By value, Canadian diamond production currently accounts for close to 20% of the whole wold’s diamond production, making it, along with Russia and Botswana, one of the “big three” diamond producers; but it’s not been easy. As I write this, there is light, drifting snow falling on the Ekati diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories and the temperature is about 0º Fahrenheit. I’m told the hip young crowd speaks of diamonds as “ice”; but as I am neither hip nor young, I’ll have to take that on faith. The locution, however, is particularly appropriate when speaking of Canadian diamonds. If you’ve seen “Ice Road Truckers” on the History Channel you already know that all of the mines, four of them within 200 miles of the Arctic Circle and the fifth in northern Ontario (chillingly close to Hudson’s Bay) strain common notions of what constitutes “accessibility”. The roads, literally across frozen tundra, frozen marshes and frozen lakes, are in service for no more than six months of the year; this is when heavy equipment is brought in along with other, less weighty, cargo. (more…)

Pliny the elder (or to give him his proper Roman name, Gaius Plinius Secundus) was born  into a wealthy family in about A.D. 23; and died in the disaster at Pompeii in A.D. 79.  Military and other government service occupied much of his life; and his travels to the corners of the empire in pursuit of his duties seem to have ignited his curiosity, arousing in him a passion to write.  While serving as commander of the Roman Navy of the Western Mediterranean his virtues led to his death at Pompeii.  He observed the cloud of ash over Pompeii and ordered a fast boat to take him there to investigate.  Once there, he saw the scope of the disaster and mounted an humanitarian mission.  Personally commanding the evacuation on the beach, he became a victim of the disaster.  Stoic that he was, he would not have mourned his own death. His magnum opus was his “Historia naturalis”; and though it might best be thought of as an encyclopedia, it is as much about the nature of man in his society as it is about natural history.  Critical of his sources, and amused by humanity, in his observations on human mortality he had to observe that a man who was reputed to have reached the age of 150 years had, at least, been a tax payer for that period of time. If ever there was a credible man, it was he; and this brings us to Book 37 of the “Historia naturalis”. In it Pliny, discussed precious stones, revealing both his sophistication as an observer and man. (more…)

We have an estate jewelry show and sale coming up on the 14th and 15th of this month and it’s a first for us. It all started when Kathy and I were at the Las Vegas Luxury Show last May. It’s a “by invitation, only” show we regularly attend; but to be frank, we’d found nothing that really excited us until we walked by a largish booth with “estate jewelry” on display. Naturally, it was the bizarre that caught my eye, in this case, a dog collar. It was in light green leather with a diamond accented solid gold name plate; how unusual! I had to know more about it, so Kathy and I stepped in and asked for more information. In answer to our first question, we were told that the collar really was for a dog; but as we looked around, more questions came to us. Somehow, we’d equated “estate jewelry” with jewelry that people had inherited and didn’t want to keep; such is not invariably the case. (more…)

I’m sure you’ve heard Thomas Tusser’s observation, “Tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good.”  Of course, when we quote from his Elizabethan book on gardening, “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry”, our reference to the “wind” is usually an allegorical reference to fate or events tragic for some but beneficial to others.  And so I must begin my look at platinum.  Until the late 19th century platinum was little used – even though Louis XIV of France had pronounced it the metal of kings.  The problem stemmed from the high temperatures required to melt it and to work it – temperatures too high to be produced by the little alcohol “blow torches” used by jewelers for centuries.  Platinum could be cast into an ingot that could then be flattened and cut into sheets and wires of the metal.  Then a jeweler of rare skills could fabricate platinum jewelry from “sheet and wire” using gold or silver to marry the parts.  In the late 19th century, however, industry became interested in platinum for its density, strength, inert character and its unique catalytic properties.  This led to a search (successful) for new sources of platinum – a “wind” that was far from “ill” for jewelry makers as it coincided with the development of “new” hot torches that made it far easier to create jewelry from platinum.  So it was that in the early 20th century platinum jewelry became available to the masses. (more…)