Gemologists interested in gemstones and ornamental materials of Tasmania (Australia) should visit the website of Mineral Resources Tasmania @ http://www.mrt.tas.gov.au
Latest info on the gem mineral deposits of Tasmania (Australia) @
Occurrences of Gemstone Minerals in Tasmania (Eighth Edition) (April 2006)
Friday, August 24, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Can You Identify The Stone?
Six red stones are known to be ruby, spinel, garnet, zircon, paste and tourmaline. Only one stone will not sink in methyelene iodide, therefore it is tourmaline.
Gemstone Buying Lessons
- You must have patience and discipline.
- More money is lost by players who know what the right thing to do is, but don't do it, than for any other reason ( Ken Warren)
- Buying gemstone (s) is a game of incomplete information.
- You must understand probablities.
- You must understand human nature (especially your own). Gemstones don't cheat, it's the people who cheat, all the time.
- You must control your emotions.
- We have met the enemy......and he is us (Pogo).
- You must have the best eye, best hand, or get out.
- Regret, anger, self-pity may not be good for your health.
- Always do the right thing.
- The purpose of buying gemstone (s) is to make money.
- You must learn by analyzing your mistakes.
- More money is lost by players who know what the right thing to do is, but don't do it, than for any other reason ( Ken Warren)
- Buying gemstone (s) is a game of incomplete information.
- You must understand probablities.
- You must understand human nature (especially your own). Gemstones don't cheat, it's the people who cheat, all the time.
- You must control your emotions.
- We have met the enemy......and he is us (Pogo).
- You must have the best eye, best hand, or get out.
- Regret, anger, self-pity may not be good for your health.
- Always do the right thing.
- The purpose of buying gemstone (s) is to make money.
- You must learn by analyzing your mistakes.
What Great Managers Do
Good Books: (via Emergic) The One Thing You Need to Know : ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success by Marcus Buckingham is a real gem. The way he analyses the real world situation (s) makes sense. Sometimes we see, but don't see; sometimes we listen, but don't listen. Managing people requires special skills + insight + passion to find solutions. It's a good read.
The March 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review has an article by Buckingham based on the book.
Buckingham writes: Great leaders tap into the needs and fears we all share. Great managers, by contrast, perform their magic by discovering, developing, and celebrating what’s different about each person who works for them. This is the central premise of the book.
Brand Autopsy has a few excerpts from the HBR article:
Great managers play chess, not checkersAverage managers play checkers, while great managers play chess. The difference? In checkers, all the pieces are uniform and move in the same way; they are interchangeable. You need to plan and coordinate their movements, certainly, but they all move at the same pace, on parallel paths. In chess, each type of piece moves in a different way, and you can’t play if you don’t know how each piece moves. Great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack.
Identifying a person’s strengthsTo identify a person’s strengths, first ask, What was the best day at work you’ve had in the past three months? Find out what the person was doing and why he enjoyed it so much.
Remember: A strength is not merely something you are good at. In fact, it might be something you aren’t good at yet. It might be just a predilection, something you find so intrinsically satisfying that you look forward to doing it again and again and getting better at it over time. This question will prompt your employee to start thinking about his interests and abilities from this perspective.
Great Managers find ways to amplify a person’s style. Great managers don’t try to change a person’s style. They never try to push a knight to move in the same way as a bishop.They know that their employees will differ in how they think, how they build relationships, how altruistic they are, how patient they can be, how much of an expert they need to be, how prepared they need to feel, what drives them, what challenges them, and what their goals are. These differences of trait and talent are like blood types: They cut across the superficial variations of race, sex, and age and capture the essential uniqueness of each individual.
ManyWorlds adds:To become a great manager, Buckingham says, you need to know three things about each of your person: their strengths, so that you can focus on those while helping them overcome their weaknesses; the triggers that activate those strengths, recognition being the primary recommendation; and how they learn so you can tailor your management style to fit those who analyze, those who do, and those who watch.
In an interview with ComputerWorld, he said:
The job of the leader is to rally people toward a better future. It's externally focused, optimistic, ego-driven. Leaders see the present, but the future is even more vivid to them. The key skill is to cut through individual differences and tap into those things all of us share: fear of the future and the need for clarity.
The role of the manager is very internally focused: to turn one person's talent into performance; to ask, "Who is the person? What is his or her unique style of learning? What unique trigger must I squeeze to get the best out of him?" The challenge is to find what's unique and capitalize on it. It's really different but hugely important in a company. It's a role that's been undervalued.
People think of managers as leaders in waiting, but these are two very different abilities. The manager's role is catalytic. A great manager speeds up the reaction between the talent of people and the goals of the company. When that role is not valued, reactions are slowed down. If you want to know the future of a company, look at the quality of the managers.
