Behavioral Trading

Behavioral Trading: Methods for Measuring Investor Confidence and Expectations and Market Trends by Woody Dorsey is a fascinating book that examines various approaches people use toward making money in the market + the Triunity Theory, a new system for understanding behavioral finance + the application of philosophical knowledge and principles to practical situations + in my view the book is worth reading.

The Inevitable Manufacturing Shake-Up

Chaim Even Zohar writes about the state of the diamond mining + jewelry manufacturing industry + industry's banking debt/impact worldwide + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp

Jewelers Of Renaissance

(via 5000 Years of Gems and Jewelry) Frances Rogers and Alice Beard writes:

5. The Jewel Age

Henry VIII had delighted to embellish his ample person with many glittering jewels, still Henry himself was able to dominate his ornaments and carry them without effort. But by the time his daughter, Elizabeth, came to the throne the family characteristic, love of finery, had developed into a consuming passion. With the devotion of a martyr, Elizabeth labored under a mass of precious minerals whose dead weight must have banished all thought of bodily comfort. Courage was an outstanding trait in that gallant lady. She must have been a Spartan to bear that load of stones and metal added to her voluminous robes of heavy material. Her wardrobe at one time included two thousand dresses, each of them probably stiff with jewels fastened to the cloth wherever there was foothold, and about as pleasant to wear as a suit of armor. Many artists of the day were employed to paint, with meticulous detail, canvases depicting these gloriously bejeweled costumes, together with the miscellaneous array of crowns, necklaces, bracelets, brooches, rings and earrings which were their accessories. Somewhere out of the midst emerged a face and hands. These pictures are called ‘portraits’ of Queen Elizabeth.

The grave and reverend anthropologist divides the progress of mankind into periods distinguished as the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, etc. With some degree of propriety one might venture to name the rich period of the Renaissance the ‘Jewel Age’. So manifold were the jewels and so exuberantly did the goldsmith lavish skill, imagination and painstaking labor on their fashioning, that one’s response to the glittering output of the times is likely to be dulled by reason of its very quantity. Therefore we will confine our attention within limits.

If it can be said that any one form of jewelry outshone all others during the Renaissance, that jewel was the pendant. The multiplicity of forms, uses and significances that a pendant could embody, the infinite variety of materials that could be used, and the extravagant expenditure of the goldsmith’s ingenuity—all these things appealed both to the craftsman and his customer.

The peculiar advantage of the pendant is that the slightest motion, even taking a breath, will set it vibrating and sparkling. In times past a pendant, more often than not, represented something other than abstract ornament. It was illustrative. A design in its simpler form might represent merely a bird or a flower, but frequently it went further than that and pictured some scriptural incident or some pagan myth that required groups of people. The point is that the design expressed a definite mental concept, not an abstraction. Sometimes the idea was carried out simply by a flat picture in enamels surrounded by a frame of gold and gemstones; sometimes the figures were wrought in bold relief; but not infrequently they were tiny group statuettes all worked out in gold and gems with the utmost elaboration of ornament. In fact the intricacy of ornament was so profuse in Renaissance jewels that it seems more related to design for thread-lace than for metals and gems. Examples of favorite subjects were Noah’s Ark; St George and the Dragon; and Faith, Hope and Fortitude. The Annunciation was one of the most popular of scriptural subjects.

Jewelers Of Renaissance (continued)

The Rise Of Landscape Painting

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

The Art of Claude, George Morland, J.M.W.Turner, Girtin, David Cox, And De Wint

1

The greatest difference between the art of the nineteenth and that of the preceding centuries is the increasing importance attached to natural scenery. The Old Masters were not altogether inattentive to inanimate Nature, but it did not occur to them that scenery alone could be a sufficient subject for a picture. In the East, we shall see in a later chapter, Nature had always preoccupied the minds of the finest artists, and in China landscape was regarded as the highest branch of art; but in Europe men thought otherwise, and it was only slowly that landscape crept forward from the background and gradually occupied the whole of the picture.

The artist who is usually considered to have been the father of modern landscape painting was a Frenchman, or rather a Lorrainer, Claude Gellée (1600-82), born near Mirecourt on the Moselle, who at an early age went to Rome, where he remained practically for the rest of his life. Claude’s interest was entirely in Nature, and particularly in the illumination of Nature. He was the first artist who ‘set the sun in the heavens,’ and he devoted his whole attention to portraying the beauty of light; but though his aerial effects are unequalled to this day, and though his pictures were approved and collected in his own day by the King of Spain, Pople Urban VIII, and by many influential Cardinals, yet the appreciation of pure landscape was so limited then that Claude rarely dared to leave figures out of his pictures, and was obliged to choose subjects which were not simply landscapes but gave him an excuse for painting landscapes.

