Jean-Baptiste Tavernier’s Travels In India

Concerning Diamonds, And The Mines And Rivers Where They Are Found; And Especially Of The Author’s Journey To The Mine Of Rammalakota
(via Jean-Baptiste Tavernier’s Travels In India / V Ball / Edited by William Crooke)

It is very pleasant to see the young children of these merchants and of other people of the country, from the age of ten years up to the age of fifteen or sixteen, assemble every morning under a tree which is in the town square. Each as his diamond weights in a little bag suspended on one side, and on the other a purse attached to his waistband, which contains as much as 500 or 600 gold pagodas. They seat themselves there awaiting the arrival of anyone who wishes to sell diamonds, either brought from this or from some other mine. When anyone brings a stone he places it in the hands of the eldest of the children, who is, to speak, the chief of the band; he looks at it and passes it on to him who sits next. Thus it goes from hand to hand till it returns to the first one without anyone saying a word.

He than asks the price of the specimen, wishing to purchase, if possible; and if by chance he buys at too high a price he is responsible. In the evening these children count up what they have purchased, and after examining the stones separate them according to their water, weight, and cleanliness. Next they price each as they see how far the value exceeds the cost of purchase. They then carry them to the great merchants who always have a number of parcels to match, and all the profits is divided among the children, save only that their chief receives a quarter per cent more than the others. Young as they are, they know the value of all the stones so well that if one of them has bought a stone and is willing to lose a half percent, another gives him cash for it. You can seldom show them a parcel of a dozen stones, among which they will not discover four or five with some flaw, point, or defect at the angles.

It remains to be said that these Indians have a high regard for strangers, and especially for those whom they call Franks. Immediately on my arrival at the mine I went to call upon the Governor of the place, who also rules the Province on behalf of the King of Bijapur. He is a Musalman, who embraced me and assured me I was welcome—not doubting that I had brought gold with me—for at all the mines of Golkonda and Bijapur they speak but of new pagodas, which are golden coins—and that I had only to place it in my lodging, where it would be safe, and he would be responsible for all I had. Besides the servants I brought with me he allotted me four others, and commanded them to keep watch of my gold by day and night, and to obey all my orders. Shortly after I had left him he recalled me, and on my return: ‘I sent to seek you,’ he said, ‘in order to assure you again that you have nothing to fear—eat, drink, and sleep, and have a care for your health. I have forgotten to tell you to be careful not to defraud the Kind, to whom 2 percent is due on all your purchases. Do not attempt,’ he continued, ‘to do as some Musalmans did, who came to the mine and combined with the merchants and some brokers to withhold the royalties of the King—saying that they had only purchased to the value of 10000 padogas, while they had invested more than 50000.’ I then commenced to purchase, and saw that there was a sufficiently large profit to be made, all being 20 percent cheaper than at Golkonda, in addition to which, one sometimes, by chance, met with large stones.

One evening in Banian, poorly clothed, having indeed only a band round his waist and a miserable handkerchief on his head, came towards me politely and seated himself by my side. In this country one pays no attention to dress, and a person who has but a miserable ell of calico about his loins may sometimes have a good parcel of diamonds concealed. I, on my part, treated the Banian with civility, and after he had been seated by me for some time he asked me through my interpreter if I wished to buy some rubies. The interpreter told him to show them up to me, upon which he drew a number of small rags from his waistband, in which he had about a score of rings mounted with rubies. After I had examined them I said that they were too small for my purpose and that I sought large stones. Nevertheless, when I remembered that I had been asked by a lady at Ispahan to bring her a ruby ring of the value of about 100 ecus, I bought one of his rings which cost me nearly 400 francs. I knew well that he did not value it at more than 300 francs, but willingly risked the additional 100 francs in the belief that he had not sought me to sell the rubies only, and because I understood from his manner that he desired to be alone with me and my interpreter in order to show me something better. As the time of prayer of the Musalmans approached, three of the servants appointed by the Governor left, and I found an excuse for getting rid of the fourth, who stayed behind to wait on me, by sending him to buy bread, where he remained a sufficiently long time. For all the people of this country being idolaters, content themselves with rice, and do not eat bread, and when a person wishes for it it is necessary to have it brought from a distance, from the fortress of the King of Bijapur, where the Musalmans reside. The Banian, seeing that he was alone with me and the interpreter, with a good deal of mystery, removed his headdress and untwisted his locks, which according to the usual custom, were bound round his head. Then I observed a small rag appearing amidst his hair, in which there was concealed a diamond, weighing 48½ of our carats, of beautiful water and of cabuchon shape, three quarters of the stone clear, save for a small flaw on one side which appeared to penetrate some distance into the stone. The remaining quarter was full of flaws and red spots.

