Download or read book The Nature of Diamonds written by George E. Harlow and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The paragon of physical perfection and a sparkling example of Earth's forces at work, the diamond has fascinated all realms of society, from Russian tsars and Hollywood stars to scientists and brides-to-be. The Nature of Diamonds is an authoritative and richly illustrated look at nature's most coveted gem. Leading geologists, gemologists, physicists, and cultural observers cover every facet of the stone, from its formation in the depths of the Earth and its explosive ascent to the surface, to its economic, regal, social, and technological roles. The book takes the reader to cutting-edge research on the frontiers of diamond exploration and exploitation, from Arctic wastes to laboratories that create industrial diamonds for cutting tools that slice through rock. Charting the history of mining from its origins in India and Brazil, the book follows the diamond rush in South Africa to today's high-tech enterprises. It provides a glimpse into the economics of the diamond trade, and an overview of diamond cutting, from the rough uncut stones in early Indian and Roman jewelry to the multifaceted stones we see today. The cultural history of the diamond as both a revered and a social symbol is explored, from its early history as the exclusive property of royalty to today's brilliant-laden jewelry as an emblem of wealth and status. The engaging text is complemented by more than 200 lavish illustrations which span fine art, earth science, and cultural studies and capture the brilliance and beauty of this extraordinary gem.

Download or read book Gems in the Early Modern World written by Michael Bycroft and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-11-27 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection is an interdisciplinary study of gems in the early modern world. It examines the relations between the art, science, and technology of gems, and it does so against the backdrop of an expanding global trade in gems. The eleven chapters are organised into three parts. The first part sets the scene by describing how gems moved around the early modern world, how they were set in motion, and how they were pulled together in the course of their travels. The second part is about value. It asks why people valued gems, how they determined the value of a given gem, and how the value of a gem was connected to its perceived place of origin. The third part deals with the skills involved in cutting, polishing, and mounting gems, and how these skills were transmitted and articulated by artisans. The common themes of all these chapters are materials, knowledge and global trade. The contributors to this volume focus on the material properties of gems such as their weight and hardness, on the knowledge involved in exchanging them and valuing them, and on the cultural consequences of the expanding trade in gems in Eurasia and the Americas.

Download or read book Faceting History Cutting Diamonds and Colored Stones written by Glenn Klein and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2005-10-13 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of, "FACETING HISTORY: CUTTING DIAMONDS AND COLORED STONES" has for a long time had a deep interest in learning how the early faceters (cutters) of diamonds and colored gemstones were able to complete their work. What methods did they use? What equipment did they have to make success possible? How soon did they discover how to complete the many phases necessary to accomplish their work? How did the equipment and methods differ between fashioning diamonds and faceting colored stones? These are just a few of the questions that the author wanted to find the answers for. In looking for answers to these and other questions, the author found that there were bits and pieces of information available in many previous books, but there was not a good book available that would answer most of his questions. Upon hearing the author ́s remarks about this fact, one of the librarians at the wonderful library located at the Gemological Institute of America ́s Carlsbad campus said that if such a book was not available, "maybe you should write the book!" Well, the author had been thinking of doing just that, but the remark caused the author to see the light and agree to get started on the project. Little did he know then that the project would require many months of eight hour days over seven day weeks to get the book completed. He decided to write a book that would answer these and other related questions that he had. The thought also occurred to him that such a book would be a valuable volume to be placed in libraries of individual faceters around the world. He realized that such a book would also be of great value to anyone who works behind a Jewelry store counter. A successful sales person is one who is knowledgeable about the products that they are selling. A book of faceting information would be extremely valuable if read and re-read from time to time. A customer in the Jewelry store will no doubt be favorably impressed by a sales presentation that is made with the use of interesting and informative information about diamonds and the various colored gemstones. The customer will be convinced that the sales person knows about what they are talking. The author has spent nearly three years on the project of researching the GIA library and other libraries, along with the extensive personal library of gemstone related books that he personally possesses. Many conflicting reports were noted in his study. He has made the statements in his book reflect the most commonly accepted opinions, of the most respected authors ́ works that he has found in his research. History is only obtainable from the earlier works of other authors. We cannot go back to the long past centuries ourselves, to see first hand what really happened and when it happened. A study of faceting history requires making the best choices of the information that is available. This completed book answers questions as to why the fashioning of diamonds was/is so different from the faceting of colored gemstones. The book compares the needed equipment and the methods that have brought the greatest successes. In addition, a great deal of other information connected to faceting is included. There are seven chapters in the book and there are over 125 photographs of the early equipment and methods that were used. The photographs show the faceters, the workroom conditions, and the tools and equipment that they used to complete beautiful and lasting gemstones. The book chapters are titled: An Introduction to Faceting, Early Man ́s Stone Appreciation, Diamond Fashioning Procedure and Equipment, Colored Stone Faceting Procedure and Equipment, The Evolution of Cut Designs, Famous and Historic Gemstones, Sources of Diamond and Colored Stone Rough, and lastly, Advances in Faceting Over the Past One Hundred Years. By books end, the reader will be well informed as to what is r

