Gordon Gekko at his best. (Michael Douglas) Wall Street (1987)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxsn5Mm6fzA
I liked this one.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Deja Vu: Another EC Investigation Into De Beers
Chaim Even-Zohar writes about the European Commission (EC) - De Beers agreement + renewed investigation on the market impact of SoC + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
Inside Iraq’s National Museum
Roger Atwood writes about Iraq’s National Museum of Antiquities + the looting that followed after Saddam Hussein's downfall + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1368
Small Diamonds In Gothic Jewels
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
During the first half of the 15th century, jewels of one particular style were very popular among collectors and for offering gifts. These were small, attractive pieces, often with mixed religious and secular ornamentation. Brooches in particular, but also clasps, pendants and rings, were cast and chased in gold with every conceivable motif, enamelled in bright colors and decorated with one, sometimes two, gems. It was in this type of jewelry that diamonds were introduced on a really large scale, though small rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls were also frequently used. The diamonds were small or medium-sized natural points fashioned into pyramidal cuts or fancy shapes, and in natural (but symmetrized) or imitated crystal forms.
There is one inventory, dating from 1439, which has so far been published only as part of a collection of inventories connected with Frederick IV, Duke of Austria and the Tyrol. Frederick, at one time nicknamed ‘the Hapsburg with empty pockets’, was so successful in exploiting rich silver mines in the Tyrol that he ended up being the wealthiest member of his dynasty. When he died he left over a thousand pieces of jewelry, including more than four hundred small, attractive pieces. There are over forty different motifs in the inventory, and often several examples of each motif, including twenty-two portrait medallions, ten falcons and four deer, as well as other animal jewels featuring horses, lions, camels, dogs, birds, etc. There are also a number of St Georges, Apostles, flowers, chessboards and so on. There are over five hundred diamonds mentioned in the inventory, mostly without any description other than the occasional michel or gross, which indicates that they were fairly large of pyramidal shape. Diamonds of any other shape were always described.
Two other well-known jewels are the brooch from the Treasury of the House of Burgundy (now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) which shows a pair of fashionably dressed lovers standing in a ‘love garden’ of wreaths and branches; and the Founder’s Jewel which in 1404 William of Wykeham left to New College, Oxford, where it has remained to this day.
Gothic jewels were known for the high intrinsic value of their individual stones and were therefore often eventually broken up and their settings melted down. No illustrations of Frederick’s rich collection exist, but similar brooches were ‘dedicated in the Cathedral of Essen.’
During the first half of the 15th century, jewels of one particular style were very popular among collectors and for offering gifts. These were small, attractive pieces, often with mixed religious and secular ornamentation. Brooches in particular, but also clasps, pendants and rings, were cast and chased in gold with every conceivable motif, enamelled in bright colors and decorated with one, sometimes two, gems. It was in this type of jewelry that diamonds were introduced on a really large scale, though small rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls were also frequently used. The diamonds were small or medium-sized natural points fashioned into pyramidal cuts or fancy shapes, and in natural (but symmetrized) or imitated crystal forms.
There is one inventory, dating from 1439, which has so far been published only as part of a collection of inventories connected with Frederick IV, Duke of Austria and the Tyrol. Frederick, at one time nicknamed ‘the Hapsburg with empty pockets’, was so successful in exploiting rich silver mines in the Tyrol that he ended up being the wealthiest member of his dynasty. When he died he left over a thousand pieces of jewelry, including more than four hundred small, attractive pieces. There are over forty different motifs in the inventory, and often several examples of each motif, including twenty-two portrait medallions, ten falcons and four deer, as well as other animal jewels featuring horses, lions, camels, dogs, birds, etc. There are also a number of St Georges, Apostles, flowers, chessboards and so on. There are over five hundred diamonds mentioned in the inventory, mostly without any description other than the occasional michel or gross, which indicates that they were fairly large of pyramidal shape. Diamonds of any other shape were always described.
Two other well-known jewels are the brooch from the Treasury of the House of Burgundy (now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) which shows a pair of fashionably dressed lovers standing in a ‘love garden’ of wreaths and branches; and the Founder’s Jewel which in 1404 William of Wykeham left to New College, Oxford, where it has remained to this day.
Gothic jewels were known for the high intrinsic value of their individual stones and were therefore often eventually broken up and their settings melted down. No illustrations of Frederick’s rich collection exist, but similar brooches were ‘dedicated in the Cathedral of Essen.’
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Meme
(via Wikipedia) Richard Dawkins coined the term meme, which first came into popular use with the publication of his book The Selfish Gene in 1976. A meme, as defined within memetic theory, comprises a theoretical unit of cultural information, the building block of cultural evolution or diffusion that propagates from one mind to another analogously to the way in which a gene propagates from one organism to another as a unit of genetic information and of biological evolution. Multiple memes may propagate as cooperative groups called memeplexes (meme complexes).
A short story written in 1876 by Mark Twain, A Literary Nightmare, describes his encounter with a jingle so 'catchy' that it plays over and over in his mind until he finally sings it out loud and infects others (also known as an earworm).
Daniel Dennett on YouTube
I liked this one.
We all tend to fall for a new meme in the gem + jewelry industry one way or the other. It's amazing, it works. It could be on new treatment (s), new synthetic (s), new gem deposit (s), new design (s), new trend (s) + the never-ending news + insider tips on prices, grades, qualities, artificial scarcity engineering, the list goes on. What makes it so depressing is the memetic infection that can have upon one's psyche, which substantially increases the likelihood of additional misjudgments.
A short story written in 1876 by Mark Twain, A Literary Nightmare, describes his encounter with a jingle so 'catchy' that it plays over and over in his mind until he finally sings it out loud and infects others (also known as an earworm).
Daniel Dennett on YouTube
I liked this one.
We all tend to fall for a new meme in the gem + jewelry industry one way or the other. It's amazing, it works. It could be on new treatment (s), new synthetic (s), new gem deposit (s), new design (s), new trend (s) + the never-ending news + insider tips on prices, grades, qualities, artificial scarcity engineering, the list goes on. What makes it so depressing is the memetic infection that can have upon one's psyche, which substantially increases the likelihood of additional misjudgments.
Gold
According to Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) gold trade through Dubai reached $5.23 billion in the third quarter of 2007, an increase of 55 per cent from $3.37 billion during the same period in 2006. Dubai’s top trading partners for gold include India, Switzerland, Malaysia and the GCC states. India and Switzerland were top importers from Dubai and India, Australia, Malaysia, USA and Switzerland were top exporters to Dubai. The experts believe the factors that could impact gold price (s) include fluctuations in the US economy + oil prices + social and political unrest around the world, resulting in extreme market volatility.
The Top Ten 2003
Milton Esterow writes about the annual list of the world’s top collectors—plus the Top Ten @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1369 + http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1370
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