links:
www.hunterdouglas.com
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart
www.chubb.com
Useful links:
www.hunterdouglas.com
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart
www.chubb.com
Sunday, December 31, 2006
How To Survive 2007
- Keep your cool, double-check every rumor your hear.
- Listen to all sides of all the hot arguments that will definitely come in 2007
- Never, ever panic.
- Don't give up hope.
- Brave yourself for a roller-coaster ride.
- Listen to all sides of all the hot arguments that will definitely come in 2007
- Never, ever panic.
- Don't give up hope.
- Brave yourself for a roller-coaster ride.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Rumanite
Garry Platt writes:
Romania has several scattered sources of amber. Probably the most famous being that situated around the village of Colti in the Buzau district. Rumanite probably originated from a leguminous tree as the presence of succinite has been analysed to be generally less than 5%. This would therefore make the correct nomenclature of this deposit retinite and not amber. Particles of wood have been found within these amber deposits and have been identified as Sequoioxylon gypsaceum. The age of Rumanite from Colti has been established as Oligocene. Almashite and Muntentite are both names that have been used to describe amber originating from different geographic regions within Romania, Almashite from Piatra and Muntenite from the Oltenia region. Amber has also been recovered from the Cretaceous age at Sibiu in the Carpathians.
Rumanite has had a chequered history as regards its extraction. Known of and recorded by the Romans the mining probably reached its highest point in the 1900’s. The mining was nationalised in later years but never proved a commercial success and the mining was officially abandoned. Examples of this deposit are extremely difficult to come by today. Visitors to Colti may visit a recently opened museum of amber in the village.
More info @ http://www.gplatt.demon.co.uk/typesof.htm
Romania has several scattered sources of amber. Probably the most famous being that situated around the village of Colti in the Buzau district. Rumanite probably originated from a leguminous tree as the presence of succinite has been analysed to be generally less than 5%. This would therefore make the correct nomenclature of this deposit retinite and not amber. Particles of wood have been found within these amber deposits and have been identified as Sequoioxylon gypsaceum. The age of Rumanite from Colti has been established as Oligocene. Almashite and Muntentite are both names that have been used to describe amber originating from different geographic regions within Romania, Almashite from Piatra and Muntenite from the Oltenia region. Amber has also been recovered from the Cretaceous age at Sibiu in the Carpathians.
Rumanite has had a chequered history as regards its extraction. Known of and recorded by the Romans the mining probably reached its highest point in the 1900’s. The mining was nationalised in later years but never proved a commercial success and the mining was officially abandoned. Examples of this deposit are extremely difficult to come by today. Visitors to Colti may visit a recently opened museum of amber in the village.
More info @ http://www.gplatt.demon.co.uk/typesof.htm
Risks Of Financial Institutions
'The beauty of a financial institution is that there are a lot of ways to go to hell in a bucket. You can push credit too far, do a dumb acquisition, leverage yourself excessively -- it's not just derivatives (that can bring about your downfall).'
- Charles T Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation
- Charles T Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation
Werner Spaltenstein
Dark Continent
Gill Baker writes:
Madagascar is home to some of the world’s richest untapped seams of pink sapphires, and as regular multicolour.com visitors will know, pink sapphires are among the hottest colored gemstones to hit the market in recent years. Here at multicolour.com, one very extraordinary man is the linchpin in a fascinating story, which links you, our beautiful stones and the magical, mysterious Dark Continent of Africa.
Werner Spaltenstein is our very own Indiana Jones, with a passion and zest – some say an obsession – for gems, which makes him among the most successful buyers of colored stones in the world. As a young man growing up in Switzerland, Werner absorbed himself in travel and adventure books, and soon his urge to travel the world was hooked. Little did he know that the call of the wild would lead him into a lifelong adventure peppered with terrifying airplane crashes, muggings, endless treks to remote corners of Africa, and journeys spanning the globe in search of his precious quests.
“I'm one of the last adventurers. In the future they won’t exist like me anyone,” he chuckled, recounting the numerous close encounters with the bandits and other dangers that are an everyday hazard for gem buyers. “To survive a plane crash, that makes me a tough guy,” he added with a grin, adding that in his business the priority was staying alive, and he really did not think too far ahead.
While multicolour.com is at the forefront of the internet revolution, the stones on its website must still be tracked down, gleaned from the earth’s crust, and cut by skilled craftsmen in a traditional process which has changed little in centuries.
“You could never do what I am doing by computer,” remarked Werner. Finding, mining and buying gemstones may be an age-old business, but competition is cutthroat, and only the most determined, such as Werner, succeed. So what is the secret of Werner's success as a buyer?
“The different elements have to come together. It’s not only one person, it is a whole chain, and without that element it wouldn't work,” he explained, adding: “I'm only one link in the chain. Without the other partners it would not work.” Part of Werner’s skill is, knowing exactly what price to pay for any given stone – a talent honed from years of experience examining thousands upon thousands of gems. But Werner also has a little something extra which sets him apart from most of his rivals; he has a feel – some say a sixth sense – of the value of a stone.