Download or read book All the Queen s Jewels 1445 1548 written by Nicola Tallis and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-11-29 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Margaret of Anjou to Katherine Parr, All the Queen’s Jewels examines the jewellery collections of the ten queen consorts of England between 1445–1548 and investigates the collections of jewels a queen had access to, as well as the varying contexts in which queens used and wore jewels. The jewellery worn by queens reflected both their gender and their status as the first lady of the realm. Jewels were more than decorative adornments; they were an explicit display of wealth, majesty and authority. They were often given to queens by those who wished to seek her favour or influence and were also associated with key moments in their lifecycle. These included courtship and marriage, successfully negotiating childbirth (and thus providing dynastic continuity), and their elevation to queenly status or coronation. This book explores the way that queens acquired jewels, whether via their predecessor, their own commission or through gift giving. It underscores that jewels were a vital tool that enabled queens to shape their identities as consort, and to fashion images of power that could be seen by their households, court and contemporaries. This book is perfect for anyone interested in medieval and Tudor history, queenship, jewellery and the history of material culture.

Download or read book Diamonds written by Jack Ogden and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- PREFACE -- 1 The Diamond -- 2 The Ancient World -- 3 Early Persia and the East -- 4 Medieval Europe -- 5 The Dawn of Diamond Cutting in Europe -- 6 The Fifteenth-Century Technical Revolution -- 7 Renaissance Table and Point Cuts -- 8 Renaissance Multifaceted Cuts -- 9 The Early Brilliant Cut -- 10 Diamond Cutting in London -- 11 The Value and Assessment of Diamonds -- 12 The Indian Diamond Mines -- 13 The Diamond Trade in India -- 14 Diamond Cutting in India and the East -- 15 The Eclipse of Indian Diamonds -- Epilogue -- APPENDIX: A 1675 Description of the Diamond Mines -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- T -- V -- W -- Y -- Z

Download or read book The Butcher of Sobraon written by Gavin Singh and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2020-12-21 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘The Butcher of Sobraon’ – Challenging the Myths of the British in India The history of the British colonisation of the Punjab is a disturbing story of the most appalling atrocities, the most obscene contraventions of fundamental human rights and the theft and pillaging of a great nation. Under the auspices of spreading the word of God and the fake premise of helping to educate an ignorant, backwards nation, British aristocrats committed the kind of sins which fit uncomfortably in the same bracket as Hitler, as Ivan the Terrible, as Pol Pot, Stalin or Saddam Hussein. In this rampagjng work, Gavin Singh tells it as it was. There is none of the romanticism of costume dramas glorifying the Raj; none of the false nobility of white suited British Gentlemen defeating ignorance and the climate to make the Punjab a sunnier Britain. Improving the world before taking tiffin is as much as a myth as the idea that the Punjab was a backwards nation. Singh describes a State rich in wealth and resources, self sufficient and led by an inclusive Maharaja years ahead of his time. He explains how that Maharaja, Ranjit Singh, the Lion of the Punjab, led his nation to a period of Camelot. How he overcame the war lords of neighbouring Afghanistan to bring peace and power to his nation. How he was helped by the great warrior queen, Rani Sada Kaur and how, as his reign ended his nation fell into chaos. Indeed, it is not just the imperialists who have the light of truth shone upon them. Singh shows how the great Sada Kaur turned when she saw her legacy begin to crumble; how the Maharaja Ranjit Singh was driven by short termism – how even while the Punjab was enjoying the greatest period of its history, turbulence was growing beneath the bejewelled surface of the nation.

Download or read book The Global Diamond Industry written by Roman Grynberg and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Global Diamond Industry: Economics and Development brings together a collection of papers covering various aspects of the diamond industry including economics, law, history, sociology and development across two volumes.

Download or read book Scientific Investigation of Copies Fakes and Forgeries written by Paul Craddock and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-02-04 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The faking and forgery of works of art and antiquities is probably now more extensive than ever before. The frauds are aided by new technologies, from ink jet printers to epoxy resins, and driven by the astronomic prices realised on the global market. This book aims to provide a comprehensive survey of the subject over a wide range of materials, emphasising how the fakes and forgeries are produced and how they may be detected by technical and scientific examination. The subject is exemplified by numerous case studies, some turning out not to be as conclusive as is sometimes believed. The book is aimed at those likely to have a serious interest in these investigations, be they curator, collector, conservator or scientist. Paul Craddock has recently retired from the Department of Conservation, Documentation and Science at the British Museum, where he was a materials scientist.

Download or read book Famous Diamonds written by Ian Balfour and published by Antique Collectors Club Dist. This book was released on 2009 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rocks, minerals & fossils.

