News From Our Workshop

Handmade Originals

By Richard W. Wise, G.G.

© 2007

Well, we are home and back in the saddle again. I am sure that you are all heartily sick of images of us having fun in the sun but, Rio, St. Helena’s, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and Kenya: what a great trip.

One good reason to come home, a chance to see two beautiful new creations from the workbench of Laurie Donovan. These handmade original rings are made using a technique we call “floral appliqué”.

The Inspiration:

The design inspiration is drawn from Ukiyo-e or Japanese woodblock printing. The Ukiyo-e style began to influence Western art shortly after the island empire was pried open by Commodore Perry in 1855. In Japan, Ukiyo-e was originally a cheap reproducible art form aimed at the masses, so cheap that these prints originally found their way to Europe, stuffed into crates, as packing material. It wasn’t long before the Ukiyo-e style began to have a strong impact on Western art, inspiring the Art Nouveau movement along with such disparate souls as Gaugan, Van Gogh and Frank Lloyd Wright. (image right: 19th Century Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock print with stylized leaves)

Ring #1,The Design:

Ukiyo-e provides an excellent point of departure for the Spectrum Award winning artist to demonstrate her lyrical mastery of line. In her experienced hand the jeweler’s saw becomes as versatile as an artist’s pencil. (image left: Ms. Donavan cuts individual petals from gold sheet with jeweler's saw) The choice of colored golds, in this case yellow and white, provide a subtle counterpoint. The shank of the ring is in 18k white with a sanded finish. This finish adds depth and allows the polished yellow leaves to standout sufficiently to echo and complement the vivid scintillation of the Fancy Vivid Yellow and colorless (D-VS2) diamonds.

The Gems:

Exceptionally brilliant, these Fancy yellows have a slight orangy secondary hue (FVoY). Vivid Yellows will almost always read as either slightly orange or slightly greenish. The orange secondary hue is much to be desired because it adds a sense of sunny warmth. (pictured right, original parcel of FVoY from which these stones were taken)

Ring #2, Design & Gems:

Ms Donovan constructed the second floral appliqué ring of green gold with rose colored appliquéd flower petals. Again the artist draws inspiration from the highly stylized Ukiyo-e designs. Each individual rose gold petal is unique and beautifully frames the diamond to complete the blossom. These two colored golds are sufficiently exotic to stand up against the combined scintillation of three ideal cut round (D Vs2) diamonds. The green gold is cool, the rose warm. Note the artist has pierced the center section of the design to open it up and give it a lighter feeling. The green gold shank has been sand finished to maximize the contrast and bring out the color of the delicate rose colored petals.

Custom Design; From Concept to Completion:

We have specialized in custom design since our company was formed in 1978. We stand ready to work with you.

Rings in the floral appliqué style can also be made with other gemstones (yours or ours) by custom order. We have been working with contented clients for 28 years. Prices start at about $2,000.00 for a ring in 18k and vary depending upon the complexity of the design. As always the pieces are designed around and for the stones and we create several life-size sketches from which to choose your own unique design. If the first sketches don't please you we will do more. There is never an extra charge for our creative services.

Visit our online gallery; www.rwwise.com. and send us an email richard@rwwise.com or call us toll free at 800.773.0249 (413.637.1589 in Berkshire County, or outside the U.S.).

Hours; Dead of winter: Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10-5 (EST). Leave a message and we will call you back.

Interested in reading more about real life adventures in the gem trade? Follow me on gem buying adventures in the exotic entrepots of Burma and East Africa. Visit the gem fields of Austrailia and Brazil. 120 photographs including some of the world's most famous gems. Consider my book: Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide To Precious Gemstones.

“Wise is a renowned author... He’s
done a marvelous job of this first book, monumental work, a tour de force...My recommendation: Buy this book”.

Charles Lewton-Brain, Orchid

Now only $26.95. You can read a couple of chapters online: www.secretsofthegemtrade.com.

Buy it on Amazon: www.amazon.com

The Cape of Storms

by Richard W. Wise
2007

Few people take the route around the Cape of Good Hope these days. Perhaps that’s what made this trip so special. The trip around the Cape of Storms as the Portuguese first named it was a big thing in the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Centuries. I was particularly excited about the opportunity to trace, in reverse, the route taken by the French gem dealer and adventurer Jean Baptiste Tavernier in 1640-1641. (Image above, Dufkin, reproduction of Dutch ship active in East Indies during the early part of Seventeenth Century)

Tavernier took this route only once, during his 4^th voyage leaving from Dutch Batavia in late 1640. It took the French dealer fifty-five days to reach the Cape from Java and another seventeen days to voyage from the Cape to St. Helena’s. Both of these ports were used to revictual and refresh ships traveling the long route between Europe and the East Indies to Europe during the heyday of the spice trade. (Image above: 700 foot Seven Seas Voyager docked Cape Town, right: St. Helena Island)

Our voyage was more direct and much quicker. We took only four days to cross the South Atlantic from Rio de Janeiro to St. Helena, a voyage that often took weeks in those far off days. Due to prevailing winds and currents, ships leaving Europe would often find themselves sailing in a long gradual bow to a position off the coast of Brazil and then directly East towards the Cape. (Image: below, from the 1st Dutch edition of Tavernier's Six Voyages, himself is pictured at left with the turban)

Ships of the Seventeenth Century were small by the standards of today’s luxury cruise ships. At 160 tons, Tavernier’s ship the Les Provinces, could have been easily accommodated on the deck of my ship the 46,000 ton Regent Seven Seas Explorer.

