Philip M. Rose had a vision and in 1957 he turned that vision into his new business called Roseart Company. From his experience with working with a variety of marble from all over the world with his family business the Wright Monumental Works, Inc., he knew this beautiful material would make a wonderful combination with George G. Blaisdell's famous Zippo lighters. Mr. Blaisdell agreed to allow Mr. Rose to use Zippo lighters in his table lighters. The product line later became identified and known as "Home and Office Gifts of Lifetime Elegance."

Philip wanted a design that would emphasize the importance of symbolic ornamentation. He had many favorite artists in his lifetime and had acquired many beautiful paintings. In his study of the arts, he read that the Laurel Leaf academically was commonly used in commemorative art and that it was properly appropriate of one who had attained distinction in the arts. As a decorative motif, the Laurel and kindred plant forms remain one of the most beautiful elements of effect in the art of design. The true definition from the American College Dictionary reads "the foliage of the true laurel as an emblem of victory of distinction, honor won, as by achievement. A distinction in the arts." Therefore, he chose to call his original design the "Laurel." The Laurel leaf ornamentation was used in the metal base and at the top of the lighter with the different varieties of marble in the center. He experimented with a lid cover to go over the Zippo lighter to make it look complete. However, he didn't like the look of the lid covering the Zippo lighter and decided to stay with the flowing lines of the original Zippo.

After experimenting, he decided that the Laurel was too heavy and the quality he wanted was cost prohibitive. He then went to work on a more basic base for the bottom
and trim at the top of the table lighter to hold the Zippo lighter. This is when he came out with the four original table lighters that you see in his first sell sheet in 1958. The original four marbles are the Lafayette, Franciscan, Galilee and Vermont Verde.

The four new owners of the Roseart Company are; Ralph A. Rose, Philip’s son who was involved with Roseart with Philip, his wife Judith Oliver Rose, their daughter, Kelly Rose Platko and her husband, Mark Platko. After purchasing the company from Philip’s estate in 2000, they reopened the doors in April 2002. Their first year has been full of research and development.

On July 3, 2003, the four owners were digging through the archives hoping to find some treasures before National Zippo Day. They were participating in their second lighter show, the PLPG show to be held at the Best Western in Bradford. They had a picture of one of the Vermont Verde Laurel’s that they had found and had placed it on the slide show on their website. They also had found the original pastel artwork of the Laurel that Philip had shown to Mr. Howard Yates, Vice President of Zippo at that time. Mr. Yates signed and dated the artwork in the top right corner showing his approval. The owners hoped that one day they would find that Laurel obscured in the archives. Well they did better than that. Neatly tucked away in a nice taped boxed, simply labeled 1960, which was the year they were packaged and placed in the vault, they found 22 original Laurel lighters. Only 4 of the 22 have the stamp on the bottom that says “patent pending” “Philip M. Rose”. Of the 22, there is only one Norweigan Pink lighter (with a signature), six Franciscan lighters (one with a signature), five Vermont Verde lighters (one with a signature), five Lafayette lighters (one with a signature) and five Galilee lighters. Philip never marketed or sold any of the original Laurels to the best of the new owner’s knowledge.

To say the least, the four were thrilled with this find. Immediately, they had the lighters photographed by Steve Mahon, who does Photography work for Zippo Manufacturing Company.

They started to share their find with collectors before and during this show and the excitement is building. Two lighter collectors, who have been instrumental in getting the owners "fired" up are; Tom "Pyro" Prylinski of Erie, PA and Yuzi Wada of Tokyo, Japan.

Pictured with this article are photographs of four of the Laurels. Philip had them mounted in four different metal finishes; an Antique Brass, Satin Brass, High Polish Brass and Chrome.