When I examined the stone, the Banian, seeing the attention which I gave to it, ‘Do not trouble yourself now, you will see it tomorrow morning at your leisure when you are alone. When a fourth of the day has passed, it is thus that they speak, you will find me outside the town, and if you wish for the stone you will bring the price of it with you, and he then stated the amount he wanted for it. For it should be stated en passant that after this quarter of the day or town where they dwell, both to satisfy the ordinary necessities of nature and bathing, as well as to say the prayers which their priests require them to repeat. The Banian having named this hour—because he did not wish anyone to see us together—I did not fail to go in search of him, and carried with me the price he asked, less by 200 pagodas, which I kept apart, in reserve. But in the end, after we had bargained for a short time, I gave him 100 pagodas extra. On my return to Surat I sold the stone to a Dutch captain, and I earned a fair profit from the transaction.

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier’s Travels In India (continued)

Woody Allen + Billy Graham

(via YouTube): Woody Allen interviews Billy Graham.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6iAaxOAHCM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lwx3Wc18Mc

I enjoyed it.

Farewell My Concubine

Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Directed by: Kaige Chen
Screenplay: Lillian Lee (also novel), Bik-Wa Lei, Wei Lu
Cast: Leslie Cheung, Gong Li

(via YouTube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-d5Aiy50P8

It was brilliant.

Quick Fix

The Economist writes about the phenomenon of Banksy, an English graffiti artist + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10122228

The ART News 200: 2002

Milton Esterow writes about the world's top collectors + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1164

The First Word On Pop

Barbara A. MacAdam writes about Pop art + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/anniversary/top5.asp

The Emerald Story

How does a novice differentiate between the natural and synthetic emeralds?
1. Refractive index (R.I): The refractometer is an instrument which measures the R.I of a gemstone. The R.I of a natural emerald tend to lie between 1.570 – 1.590. However, the R.I of a flux-grown synthetic emerald tend to be slightly lower, 1.563-1.566. This might be the first indication as to the authenticity of the stone, however. Care should be taken as some rare natural emeralds may also have low R.I readings. Hydrothermally grown synthetics will have R.I’s in the same range as natural stones.

2. Specific gravity (S.G): Specific gravity can be estimated using indicator liquids, or precisely using the hydrostatic method. The S.G of natural emerald is usually in the area of 2.7 – 2.8. Flux grown synthetics generally have a low S.G in the area of 2.66. Hydrothermally grown synthetics will have S.G’s in the same range as natural stones.

3. Inclusions under magnification: The nature of certain inclusions can indicate to us that an emerald is real or synthetic.
Natural emerald: Two or three phase inclusions, mineral inclusions such as calcite, pyrite, and mica, etc.
Synthetic emerald: Wispy veils of flux feathers, arrow head zoning, fine ling structural zoning, etc.

4. Chelsea Filter: A simple hand-held instrument, designed originally differentiate between emeralds and other green simulants. When viewed through this filter, a natural emerald appears anywhere from green to light pink, to red, depending on the chromium content in the stone. The more the chromium present, the more red it appears under the filter. On the other hand, many synthetic emeralds appear a striking or (hot coal) red under filter. Today many synthetic emeralds have been deliberately produced with a lower chromium content so this test should be used only with caution.

5. Others: More sophisticated means of identification are available to the lab gemologist, such as infra-red spectroscopy, and energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence. Therefore, if doubt exists, the stone should be submitted to a reputable gem testing laboratory for examination.