Passing the Cape itself was a thrill the weather was calm and the sun was shining with only a few clouds gracing a dark blue sky. Why did the Portuguese name it the Cape of Storms? Tavernier describes it this way: "On the fifty-fifth day of our voyage we came in view of the Cape of Good Hope and we remained outside five or six days because the waves were so high that we did not venture to enter the roads to cast anchor." (Image above taken from the verandah of our cabin by my wife, Rebekah shows the Cape of Good Hope in the background.)

After further stops in Richard's Bay and Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, our voyage ended in Mombasa. After a short soujourn in Nairobi to visit our good friend Judy Bridges, wife of Campbell, discoverer of tsavorite garnet we found ourselves in London. Now is guess its back to work.

Stay tuned.

Interested in reading more about real life adventures in the gem trade? Follow me on gem buying adventures in the exotic entrepots of Burma and East Africa. Visit the gem fields of Austrailia and Brazil. 120 photographs including some of the world's most famous gems. Consider my book: Secrets Of The Gem Trade, The Connoisseur's Guide To Precious Gemstones. Now only $26.95. You can read a couple of chapters and order online: www.secretsofthegemtrade.com.

Buy it on Amazon: www.amazon.com

Rockin in Rio

“Rio, when my baby smiles at me I go to Rio de Janeiro”

Arrived in Rio last Sunday night. Not long after my book came out in 2001 I received a letter from Hans Stern, 84-year-old founder of H. Stern the world’s fifth largest jewelry company. It was gratifying to know that a man like Mr. Stern had not only liked the book but had taken the time to write. “Next time you are in Rio, stop in and have a Café Zihno.” So taking the man at his word I called. Next thing I knew a car arrived and my wife Rebekah and I were on our way to Stern’s headquarters in Ipanema.

We spent an enjoyable hour as promised over Café zihno. For those of you who have never been to Brazil, Café Zihno is the national drink and is very much like Italian espresso. Mr. Stern may be an octogenarian but he still loves his job and is in the office every day

Mr. Stern brought out his personal gem collection, which included a carat plus Emerald cat’s-eye. I haven’t seen one so fine since 1987. He also showed us a tray containing several hundred carats of sherry topaz and an exceptional large red topaz from the Capao mine, the best I have ever seen. We topped it all off with a personally conducted tour of the Stern headquarters.

Lecture Series

I have been invited on this 2007 Regent (Radisson) Seven Seas World Cruise to deliver a series of lectures on gemstones. I have a grueling schedule that requires a 50-minute lecture about every three days. Other than that Rebekah and I are free to enjoy the many pleasures of the world cruise. Regent cruises are the last word in luxury, everything is included. With ports of call like St. Helena, Walvis Bay, Cape Town and Mombassa we will have little time to get bored.

St. Helena

Four days by ship out of Rio, we arrived sighted the island. St. Helena is a small island off the coast of West Africa. When Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba the English, taking no chances exiled him to this small bit of volcanic rock, 500 miles from nowhere, after his final defeat at Waterloo. The former Emperor of the French spent his last six years on the island under the watchful eye of the British Army.

Originally discovered by the Portuguese, St. Helena was used for a refreshment station by Portuguese, Dutch and English ships navigating around the Cape of Good Hope. In those days, mariners often left goats and sheep and planted vegetables at places along their routes to reprovision other ships traveling that way.

The famous French Gem dealer and traveler, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, the man who discovered what was to become the Hope Diamond, arrived on the island on February 8, 1649, twenty-two days out of Cape Town on a voyage from Batavia and noted the many lemon trees that grew on the island. Lemon juice, in those days, was the sovereign remedy for Scurvy, a disease caused by a lack of fresh vegetables.

We took the tour. Seems like you can see the whole place in about three hours. As to what the 6,000 or so present inhabitants on St. Helena’s 47 square miles is a mystery to me but the fishing is good.

Namibian Diamonds

Dateline: Walvis Bay, Namibia. Namibia, one of Africa's "newest" nations, stretches 1300 km down Africa's southwest coast, bordered in the north by Angola. to the south by The Republic of South Africa.

In 1908, a railway worker discovered the first diamonds in what was then the German colony of South West Africa. The discovery set off a free-for-all gem rush that ended only when the Colonial administration absorbed all private leases into one huge Concession, stretching the length of the country's southern coast and some 100 km inland.

After the world war the territory became a League of Nations Protectorate administered by South Africa, which managed to hold onto the colony until 1990. Namibia has the richest marine diamond deposits in the world, with an estimated reserve of over 1.5 billion carats. All these deposits are secondary deposits meaning that the diamonds originally came from volcanic in situ deposits that were transported via the Orange river from South Africa and swept northward by the northwest current that runs just off the coast.

The average size of diamonds mined off the Namibian coast is a bit over ½ carat. A whopping 95% of these stones are gem quality.

Diamonds are responsible for 42% of all export earnings and 52% of government income and account for between 7-10% of the country’s GDP.