Download or read book Innovation and Creativity in Late Medieval and Early Modern European Cities written by Karel Davids and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-23 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Late medieval and early modern cities are often depicted as cradles of artistic creativity and hotbeds of new material culture. Cities in renaissance Italy and in seventeenth and eighteenth-century northwestern Europe are the most obvious cases in point. But, how did this come about? Why did cities rather than rural environments produce new artistic genres, new products and new techniques? How did pre-industrial cities evolve into centres of innovation and creativity? As the most urbanized regions of continental Europe in this period, Italy and the Low Countries provide a rich source of case studies, as the contributors to this volume demonstrate. They set out to examine the relationship between institutional arrangements and regulatory mechanisms such as citizenship and guild rules and innovation and creativity in late medieval and early modern cities. They analyze whether, in what context and why regulation or deregulation influenced innovation and creativity, and what the impact was of long-term changes in the political and economic sphere.

Download or read book Rocks Ice and Dirty Stones written by Marcia Pointon and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2017-03-15 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The king of stones, valued since antiquity for their unrivalled hardness, diamonds today are both desired and deplored. Once faceted and polished they glitter on the fingers of brides-to-be and in the ornaments of the super-rich, but their extraction from some of the world’s poorest countries remains contentious. Immensely valuable for their size, diamonds can be easily hidden and transported, making them perfect contraband. Diamonds have been widely used in industry since the nineteenth century and have long been valued for their pharmaceutical and prophylactic properties. This entertaining and richly illustrated book examines the history of the diamond trade through the centuries from India and Brazil to South Africa and Europe and investigates what happens to diamonds once they reach the cutters and polishers. Marcia Pointon takes the reader on a unique tour of the ways in which the quadrahedron diamond shape has inspired design, architecture, and painting, from the symbolism of medieval manuscripts to modern-day graffiti. She questions the etiquette of engagement rings, and she reminds us why and how lost, stolen, or cursed diamonds create suspense in so many classic novels and films. This compelling and fascinating account of the history of sparklers around the world will appeal to all who covet, as well as all who despise, the unparalleled brilliance and glitter of the diamond.

Download or read book Blood Sweat and Earth written by Tijl Vanneste and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2021-09-16 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping history of our enduring passion for diamonds—and the exploitative industry that fuels it. Blood, Sweat and Earth is a hard-hitting historical exposé of the diamond industry, focusing on the exploitation of workers and the environment, the monopolization of uncut diamonds, and how little this has changed over time. It describes the use of forced labor and political oppression by Indian sultans, Portuguese colonizers in Brazil, and Western industrialists in many parts of Africa—as well as the hoarding of diamonds to maintain high prices, from the English East India Company to De Beers. While recent discoveries of diamond deposits in Siberia, Canada, and Australia have brought an end to monopolization, the book shows that advances in the production of synthetic diamonds have not yet been able to eradicate the exploitation caused by the world’s unquenchable thirst for sparkle.

Download or read book PROCEEDINGS 4th International Congress on Science and Technology for the Safeguard of Cultural Heritage in the Mediterranean Basin VOL I written by and published by Angelo Ferrari. This book was released on with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Luxury in Global Perspective written by Karin Hofmeester and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-28 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global history is predicated on connections and exchange: how connections between far-flung people, places, and objects are forged through a variety of exchanges. As world history has matured as a field, its practitioners have found the movement of commodities between peoples, places, and time a fruitful vehicle for research and teaching. Studies of 'bulk' items like salt, spices, coffee, and other globally-traded commodities abound, but few scholars have examined the role of luxury goods from a global perspective. This anthology charts the many different contexts in which luxury objects have been used across the globe, ranging from the social practices linked to these objects to their production, exchange, and consumption, as well as how these practices varied over time and space and how different societies attributed diverse meanings to the same objects. Using luxury goods as a conduit, Luxury in Global Perspective enriches our understanding of global history.

Download or read book The Origins of Geology in Italy written by Gian Battista Vai and published by Geological Society of America. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Queens Consort Cultural Transfer and European Politics c 1500 1800 written by Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-11-03 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Queens Consort, Cultural Transfer and European Politics examines the roles that queens consort played in dynastic politics and cultural transfer between their natal and marital courts during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. This collection of essays analyses the part that these queens played in European politics, showing how hard and soft power, high politics and cultural influences, cannot be strictly separated. It shows that the root of these consorts’ power lay in their dynastic networks and the extent to which they cultivated them. The consorts studied in this book come from territories such as Austria, Braunschweig, Hanover, Poland, Portugal, Prussia and Saxony and travel to, among other places, Britain, Naples, Russia, Spain and Sweden. The various chapters address different types of cultural manifestation, among them collecting, portraiture, panegyric poetry, libraries, theatre and festivals, learning, genealogical literature and architecture. The volume significantly shifts the direction of scholarship by moving beyond a focus on individual historical women to consider ‘queens consort’ as a category, making it valuable reading for students and scholars of early modern gender and political history.

Download or read book The Journal of Gemmology written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vols. for July 1964 include Proceedings of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain.