DeBeers blue ground with diamond

Hello and happy holidays.

I'm seeking information on an item I just obtained. It is a table cigarette lighter with a body consisting of a block of clear acrylic. Inside the block is a 3cm piece of kimberlite with a rough diamond crystal. It is labeled:
DB De Beers
Industrial Diamond Division
A Rough Diamond in Blue Ground

See photos.
The kimberlite is green and appears quite fresh, and will undoubtedly remain so. Does anyone know when this was made, or to whom it was distributed? Likely from a South African pipe?
Thanks.
Ken

Ken,

It's not much, but here's a little info on what may be a similar (or same) item as yours.....

Jan

Rare De Beers Industrial Diamond Div Cigarette Lighter

Thanks Jan. That's another of the same lighter. Cool item - I wish I could find out more about it.
k

Ken-
Just curious- can you tell if the diamond is partly in the kimberlite, or is it just sitting on it?
Very nice item!
John

John:
Good question. It appears that the diamond is slightly in the matrix. Can't rule out falsification, but can't prove it either. The diamond is about a quarter or third of a carat, octahedral with modified edges, white, and transparent with flaws.

I don't smoke, so I found a great use for it as a display for other gem quality diamonds. A gem cup fits nicely in the hole with the lighter popped out.

I'm AT LEAST 99.999% certain the diamond was not originally attached to this piece of matrix. Still, it's a great souvenir.

Jolyon

The diamond appears to be in lucite, acrylic or another resin material. These types of things (usually not kimberlites) are typically given to employees as tokens of appreciation or milestones. My guess would be it was a gift to an employee, an award or a prominent buyer of their product.

I have been to a place that makes these types of things. They can put all sorts of material in the resin (golfballs, watches, etc).

With the lighter attached, this one seems to be a little more functional than your typical acrylic plaque/award.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2011 07:23PM by Bryan Manke.

All of the few references to this item that I have seen have been from England, where mine was shipped from. Some call it "Perspex". Here in the states we just call it acrylic. Can anyone tell by the De Beers logo when it might have been made? I'm thinking '70s or '80s.

Hi, I'm a total newbie with all this stuff. Can anyone tell me why the diamond looks green in the picture?

Thanks!
Carly



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/2012 10:23AM by Jolyon Ralph.

Carly:
The diamond in the acrylic in this case appears white or off-white in person. It may appear greenish in the pictures because the matrix below it (the kimberlite) is green.

Green diamonds do occur; this color is usually the result of residing next to a natural radiation source for a long period of time (in a secondary source like a stream). Radiation causes damage to the crystal lattice resulting in a green color.

I am sure that the diamond crystal was stuck onto the matrix, and I have seen a similar type of your specimen but it wasn't with a lighter, it was only in a cube of clear acrylic plastic, I saw it in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, and I was told that it came from a dealer of industrial diamonds in Germany!

Made in Idar-Oberstein? Thanks. That's the first bit of possible helpful information I've gotten on the piece. Now I'd like know when.... I thought the DeBeers logo would help fix a date range, but no luck so far....

Ken, Why don't you try contacting the DeBeers company and see if they can tell you when and where it was made and for what.

I found this topic interesting and thought I'd help out by searching for that particular De Beers logo (I have a graphic design degree and have always found historic logos interesting). I found this page, which may be of interest to you: [www.vintageadbrowser.com]

They have dozens of De Beers ads on that website going back to 1940, and I clicked through them until I saw the logo used on your lighter. The first ad that it appears on is from 1966, and then it appears to have been used in advertising until around 1969 when it disappears again. It may have been used earlier/later than these years, but I can't find any other ads where they used it beyond these dates. Maybe you can use this info to narrow your searches a little bit.

And, just to toss in my two cents, it does look like the diamond was added to the matrix by hand.

Dan, that's exactly the information I was looking for! Thanks a bunch! I searched for the logo, but not knowing about the vintage ad site, I was unable to find it.

As I said, I don't know if it is authentic or not, and am making no claims or assumptions. I'm treating it as a mining industry relic. And now I have a rather narrow time frame!

Kelly: I may resort to contacting DeBeers, if I can figure out how best to do so.