Many IT managers would love it if all programmers thought alike, but a great manager knows that's absolute bunkum. A great manager figures out who's the knight, the queen, the pawn. He coordinates all those very different abilities and contributions into the service of the overall plan. He builds a team out of individuals.
Great managers talk about strengths -not things you can do well, but things that strengthen you. They're appetites as much as abilities - things you're drawn toward. A weakness isn't something you're bad at; it's something that drains, bores or frustrates you. An IT manager ought to be able to find out, for example, that this person loves to pull together and stay till midnight to meet that deadline. That urgency, passion, camaraderie makes him feel alive. Others need to go step by step and see the timeline and stick to it very religiously - never get behind the eight ball.
In the IT world, where it's "Do it for me yesterday," it's pretty important to know which of your people love that pressure and which are drained by it. If crunch time weakens you, you can't learn to love it. You can do it once or twice and then you'll quit -- psychologically or physically.
Watch to see what people are drawn to. Managers more often focus on weaknesses, but great managers know that will get you incremental improvement. If you invest in strengths, you get exponential improvement -- a much better return on investment.
This is what Buckingham has to say about learning styles:
Analyzers crave information. They love preparation and role playing. They take a task apart, examine the pieces and put it back together. They want to absorb all there is to know about a subject before they begin. They hate mistakes. Don't expect them to wing it; give them the time and the tools to prepare.
Doers learn by trial and error. Preparation bores them. They want a quick overview of the desired outcomes and then they're good to go. Start them with a simple task and gradually increase the complexity until they've mastered their roles.
Watchers like to see the total performance so they can learn how each part relates to all the others. Formal education and preparation leave them cold. Let a watcher shadow a successful performer so he can see the big picture.
The March 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review has an article by Buckingham based on the book.
Buckingham writes: Great leaders tap into the needs and fears we all share. Great managers, by contrast, perform their magic by discovering, developing, and celebrating what’s different about each person who works for them. This is the central premise of the book.
Brand Autopsy has a few excerpts from the HBR article:
Great managers play chess, not checkersAverage managers play checkers, while great managers play chess. The difference? In checkers, all the pieces are uniform and move in the same way; they are interchangeable. You need to plan and coordinate their movements, certainly, but they all move at the same pace, on parallel paths. In chess, each type of piece moves in a different way, and you can’t play if you don’t know how each piece moves. Great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack.
Identifying a person’s strengthsTo identify a person’s strengths, first ask, What was the best day at work you’ve had in the past three months? Find out what the person was doing and why he enjoyed it so much.
Remember: A strength is not merely something you are good at. In fact, it might be something you aren’t good at yet. It might be just a predilection, something you find so intrinsically satisfying that you look forward to doing it again and again and getting better at it over time. This question will prompt your employee to start thinking about his interests and abilities from this perspective.
Great Managers find ways to amplify a person’s style. Great managers don’t try to change a person’s style. They never try to push a knight to move in the same way as a bishop.They know that their employees will differ in how they think, how they build relationships, how altruistic they are, how patient they can be, how much of an expert they need to be, how prepared they need to feel, what drives them, what challenges them, and what their goals are. These differences of trait and talent are like blood types: They cut across the superficial variations of race, sex, and age and capture the essential uniqueness of each individual.
ManyWorlds adds:To become a great manager, Buckingham says, you need to know three things about each of your person: their strengths, so that you can focus on those while helping them overcome their weaknesses; the triggers that activate those strengths, recognition being the primary recommendation; and how they learn so you can tailor your management style to fit those who analyze, those who do, and those who watch.
In an interview with ComputerWorld, he said:
The job of the leader is to rally people toward a better future. It's externally focused, optimistic, ego-driven. Leaders see the present, but the future is even more vivid to them. The key skill is to cut through individual differences and tap into those things all of us share: fear of the future and the need for clarity.
The role of the manager is very internally focused: to turn one person's talent into performance; to ask, "Who is the person? What is his or her unique style of learning? What unique trigger must I squeeze to get the best out of him?" The challenge is to find what's unique and capitalize on it. It's really different but hugely important in a company. It's a role that's been undervalued.
People think of managers as leaders in waiting, but these are two very different abilities. The manager's role is catalytic. A great manager speeds up the reaction between the talent of people and the goals of the company. When that role is not valued, reactions are slowed down. If you want to know the future of a company, look at the quality of the managers.
Many IT managers would love it if all programmers thought alike, but a great manager knows that's absolute bunkum. A great manager figures out who's the knight, the queen, the pawn. He coordinates all those very different abilities and contributions into the service of the overall plan. He builds a team out of individuals.
