The space of tensors of metric curvature type on a Euclidean vector space carries a two-parameter family of orthogonally invariant commutative nonassociative multiplications invariant with respect to the symmetric bilinear form determined by the metric. For a particular choice of parameters these algebras recover the polarization of the quadratic map on metric curvature tensors that arises in the work of Hamilton on the Ricci flow. Here these algebras are studied as interesting examples of metrized commutative algebras and in low dimensions they are described concretely in terms of nonstandard commutative multiplications on self-adjoint endomorphisms. The algebra of curvature tensors on a 3-dimensional Euclidean vector space is shown isomorphic to an orthogonally invariant deformation of the standard Jordan product on $3 \times 3$ symmetric matrices. This algebra is characterized up to isomorphism in terms of purely algebraic properties of its idempotents and the spectra of their multiplication operators. On a vector space of dimension at least 4, the subspace of Weyl (Ricci-flat) curvature tensors is a subalgebra for which the multiplication endomorphisms are trace-free and the Killing type trace-form is a multiple of the nondegenerate invariant metric. This subalgebra is simple when the Euclidean vector space has dimension greater than 4. In the presence of a compatible complex structure, the analogous result is obtained for the subalgebra of Kähler Weyl curvature tensors. It is shown that the anti-self-dual Weyl tensors on a 4-dimensional vector space form a simple 5-dimensional ideal isometrically isomorphic to the trace-free part of the Jordan product on trace-free $3 \times 3$ symmetric matrices.

Kantor pairs arise naturally in the study of 5-graded Lie algebras. In this article, we introduce and study Kantor pairs with short Peirce gradings and relate themto Lie algebras graded by the root system of type $\text{B}{{\text{C}}_{2}}$. This relationship allows us to define so-called Weyl images of short Peirce graded Kantor pairs. We use Weyl images to construct new examples of Kantor pairs, including a class of infinite dimensional central simple Kantor pairs over a field of characteristic $\ne$ 2 or 3, as well as a family of forms of a split Kantor pair of type ${{\text{E}}_{6}}$.