“It’s easy to buy expensive and impossible to buy too cheap. You have to get to know exactly how much to pay,” he said with the sparkle of a man with a renowned eye for a bargain. His obsession with buying also gives him another edge over his competitors, who are compelled to delegate in order to cover all the myriad sources. Werner refuses to do that.
“It has to do with the confidence of the people who are selling me the stones,” he explained. The bright-eyed Swiss man spends much of his time in Madagascar – the huge island nation in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa where he has built up the trust of local people who now rely on him to offer a tough, but fair price for their finds.
“I'm not trying to buy really very cheap because it is bad for my reputation. If I offer them a fair price, many people get more than they expect,” he said. A sense of value is clearly key to Werner’s work, but experience has also been vital to that, and as with many professions, “the secret is to work very hard,” he said.
Indeed, when he is in a mining area, he will work relentless from 7am to 9pm, quickly but methodically examining gemstone after gemstone presented to him by an eager queue of Africans, and then working late into the night to sort his day’s purchases.
“If someone wants to copy me, they can’t – it's never the same,” he said. His job is made harder by the need to keep track of the changes in market valuations of gemstones in markets, which can be quite volatile for some types of stones.
“It’s a continuous process and the market also changes. It’s a little bit like sport,” he quipped. But he added: “It’s a very brainy sport because every stone is different and every stone has a different price. It's got to fit the mesh, like a picture.”
Indeed sport is the key to what drives the intriguing Mr Spaltenstein – his surname means “stone splitter” in German. He is a man of simple tastes, with no desire for the trappings of wealth; neither is he searching for the biggest or brightest gems in the world.
“My objective is to be a good buyer. If I am very correct with my estimations there is a satisfaction,” he admits, adding that he may make one or two mistakes on price out of a hundred purchases, where others may fall down on ten percent of occasions. Whilst Madagascar is currently the focus of Werner’s work, he has also spent much time in Tanzania and Kenya, and regularly shuttles back and forth to the gem dealing and cutting centers of Thailand. He is under no illusions about the dangers of his work, however.
“I have a very interesting job. I hope I survive – I am doing a very dangerous job,” he admits, with a glint in his eye. Given the precarious value of Madagascar currency exchange rates, he must transport 40kg of local money across the country in order to buy 7kg of stones, and his ability to inject capital into the economy has helped give Werner a buying edge, and benefited ordinary Africans in a very direct way.
“Except for brokers and small merchants, no one has money. They are living from hand to mouth,” said Werner. He is at the coal–face of the gem business – a go-between bridging the African nations, which have little inherent use for gemstones, and the West, which prizes their precious jewels. Werne's happy position enables an African to buy land, or perhaps treasured oxen – a traditional symbol of wealth, while at the same time supplying Americans and Europeans with their own traditional symbols of riches, gems.
“It’s a real gold rush here,” he said. “I may have 100 or 200 people selling to me. It doesn't matter if they are rich or poor; anyone can show me their stones and gets a fair offer. If someone has the luck to find a good stone he should get a good price.” Buying is Werner’s life, and he admits he had no patience for selling.
“Selling is a very slow process,” he explains. He is no sentimental about his acquisitions, but he concedes he is attached to the knowledge of the market associated with them, hence the need to keep track of their resale in order to hone his valuations.
“It’s just got to do with whether I was right with my estimation. I try to be as good as possible, and that’s why I need that feedback on supply and demand,” he said. Being aware of subtle changes in the market is crucial to the business. The price of tanzanite, for example, went up and down every year for quite a whole. I miscalculated a little bit on the tanzanite. It was very expensive, the price came down, I bought it, we made very good business: then the production and demand fluctuated around US$250, and then went down to US$120. I was buying again and it went down to US$80 and it backfired. Now its’ US$300–US$400. That is the most unpredictable stone as the supply is so limited.”
And as Werner adds: “Everything depends on the supply, and I don't know what they are going to find in the future.”
More info @ www.multicolour.com
Gill Baker writes:
Madagascar is home to some of the world’s richest untapped seams of pink sapphires, and as regular multicolour.com visitors will know, pink sapphires are among the hottest colored gemstones to hit the market in recent years. Here at multicolour.com, one very extraordinary man is the linchpin in a fascinating story, which links you, our beautiful stones and the magical, mysterious Dark Continent of Africa.
Werner Spaltenstein is our very own Indiana Jones, with a passion and zest – some say an obsession – for gems, which makes him among the most successful buyers of colored stones in the world. As a young man growing up in Switzerland, Werner absorbed himself in travel and adventure books, and soon his urge to travel the world was hooked. Little did he know that the call of the wild would lead him into a lifelong adventure peppered with terrifying airplane crashes, muggings, endless treks to remote corners of Africa, and journeys spanning the globe in search of his precious quests.