Great managers talk about strengths -not things you can do well, but things that strengthen you. They're appetites as much as abilities - things you're drawn toward. A weakness isn't something you're bad at; it's something that drains, bores or frustrates you. An IT manager ought to be able to find out, for example, that this person loves to pull together and stay till midnight to meet that deadline. That urgency, passion, camaraderie makes him feel alive. Others need to go step by step and see the timeline and stick to it very religiously - never get behind the eight ball.
In the IT world, where it's "Do it for me yesterday," it's pretty important to know which of your people love that pressure and which are drained by it. If crunch time weakens you, you can't learn to love it. You can do it once or twice and then you'll quit -- psychologically or physically.
Watch to see what people are drawn to. Managers more often focus on weaknesses, but great managers know that will get you incremental improvement. If you invest in strengths, you get exponential improvement -- a much better return on investment.
This is what Buckingham has to say about learning styles:
Analyzers crave information. They love preparation and role playing. They take a task apart, examine the pieces and put it back together. They want to absorb all there is to know about a subject before they begin. They hate mistakes. Don't expect them to wing it; give them the time and the tools to prepare.
Doers learn by trial and error. Preparation bores them. They want a quick overview of the desired outcomes and then they're good to go. Start them with a simple task and gradually increase the complexity until they've mastered their roles.
Watchers like to see the total performance so they can learn how each part relates to all the others. Formal education and preparation leave them cold. Let a watcher shadow a successful performer so he can see the big picture.
Up In Arms
The Economist writes about Mrs G.E.P (Jane Penrice Benson) one of the world’s leading scholars and dealers of antique English silver + her passion for collecting edged weapons + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=7933608&story_id=9532950
Chaim Even-Zohar
I think Chaim Even-Zohar is the best diamond industry analyst in the world. Anyone interested in the diamond business should listen to Even-Zohar’s words of wisdom. Who would ever have imagined that GIA would have to reinvent itself after the Certifigate scandal? Even-Zohar’s prophecies did come true. The GIA case is now closed; they have learnt the lessons the hard way. Bill Boyajian resigned, and Donna Baker took over the leadership of GIA. Good luck!
Crime Pays… But Payback Time is Coming
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25070
Bill Boyajian’s Fall From Grace
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25423
GIA Settlement Raises Some Questions About “Standards” – But The Court Case Is Over! (Revised)
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25011
Rap’s GIA Connections
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24832
Certified Profits
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24799
Certifigate": Now The Cover-Up
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24755
Certifigate: No Bribe without a Briber
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24697
Privileged Access
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24657
Crime Pays… But Payback Time is Coming
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25070
Bill Boyajian’s Fall From Grace
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25423
GIA Settlement Raises Some Questions About “Standards” – But The Court Case Is Over! (Revised)
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=25011
Rap’s GIA Connections
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24832
Certified Profits
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24799
Certifigate": Now The Cover-Up
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24755
Certifigate: No Bribe without a Briber
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24697
Privileged Access
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp?TextSearch=&KeyMatch=0&id=24657
Salvador Dali’s Art-In-Jewels
2007: I have always been fascinated by Salvador Dali's art + his imaginative concepts. I really liked his art + the interpretations.
(The Australian Gemmologist, Vol.11, No.5, February 1972) P B Lapworth writes:
In June and July of 1971 an exhibition of Art-in-Jewels by Salvador Dali was shown at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. This collection is the property of the Owen Cheatham Foundation of New York, which permits its loan to raise funds for charitable, educational and religious purposes; in this case the exhibition was in aid of the Institute of Child Health, the medical school of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. Some of Dali’s paintings and drawings were also shown.
Dali felt that since Faberge, importance had been given to gems alone, and that ‘imaginative jewelry creations and precious objects d’art had virtually disappeared as a form of art….Inspired by the artists of Renaissance, Dali decided to design jewels to show the jeweler’s art in true perspective—where, as in the work of Cellini, the design and craftsmanship are to be valued above the material worth of the gold and precious stones used in their creation. From this decision came jewels rare in concept, exquisite in execution and with extraordinary appeal as works of art.
Dali’s sketch designs were on view in the exhibition; he personally selected every stone to be used, and the jewels were made by Alemany & Co, New York, in close collaboration with him, and with Charles Vaillant.
‘Rare in concept’ they certainly are, and ‘exquisite in execution’, undoubtedly. But as to the ‘extraordinary appeal as works of art’….. this can only by a matter of taste. Of the 36 exhibits, some appeared to your correspondent to be grotesque and without charm; others were just plain vulgar, so that some of the truly fabulous materials seem to have been misused and the consummate craftsmanship misapplied.
For instance, No. 34 ‘Pax Vobiscum’ (Peace be with you), despite its giant topaz and exquisite peridots, held no appeal for the writer. It is difficult to convey in words any idea of these extraordinary creations, so the catalogue description must suffice. It reads: ‘An Icon of extreme beauty (?) encompassed by a frame of rough-textured 18-karat gold and mounted on a background of sculptured 20-karat gold leaf. The hinged and moving gold-framed door contains a magnificent Gothic-shaped amber topaz weighing 1311.40 carats. The slowly moving door when open reveals the face of the Savior as conceived by Dali, and painted in oils by him. A sunburst crown of platinum spikes pave’ with diamonds, surmounts the head; while the entire surface is criss-crossed with rays of 18-karat gold, interspaced with a total of 84 acid-green peridots mined from the islands of the Red Sea…’
Like the above, many of the exhibits have moving parts, which makes them fascinating to watch and display the scintillating beauty of the gemstones to great advantage. For instance in No.28 ‘The Royal Heart’ a ruby-set interior pulsates, and in No.32, ‘The Falling Angel’ the wings, moving rhythmically, are encrusted with diamonds. But the loveliest of these is No.36 ‘The Psychedelic Flower’— ‘The lattice-work of sculptured 18-karat gold becomes transformed into a flowering bloom; in the center of each of the 96 geometric designs is suspended a shimmering spinel from Ceylon, in a myriad of colors, to a total of 284.16 carats. Rotating slowly and implanted in a bed of tiny uncut rubies totaling 252.20 carats, a single 18-karat golden stem arises from an exquisitely crafted container of blue Russian lapis lazuli in a mosaic of 75 single pieces, joined together by an overlay of vein-like 18-karat gold in a free-form design.’
Other objects of great beauty were: No.6 ‘Twig Cross,’ whose upper golden limb sprouts emerald leaves, its crosspiece carrying a diamond pave’ swag, which drips ruby drops of blood; No. 14 ‘Explosion’— ‘diamonds, rubies and lapis lazuli bursting from a mound of fluorite to signify the resources of earth and spirit available to all who will seek—the symbolization of radiance and life, the antithesis of decay and death.’
However a visitor to this exhibition may react to the individual work of art, no gemologist could be anything but entranced by the gemstones, used as they are with such lavishness and splendor. Some individual ones are of outstanding size and quality; in No.29 ‘The Angel Cross’ a sculpture 30 inches high, a huge topaz from Brazil, weighing 1687 carats, and quite flawless, forms a door (the door of the tabernacle and the Gate of Heaven) which opens and closes; in No.30 ‘The Space Elephant’ an aquamarine obelisk, mounted on the elephant’s back, weighs 4460 carats; in No.31 ‘The Spider of the Night’ there is an emerald-cut kunzite of pinkish-lilac hue of 208.43 carats. An 89.41 carat sapphire of cornflower blue represents the star born when an angel falls (in The Falling Angel, mentioned earlier), No.33 ‘Daphne’ contains a ‘large topaz of chartreuse color, weighing approximately 4000 carats….possibly the only stone of its kind in existence today’; (in the subdued lighting of the exhibition, however, the stone appeared almost colorless).
In the New York Graphic Society’s handsome pictorial presentation ‘Dali, a Study of his Art-in-Jewels’ which displays color photographs of the exhibits in the Cheatham Collection, Dali writes that his jewels and objects d’art are not intended to ‘rest soullessly in steel vaults.’ He continued: ‘Without an audience, without the presence of spectators, these jewels would not fulfill the function for which they came into being. The viewer, then, is the ultimate artist. His sight, heart, mind—fusing with and grasping with greater or lesser understanding the intent of the creator—gives them life.’
(The Australian Gemmologist, Vol.11, No.5, February 1972) P B Lapworth writes:
In June and July of 1971 an exhibition of Art-in-Jewels by Salvador Dali was shown at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. This collection is the property of the Owen Cheatham Foundation of New York, which permits its loan to raise funds for charitable, educational and religious purposes; in this case the exhibition was in aid of the Institute of Child Health, the medical school of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. Some of Dali’s paintings and drawings were also shown.
Dali felt that since Faberge, importance had been given to gems alone, and that ‘imaginative jewelry creations and precious objects d’art had virtually disappeared as a form of art….Inspired by the artists of Renaissance, Dali decided to design jewels to show the jeweler’s art in true perspective—where, as in the work of Cellini, the design and craftsmanship are to be valued above the material worth of the gold and precious stones used in their creation. From this decision came jewels rare in concept, exquisite in execution and with extraordinary appeal as works of art.
