Pub. 14 2019 Issue 1

5 Issue 1 2019 / UCLS Foresights www.ucls.org “Rea l , i t t u r n s ou t , i s j u s t a s f l ex i b l e a concept as va l ue . . . . Rea l , l i ke va l ue , i s determi ned by mob ment a l i t y and j us t be i ng deemed genuine — or fake — was enough to make i t so . ” the early 1850s. It was determined that a solid pyramid of the metal would be a fitting honor to our first president. They used 100 ounces of pure aluminum. The cost was $1 an ounce, or a day's wage, the same price per ounce of silver. Today the price of silver is about seventeen dollars an ounce, and the price of aluminum is 2.4 cents. For comparison, an ounce of gold in 1850 was 19 dollars, and now it is $1,500. A discovery in a chemical laboratory in 1887 allowed the separation of alu- minum from bauxite, found plentifully in topsoil all over the world. Austrian engineer Karl Josef Bayer discovered the process that is still in use today. He lived a comfortable life, but did not get rich beyond belief by extracting aluminum, despite his patent on the process. The company he tried to form to process aluminum was actually un- able to secure adequate funding. His process led to aluminum losing 80% of its value by 1890. Before we move on to pearls, one more quote: “Gemstones are, in fact, just colorful gravel. They are just rocks that have been given special names. True jewels are things that are beautiful and scarce. We want them because few oth- ers can possess them. We want them even more if they are from some very faraway, exotic place. Their value is, and always has been, 90 percent imaginary.” Some things like gold, platinum, or emeralds really are rare, and have stayed rare. These havemaintained value. But if theywere not shiny, theymay never have become items of value. Other things, like aluminum, are has-beens. They don't hold the value they once did. Diamonds are spe- cial mainly becausewe are told they are. “For humans, scarcity creates value, value creates wealth, and both scarcity and wealth can be a good thing or a bad thing: a poison or a medicine. Too much money is as dangerous as too little, and can build or destroy economies.” This is much more interesting and complex than simple supply and demand. Now pearls. Before cultivated pearls, the pearl was extremely rare, shiny, and opalescent. They were a per- fect recipe for a highly valued object to hang on our bodies to show people our importance – and so we did. We killed each other over them. Pearls, however, were often misshap- en lumps. If you were lucky, it might be teardrop shaped. The concept that a pearl should be prized for how perfectly round it is and how perfectly matched it is to the set of pearls making up a necklace or ear- rings are really a development that could only exist with cultivated pearls. The re- sult was a sort of marketing position that fought against the criticism of natural pearl owners. The pearl is classed in value with poorly cultivated pearls at the bottom, extremely well cultivated ones at the top, and natural pearls sort of in a class apart, but so rare that most people do not care about them, which actually reduces their potential value. Enough money was brought into Japan from cultivated pearls that these methods were seriously guarded. It also helped revive the economy. Several outra- geous stunts did not hurt, like destroying a sack of barely imperfect marble-sized pearls. Sellers were disciplined enough to sell a lot, but not flood the market com- pletely, and that kept the value up. “Real, it turns out, is just as flexible a concept as value. ... Real, like value, is determined by mob mentality and just being deemed genuine —or fake —was enough to make it so.” What is considered a real pearl now? The finely cultured pearl in a matching set. It would be easy to make analogies and gain insights into the surveying busi- ness from contemplating value and the ways to sustain and manipulate value. CHAIR continued on page 6