chicago illinois usa key people ceo greg herro products synthetic diamonds created from the remains of humans and animals . revenue 7.5 million 2006 number of employees 4 website www.lifegem.com lifegem is a diamond company based in chicago . established as the international research & recovery corporation 1 lifegem was the first u.s. company to develop a way to extract carbon from human remains . 2 according to dean vandenbiesen speaking on the stan and terry show may 7 2007 the company is able to create a diamond from a lock of hair . 3 the company was founded in 2001 by greg herro mike herro rusty vandenbiesen and dean vandenbiesen 1 and was first based in elk grove village illinois . it is now headquartered in chicago and a second office under the name lifegem uk was recently opened in hove england . 4 in 2006 lifegem had us 7.5 million in revenue . projections for 2007 included an increased sales of 15 % to 20 % . 2 lifegem s services are offered at over 580 of the nearly 20 000 funeral homes in the united states . contents 1 the gems 2 the process 3 process controversy 4 charity 5 competition 6 references 7 further reading 8 external links the gems edit these synthetic diamonds are touted as memorial diamonds and range in price from usd 3 499 for 0.20 0.29 carat 40 to 59 mg stones to 19 999 for stones weighing 0.90 0.99 carats 180 199 mg . the company can extract enough purified carbon from a single cremated human body to synthesize up to 50 gems weighing one carat 200 mg each or up to 100 diamonds of smaller size while sending remaining ashes to the family . 5 diamonds made from the remains of pets are priced the same as those made from human remains but the size of the animal may be a limiting factor . according to rusty van den biesen when enough carbon is not present in the sample extraneous carbon is added . 6 as of march 2005 update lifegem said it had served 1 000 customers since the company s founding . the process edit the carbon from the remains is converted to graphite after purification 7 from which point it is placed in a diamond synthesis press . the diamonds are made via the thermal gradient method using alloys as a flux at pressures of 5.0 6.0 gpa and temperatures of 1 600 2 000 c. the entire process from cremation to finished stone takes up to six months for yellow lifegem diamonds and up to nine months for blue lifegem diamonds . due to boron impurities present in the carbon most lifegem synthetic diamonds produced up to 2003 were type iib and were a light to medium blue in colour . iron flux inclusions within the stones also rendered them magnetic . the synthesis process has since been modified and lifegem now produces yellow blue white clear red and green diamonds . three standard diamond cuts are offered to customers round brilliant radiant and princess the latter two cuts are rectangular and square in outline respectively . the finished stones are laser inscribed with an identifier graded by gemologists and are given a signed certificate of authenticity which contains a lifegem id . the client also gets a report with a gia serial number a description of the stone s color and the fact that it was lab produced . 8 process controversy edit the gem creation process they describe in their marketing literature and the technical process they describe in their patents have several important differences . this led to a discussion on the pricescope forum a gem industry board about the feasibility of producing gems using the processes described in their marketing literature . 9 the pricescope discussion runs for many pages and is summarized in a post on zetaboards.com . 10 the corpse contact problem is a religious one especially for jews and some christians in matters concerning spiritual uncleanness issues in numbers 9 6 19 11 13 and haggai 2 13 for example . charity edit in september 2007 lifegem announced the completion and auction of the ludwig van beethoven lifegem diamond a blue .56 ct round brilliant diamond which was the first ever created from the carbon of a celebrity or historical figure . 11 three diamonds were created partially from 130 mg of carbon extracted from 10 strands of hair from the remains of ludwig van beethoven 12 and partially from added carbon . one of the three diamonds was listed for auction on ebay for us 1 000 000.00 with the proceeds to be donated to assist underprivileged children . 11 the diamond was eventually sold for us 202 700 13 after 62 bids on ebay citation needed . one of the other two diamonds was given to john reznikoff provider of the beethoven hair sample to be stored at the university archives 12 and the final diamond is being kept by lifegem to start a lifegem chain of fame . 14 competition edit several companies offer memorial diamonds including algordanza a company based in switzerland 15 heart in diamond a company based in uk 16 instituto de monocristales 17 amber yellow green blue colorless new life diamonds and gems 18 phoenix diamonds a company based in macclesfield united kingdom 19 lonite ag a memorial diamond company based in switzerland 20 references edit a b lifegem company overview hoover s a b chicago business the red lifegem diamond the one of a kind valentine s day gift they ll never forget prior malcolm 2004 01 12 . diamond memories of the dead . bbc news . retrieved 2010 05 07 . asianweek.com business the consumer precious life memorial diamonds forum posting creating diamonds from human ashes colored stone september october 2003 sparkle in peace detailed discussion of memorial diamonds on pricescope forum pricescope forum 1 zetaboards summary of pricescope discussion . a b lifegem auctions the world s first celebrity diamond on ebay for 1 000 000.00 a b beethoven s hair turned into 500k diamond . telegraph.co.uk . london telegraph media group limited . 19 september 2007 . retrieved 2010 05 07 . a beautiful new way to memorialize loved ones abazias.com diamond blog lifegem auctions the world s first celebrity diamond on ebay for 1 000 000.00 lifegem website algordanza home home heart in diamond 2 irisgem new life diamonds website phoenix diamonds website lonit further reading edit gallegos d. wolfe r. 2005 . sparkling in memory . denverpost.com . retrieved 12 april 2005 from http www.denverpost.com stories 0 1413 36 33 2771085 00.html . laurs b. m. overton t. w. 2003 . lifegem synthetic diamonds . gems & gemology vol . 39 no. 1 . p. 62 . gemological institute of america . novotny m. 2005 . the ultimate family jewel . msnbc news countdown with keith olbermann . retrieved 12 april 2005 from http www.msnbc.msn.com id 4751684 . jones n. 2006 . blunt ashes . hip hop is dead . external links edit lifegem heart in diamond irisgem detailed discussion of memorial diamonds on pricescope forum retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title lifegem & oldid 743336808 categories synthetic diamondcompanies based in chicagodeath customshidden categories articles containing potentially 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