Nobody today pays very much attention to the little figures in Claude’s ‘Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca’ at the National Gallery. We are not disposed to ask which is Isaac and which Rebecca, or to try to discover what all these figures are doing, because to us the beauty of the landscape is an all sufficient reason for the picture’s existence. Our whole attention is given to the beautiful painting of the trees and the lovely view that lies between them, to the golden glow of the sky, to the flat surface of the water with its reflected light, and to the exquisite gradations of the tones by which the master has conveyed to us the atmosphere of the scene and the vastness of the distance he depicts.

Similarly, in his ‘Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba’, we are at once conscious that the glorious rendering of the sun in the sky and of its rays on the rippled surface of the sea constitute the principal interest of the picture; this was what primarily interested the painter, and his buildings, shipping, and people are only so many accessories with which he frames and presents to us his noble visions of light. But to Claude’s contemporaries these titles and the figures which justified them had far more importance than they have to us, and it was by professing to paint subjects which the taste of his day deemed elevating and ennobling that Claude was able to enjoy prosperity and paint the landscapes which are truly noble.

Another Frenchman, also a contemporary of Claude, Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), must be regarded as a pioneer of landscape painting, though he was also a figure painter of great ability who upheld the classic style of the antique in his Biblical and pagan figure subjects. Poussin also worked chiefly at Rome, and, having no son, adopted his wife’s younger brother, Gaspar Dughet, who became known as Gaspar Poussin (1613-75), and under his brother-in-law’s tuition developed into an excellent landscape painter. Both the Poussins are well represented in the National Gallery, and they and Claude have had a considerable influence on English landscape art.

We have already seen how Richard Wilson endeavored to popularize landscape painting in England, and it will have been noted that so long as he also pretended to paint classical subjects, as in his ‘Niobe,’ he had a moderate measure of success; but when he painted pure landscape, as in ‘The Thames near Twickenham,’ the taste of his day could not follow him, and his finest work was ignored and went begging.

The Rise Of Landscape Painting (continued)

Cows, Pigs, Wars, And Witches

Cows, Pigs, Wars, And Witches: The Riddles Of Culture by Marvin Harris is an exciting and stimulating book + he presents a new paradigm for understanding anthropology and history + he shows that no matter how bizarre a people's behavior may seem, it always stems from concrete social and economic conditions.

Art Market Update

Souren Melikia writes about Christie's auction of Impressionist and Modern Master paintings + record prices paid for a painting by Kees van Dongen + other viewpoints @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/05/arts/melik6.php?page=1

Colored Stone Update

The Bush administration on Tuesday (Feb 5, 2008) imposed more financial sanctions against a business tycoon linked to Burma’s military rulers + the action against firms controlled by Tay Za and his Htoo Trading conglomerate is significant because his group also controls (directly/indirectly) important jade mining blocks + other business interests + I think the world will have to wait and see the effectiveness of the sanctions because Burma’s neighboring countries condemn the sanctions for obvious reasons.

Useful link:
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=4761

All That Glitters..

(via Bangkok Post, Feb 7, 2008) Karnjana Karnjanatawe writes:

You will a lot more than rings and necklaces in the city’s longest established goldsmith’s shop

Shopping for gold is easier said than done when you’re in Yaowarat, Bangkok’s China Town. But it’s not the high prices that make you hesitate, it’s the stupefying extent of the choices available. Yaowarat, also known as Thanon Sai Thong (Gold Street) has more than 100 gold shops.

The oldest of them all is Tang Toh Kang on Mangkorn Road. But it is not just age or wealth of experience that distinguishes this goldsmith’s shop from its competitors. Here, gold jewelry and ornamnents are still made the old way—painstakingly, by hand. The shop also runs the only private museum in Bangkok dedicated to goldsmithing, a treasure trove of arcane tool, trinkets and collectibles from the late 19th century.

‘We’ve been in the business for more than 130 years,’ says Chaikit Tantikarn, the shop’s deputy manager, a member of the fourth generation of the Tang Toh Kang family. In his opinion, adherence to a strict code of ethical conduct plus training staff to put the customer first are the key factors in attracting, and retaining, clients.

‘Honesty is the best policy, one we’ve always followed,’ he says.

In this country the unit of weight for gold is the baht (not to be confused with our unit of currency). Gold jewelry sold in the Kingdom must be 96.5 percent pure; the standard for gold bars is even higher—99.99 percent. But if you buy a one-baht gold necklace, how can you be really sure that it contains exactly 15.16 grammes of 96.5 percent pure gold? Which is why in this line of business, perhaps more so than in many others, trust is such an important commodity.

One mark of a reputable goldsmith’s, Chaikit says, is an establishment that is always willing to buy back gold from a customer at the current market price. He compares it to a firm offering a life-time guarantee on its products.

The shop was opened during the reign of King Rama V by Chaikit’s great grandfather, a skilled goldsmith who fled war in his native China and emigrated to Siam in search of a better life. Initially, Tang Toh Kang was only able to find poorly paid work as a laborer but he saved every penny he could and was finally able to realize the dream of being his own boss.