“I'm one of the last adventurers. In the future they won’t exist like me anyone,” he chuckled, recounting the numerous close encounters with the bandits and other dangers that are an everyday hazard for gem buyers. “To survive a plane crash, that makes me a tough guy,” he added with a grin, adding that in his business the priority was staying alive, and he really did not think too far ahead.
While multicolour.com is at the forefront of the internet revolution, the stones on its website must still be tracked down, gleaned from the earth’s crust, and cut by skilled craftsmen in a traditional process which has changed little in centuries.
“You could never do what I am doing by computer,” remarked Werner. Finding, mining and buying gemstones may be an age-old business, but competition is cutthroat, and only the most determined, such as Werner, succeed. So what is the secret of Werner's success as a buyer?
“The different elements have to come together. It’s not only one person, it is a whole chain, and without that element it wouldn't work,” he explained, adding: “I'm only one link in the chain. Without the other partners it would not work.” Part of Werner’s skill is, knowing exactly what price to pay for any given stone – a talent honed from years of experience examining thousands upon thousands of gems. But Werner also has a little something extra which sets him apart from most of his rivals; he has a feel – some say a sixth sense – of the value of a stone.
“It’s easy to buy expensive and impossible to buy too cheap. You have to get to know exactly how much to pay,” he said with the sparkle of a man with a renowned eye for a bargain. His obsession with buying also gives him another edge over his competitors, who are compelled to delegate in order to cover all the myriad sources. Werner refuses to do that.
“It has to do with the confidence of the people who are selling me the stones,” he explained. The bright-eyed Swiss man spends much of his time in Madagascar – the huge island nation in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa where he has built up the trust of local people who now rely on him to offer a tough, but fair price for their finds.
“I'm not trying to buy really very cheap because it is bad for my reputation. If I offer them a fair price, many people get more than they expect,” he said. A sense of value is clearly key to Werner’s work, but experience has also been vital to that, and as with many professions, “the secret is to work very hard,” he said.
Indeed, when he is in a mining area, he will work relentless from 7am to 9pm, quickly but methodically examining gemstone after gemstone presented to him by an eager queue of Africans, and then working late into the night to sort his day’s purchases.
“If someone wants to copy me, they can’t – it's never the same,” he said. His job is made harder by the need to keep track of the changes in market valuations of gemstones in markets, which can be quite volatile for some types of stones.
“It’s a continuous process and the market also changes. It’s a little bit like sport,” he quipped. But he added: “It’s a very brainy sport because every stone is different and every stone has a different price. It's got to fit the mesh, like a picture.”
Indeed sport is the key to what drives the intriguing Mr Spaltenstein – his surname means “stone splitter” in German. He is a man of simple tastes, with no desire for the trappings of wealth; neither is he searching for the biggest or brightest gems in the world.
“My objective is to be a good buyer. If I am very correct with my estimations there is a satisfaction,” he admits, adding that he may make one or two mistakes on price out of a hundred purchases, where others may fall down on ten percent of occasions. Whilst Madagascar is currently the focus of Werner’s work, he has also spent much time in Tanzania and Kenya, and regularly shuttles back and forth to the gem dealing and cutting centers of Thailand. He is under no illusions about the dangers of his work, however.
“I have a very interesting job. I hope I survive – I am doing a very dangerous job,” he admits, with a glint in his eye. Given the precarious value of Madagascar currency exchange rates, he must transport 40kg of local money across the country in order to buy 7kg of stones, and his ability to inject capital into the economy has helped give Werner a buying edge, and benefited ordinary Africans in a very direct way.
“Except for brokers and small merchants, no one has money. They are living from hand to mouth,” said Werner. He is at the coal–face of the gem business – a go-between bridging the African nations, which have little inherent use for gemstones, and the West, which prizes their precious jewels. Werne's happy position enables an African to buy land, or perhaps treasured oxen – a traditional symbol of wealth, while at the same time supplying Americans and Europeans with their own traditional symbols of riches, gems.
“It’s a real gold rush here,” he said. “I may have 100 or 200 people selling to me. It doesn't matter if they are rich or poor; anyone can show me their stones and gets a fair offer. If someone has the luck to find a good stone he should get a good price.” Buying is Werner’s life, and he admits he had no patience for selling.
“Selling is a very slow process,” he explains. He is no sentimental about his acquisitions, but he concedes he is attached to the knowledge of the market associated with them, hence the need to keep track of their resale in order to hone his valuations.
“It’s just got to do with whether I was right with my estimation. I try to be as good as possible, and that’s why I need that feedback on supply and demand,” he said. Being aware of subtle changes in the market is crucial to the business. The price of tanzanite, for example, went up and down every year for quite a whole. I miscalculated a little bit on the tanzanite. It was very expensive, the price came down, I bought it, we made very good business: then the production and demand fluctuated around US$250, and then went down to US$120. I was buying again and it went down to US$80 and it backfired. Now its’ US$300–US$400. That is the most unpredictable stone as the supply is so limited.”
And as Werner adds: “Everything depends on the supply, and I don't know what they are going to find in the future.”
More info @ www.multicolour.com
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