European Jewelry: Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries

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

2. Pinchbeck Settings

As the century advanced, England prospered and the general standard of living rose. Those who could not afford the luxury of fine gems could at least ape the fashions of the upper classes by wearing cheap jewelry. There were good imitation pearls; and in place of diamonds there was rock crystal, rose-cut or brilliant. ‘Bristol diamonds’ and ‘Cornish diamonds’ were rock crystal named respectively for the places where they were found. If you did not possess the desired number of jewels (genuine or counterfeit) to wear on some festive occasion, you hired them.

Inexpensive stones needed inexpensive settings, and this demand was met by a number of substitutes for gold. The most popular was an alloy of copper and zinc called ‘pinchbeck,’ after its inventor, Christopher Pinchbeck, a clock and watch maker of London.

Neither he nor his son Edward, who continued the business after his father’s death in 1732, appear to have offered their metal alloy as real gold; yet in the course of time the word ‘pinchbeck’ has come to be used in a derogatory sense to denote any cheap and fraudulent sham.

Pinchbeck gold was used for all sorts of jewelry, and for a time it would retain its yellow color without tarnishing. Frequently, however, it was given a wash of gold to prolong its brightness.

European Jewelry: Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries (continued)

Cai Guo-Qiang

If you are in New York, you should visit Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum where 80 works by Cai Guo-Qiang, known for his pyrotechnic displays and gunpowder drawings will be exhibited from February 22 through May 28, 2008 + they are stunning!

Useful links:
www.caiguoqiang.com
www.guggenheim.org

'Tanusorn'-type Blue Sapphire Treatment

Thailand is perceived as one of the important gemstone refineries of the world + and now comes a new type of blue sapphire treatment, 'Tanusorn' type blue sapphires: 'Tanusorn' is named after Tanusorn Lethaisong, the gem 'chef', where semi-translucent pale colored sapphires consisting of many cracks are exposed to high temperature heating technique (s) involving cobalt and lead containing flux + the resultant blue coloration is due to the inclusions of blue cobalt-bearing solid residues left along healed fractures + if in doubt always consult a reputed gem testing laboratory.

The Mind Of A Trader

The Mind Of A Trader by Alpesh Patel contains useful guidelines for beginners + many insights from the master of the market + I liked it.

Commodities Market

Edward de Bono, wrote in his book 'I am right, you are wrong': 'The stock market is meant to reflect the values of a corporation listed. But a more direct influence on the market price is the tendency of people to buy and sell. So if you attend to and anticipate the tendency of your colleagues you will successfully play the market. After a while it becomes a game in itself and the underlying corporate values fade into the background, even though they are periodically brought forward to rationalize behavior that has really been based on other factors.' He calls such kind of behaviour as ludecy from Latin 'ludo' meaning 'I play'.

Useful link:
www.edwarddebono.com

In my view without speculation traders don't stand to gain at all + if it's seen as a game commodities market is similar to stock markets + valuable lessons for the gem/jewelry/art traders.

Rent-A-Jewelry Concept

There's a huge trend globally where you can rent yachts and villas, high-end vacations + and now companies are renting out Rolex/Chopard watches and brand jewelry for a modest fee so that their clients are able to attend special/charity events and look good/famous + analysts say women always fall in love with jewelry and the concept may become the wave of the future + what a spinoff!

Useful links:
www.blingyourself.com
www.borrowedbling.com

DDC On Arbitration And Term Limits

Chaim Even Zohar writes about The Diamond Dealers Club (DDC) leadership issues + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp

The French Cut

(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:

Pavilion-based French Cuts were square multi-faceted diamonds. They date back to the early fifteenth century, and seem to have been favored by royalty and members of the nobility—Francis I of France, Elizabeth of Austria and the Duke of Buckingham among them—but they did not become fashionable until the seventeenth century, when brilliance was first of all merely accepted and finally became a requisite of all diamonds. The Taille en Seize and the Scissor Cut also came into fashion at this time.

The French Cut followed the existing fashion for square-shaped diamonds but did not derive from octahedral rough as did the High Table Cut. Although French Cuts were produced from other types of rough if this proved suitable or if the jeweler particularly requested it, the original design apparently came from a crystal form which combined cubic and dodecahedral faces. At least the early French Cuts derived from crystals of spheroid shape.

To fashion this type of rough, first the apex had to be ground down to make a square table with its sides set diagonally to the sides of the diamond. Then the main crystal faces were remodelled into facets and the outline squared. Finally, the pavilion was adjusted to a proper depth and given a plain faceting, often in the form of a narrow cross. Although the original reason for fashioning pavilion-based French Cuts was to transform obsolete cuts into something more fashionable, the faceting design has survived to the present day.

The origin of the term French Cut is not known; most probably it was so called because it was more popular in France than anywhere else. In old inventories it is simply described as ‘a Table Cut with a lozenge on top’. For instance, an inventory of 1570 describes a diamond on the border of a headdress belonging to Elizabeth of Austria as ‘ung dyaman taillé en lozange pardessus.’ Small French Cut diamonds have survived in unimportant jewels and trinkets.

Most Flat-Bottomed French Cuts appear to have been recuts of trihedrally faceted Gothic Roses, but the result was a misshapen gem with very poor light effects. Recutting was restricted to rather small diamonds, as we can see from the French Crown inventory of 1791. The apexes of the old, low relief Rose Cuts were ground down slightly, leaving small tri-angular table facets.

Early authors seem to have been unaware of the existence of the French Cut, nor is it discussed in modern literature, where it is frequently referred to simply as ‘a historical single cut.’