The family patriarch started out employing four or fie goldsmiths, offering both ready-to-wear jewelry and made-to-order items. Their creativity and the quality of their work was such that the business rapidly expanded, eventually employed around artisans. In 1921 the family moved into a new, seven-storey building in Yaowarat; it was then the tallest structure in the area. That same year Tang Toh Kang was awarded a pair of wooden garuda statuettes by King Rama VI in token of his appreciation of the excellent service provided by the shop.

As the years passed, more and more goldsmiths opened businesses in the neighborhood, with machines gradually handling many of the tasks formerly done by skilled craftsmen. But Tang Toh Kang and his team continued to make all their jewelry in the tried and trusted way, a practice which is still followed to this day.

‘We believe in hand-made products,’ says Chaikit, ‘because the quality is so much better than anything you get by using factory machines.’

Although the number of people patronizing gold shops is not as high as it was even a couple of years back, there is still a steady demand. Customers tend to buy gold jewelry not so much to wear themselves but as gifts, especially in the period leading up to Chinese New Year, or as a form of savings. And with the price of gold constantly rising, many now purchase the precious metal for speculative purposes, treating it as another kind of investment, Chaikit says.

Today his shop only employs three in-house goldsmiths, the sons of artisans who previously worked for the family. All of them live on the premises. Now 80, Hungjua Sae-haeng came to Tang Toh Kang as an apprentice at the age of 16. ‘It was during World War II and I followed by father to work here. I learned how to make jewelry bit by bit until I liked the work so much that I decided to make it a career. I think of it as a labor of love,’ he says.

Hungjua, whom colleagues respectfully address as Ah-pae (uncle), was making an oval link chain comprised of scores of very small rings. Although he wears spectacles he has no need for a magnifying glass. ‘I’m used to it,’ he says with a smile.

His work space is an old wooden table which looks like a desk you might find in a primary school. On it is a lamp, tools and several plastic bottles containing chemicals. There’s a drawer for keeping gold dust and storing other equipment. His hands are gnarled and covered in liver-spots, but steady as a rock, with none of the trembling that often affects people of his age.

Ah-pae shares the workshop with two younger artisans. Arun Haemcharoenwong, who’s only 27; and Thawee Pitakratchatasak, 51. They’ve notched up 20 and 38 years of experience, respectively, in the art of jewelry making.

‘I came here to help my father, who’s now passed away, back when I was only a kid,’ Arun recalls. ‘I was around seven when I started working in the shop,’ he says as he wields the blowtorch used to heat up the gold wire and make it soft enough to manipulate.

Observing what the other workers were doing, and closely following orders, Arun says he slowly graduated to developing his own designs. ‘Arun’s work is very detailed. He’s a goldsmith who shows a lot of promise’ was the verdict of Rungradit Ritthiching, a sales assistant in the shop who sometimes doubles as a museum guide.

Once he has made the length of wire sufficiently malleable Arun inserts one end of it in a metal contraption which contains rows of holes of different sizes. He turns a gear wheel which slowly pulls the wire through, making it longer and thinner. Then he repeats the process, using another hole with a smaller diameter to get the wire to the desired size.

To make the individual links for the gold chain, the wire is carefully bent around a wooden rod, the size of the ring depending on the thickness of the wood, and then Arun cuts a short length off with an ordinary scissors. He threads this through a completed link. Next, he uses needle nose pliers to force the two ends together to form a ring, bonding the tips using a mixture of gold dust and a liquid called nam pra san thong. His final task is to file off any rough edges.

‘An oval link necklace can be made by one man in a day or less,’ volunteers his colleague, Thawee, adding that the smaller the diameter of the links, the longer the job takes.

Nowadays most goldsmiths use machinery for all but the most delicate steps in the jewelry-making process. Doing it all by hand requires a good deal of patience and ‘heart’, as Thawee puts it. The onerous nature of the work tends to discourage newcomers to the trade, he adds.

Although this type of jewelry takes a lot longer to make than the mass-produced stuff, the advantage is that unique pieces can be made to the customer’s exact specifications. Certainly, the showroom has many unusual items on display including statuettes of animals in the Chinese zodiac and of various Chinese deities, tea sets, antique purses and little boxes.

A visit to the fourth and sixth floors of the building reveals treasures of greater antiquity. ‘Our forebears loved collecting old objects from China,’Chaikit explains, ‘and a lot of these things were left behind when the family moved out some 20 years ago. When we did a big spring clean around five years back to prepare for a visit by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn we discovered more than a thousand items tucked away on the upper floors.’

It was decided t convert two floors into a museum to house te collection. Among the items on display are sets of porcelain statuettes of Fu Lu Shou, the three Chinese deities that represent happiness, wealth and longevity. Here, too, are goldsmithing tools from the century before last, postcards, weighing scales made from wood plus various sizes and types of moulds, ring and belt buckle blocks.

If you wish to visit little repository of curios, phone first for permission. And to do the place justice, reckon on spending at least an hour there. So passionate are they about their craft that time tends to fly when you get taking to such knowledgeable gentlemen as these.

For more information call 02 224 2422, 02 622 8640/2 or 02 252 2898
www.tang-toh-kang.com