Dali’s sketch designs were on view in the exhibition; he personally selected every stone to be used, and the jewels were made by Alemany & Co, New York, in close collaboration with him, and with Charles Vaillant.
‘Rare in concept’ they certainly are, and ‘exquisite in execution’, undoubtedly. But as to the ‘extraordinary appeal as works of art’….. this can only by a matter of taste. Of the 36 exhibits, some appeared to your correspondent to be grotesque and without charm; others were just plain vulgar, so that some of the truly fabulous materials seem to have been misused and the consummate craftsmanship misapplied.
For instance, No. 34 ‘Pax Vobiscum’ (Peace be with you), despite its giant topaz and exquisite peridots, held no appeal for the writer. It is difficult to convey in words any idea of these extraordinary creations, so the catalogue description must suffice. It reads: ‘An Icon of extreme beauty (?) encompassed by a frame of rough-textured 18-karat gold and mounted on a background of sculptured 20-karat gold leaf. The hinged and moving gold-framed door contains a magnificent Gothic-shaped amber topaz weighing 1311.40 carats. The slowly moving door when open reveals the face of the Savior as conceived by Dali, and painted in oils by him. A sunburst crown of platinum spikes pave’ with diamonds, surmounts the head; while the entire surface is criss-crossed with rays of 18-karat gold, interspaced with a total of 84 acid-green peridots mined from the islands of the Red Sea…’
Like the above, many of the exhibits have moving parts, which makes them fascinating to watch and display the scintillating beauty of the gemstones to great advantage. For instance in No.28 ‘The Royal Heart’ a ruby-set interior pulsates, and in No.32, ‘The Falling Angel’ the wings, moving rhythmically, are encrusted with diamonds. But the loveliest of these is No.36 ‘The Psychedelic Flower’— ‘The lattice-work of sculptured 18-karat gold becomes transformed into a flowering bloom; in the center of each of the 96 geometric designs is suspended a shimmering spinel from Ceylon, in a myriad of colors, to a total of 284.16 carats. Rotating slowly and implanted in a bed of tiny uncut rubies totaling 252.20 carats, a single 18-karat golden stem arises from an exquisitely crafted container of blue Russian lapis lazuli in a mosaic of 75 single pieces, joined together by an overlay of vein-like 18-karat gold in a free-form design.’
Other objects of great beauty were: No.6 ‘Twig Cross,’ whose upper golden limb sprouts emerald leaves, its crosspiece carrying a diamond pave’ swag, which drips ruby drops of blood; No. 14 ‘Explosion’— ‘diamonds, rubies and lapis lazuli bursting from a mound of fluorite to signify the resources of earth and spirit available to all who will seek—the symbolization of radiance and life, the antithesis of decay and death.’
However a visitor to this exhibition may react to the individual work of art, no gemologist could be anything but entranced by the gemstones, used as they are with such lavishness and splendor. Some individual ones are of outstanding size and quality; in No.29 ‘The Angel Cross’ a sculpture 30 inches high, a huge topaz from Brazil, weighing 1687 carats, and quite flawless, forms a door (the door of the tabernacle and the Gate of Heaven) which opens and closes; in No.30 ‘The Space Elephant’ an aquamarine obelisk, mounted on the elephant’s back, weighs 4460 carats; in No.31 ‘The Spider of the Night’ there is an emerald-cut kunzite of pinkish-lilac hue of 208.43 carats. An 89.41 carat sapphire of cornflower blue represents the star born when an angel falls (in The Falling Angel, mentioned earlier), No.33 ‘Daphne’ contains a ‘large topaz of chartreuse color, weighing approximately 4000 carats….possibly the only stone of its kind in existence today’; (in the subdued lighting of the exhibition, however, the stone appeared almost colorless).
In the New York Graphic Society’s handsome pictorial presentation ‘Dali, a Study of his Art-in-Jewels’ which displays color photographs of the exhibits in the Cheatham Collection, Dali writes that his jewels and objects d’art are not intended to ‘rest soullessly in steel vaults.’ He continued: ‘Without an audience, without the presence of spectators, these jewels would not fulfill the function for which they came into being. The viewer, then, is the ultimate artist. His sight, heart, mind—fusing with and grasping with greater or lesser understanding the intent of the creator—gives them life.’
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Can You Identify The Stone?
A blue gemstone has an R.I of 1.542-1.551 and shows pleochroism to the naked eye. The dichroscope reveals dark violet blue, medium blue and light yellow. The gemstone is: Iolite
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