Imitations of emerald (natural or man-made)
An imitation of a gemstone is a material (natural or otherwise) that has same general appearance as the gem it imitates, but does not have the same chemical and/or physical properties, i.e. an imitation stone only looks like the gemstone it imitates. Some of the materials that might be mistaken for emerald are the natural gems: green tourmaline and peridot, the altered gems: dyed agate, dyed green quartz, and green glass.

Identification: The properties of these imitations differ markedly from those of natural emerald, e.g. R.Is, S.G’s, and inclusions. It should therefore be relatively easy to differentiate between these and natural emeralds.

Examples of possible imitations of emeralds and their properties

Green tourmaline
R.I = 1.62-1.64
S.G = 3.05
Inclusions = Flat liquid-filled feathers, growth tubes, etc.

Peridot
R.I = 1.65 – 1.69
S.G = 3.34
Inclusions = Lily-pad-like inclusions, etc.

Jadeite (green)
R.I = 1.66
S.G = 3.33
Inclusions = Granular appearance, etc.

Dyed Green Quartz
R.I = 1.544 – 1.553
S.G = 2.65
Inclusions = Concentration of dye in cracks, etc.

Green Glass
R.I = 1.44 – 1.69
S.G = 2 – 4.2
Inclusions = Gas bubbles, swirl structures.

Composite stones
More common imitations of emerald are composite stones or as they are often referred to doublets/triplets. Doublets have the appearance of one whole stone but are an assembly of two pieces of stone using a colored adhesive. Generally, the junctions of the two pieces may be seen in the area of the girdle (however, with garnet-topped doublets this may not be the case). The most common emerald doublets are formed using two pieces of colorless beryl to form the top and bottom, and these are cemented together with a green colored layer in the area of the girdle.

Identification: Composite stones are easily detected upon immersion in a liquid. The green junction is easily visible dividing the top and bottom when the stone is viewed, with a lens or microscope, in profile.

The grading of emerald
As with any other gemstone, the four C’s determine the value of emerald. These are color, clarity, cut and carat weight.

Color: This is the most important determinant of value. An included stone with good color will fetch a higher price than a clean stone with a weak color. Deep, pure green is desirable. Any variation of the green shade can fetch a good price provided there is depth of color.

Clarity: Emeralds are characterized by the fact that they almost invariably contain inclusions. It is very hard to find a flawless emerald with the desired color. The location of the inclusion plays a vital role in the valuation. If a flaw is very prominent on the crown of the stone, it could bring down the price. But if the same flaw were present in a more subtle position, the ultimate value would not be affected.

Cut: The depth of color and apparent clarity of a gemstone is to a certain extent the function of its cut. A well cut stone could improve the depth of color and mask certain flaws, thereby upgrading the stone. The emerald cut is ideal for emeralds for a given quality. Depending upon the number of inclusions and color, other cuts are employed, e.g. cabochons, beads, rounds, hearts, fancy cuts, etc.

Carat weight: The value of a gemstone is calculated by multiplying price/carat into total carat weight. Hence, the more the weight, the higher the potential return. Size also affects the price per carat. This is because it is very rare these days to find a large-sized emerald of an acceptable quality. Given two stones of the same quality, the one significantly larger will fetch a higher market price per carat. If two stones are of the same size and quality and thus form a pair the price per carat of the pair jumps up.

How the market operates
There is no centrally operated and controlled market for emeralds, as one has for diamonds. The mining process is largely carried out by private companies in most countries, and a few mines are run by governments. The rough stones procured are cleaned and sorted into parcels by the mine owners. The main mines are in Colombia and Brazil. Buyers come from all over the world to bid for and buy these rough parcels. These are then taken to the cutting and wholesale centers in New York, India, Israel, Germany, Hong Kong among others. Wholesale and retail buyers from all over the world come to these centers to buy faceted emeralds. These are subsequently set in jewelry and sold to the ultimate consumers.

Ice Road Truckers

Here is an interesting website on Ice Road Truckers @ Ice Road Truckers + History Channel: link. Ice road trucking is considered one of the dangerous jobs + the vital supplies they carry to diamond mines over frozen lakes that double as roads is an unparalleled adventure.

Useful link:
http://www.history.com/minisites/iceroadtruckers