De Beers Releases Book Tracing Origins Of A Diamond Is Forever

De Beers released a book on February 13, 2026, that chronicles the history and cultural impact of its now-iconic slogan "A Diamond Is Forever," presenting archival advertisements, magazine placements, and interviews that examine how the line helped redefine diamonds as symbols of love and endurance. The book’s stated scope includes archival ads, historical context, and interviews exploring how the slogan reshaped diamond marketing and the company’s strategy to redefine the role of diamonds in society.

The narrative returns repeatedly to the slogan’s origin and the woman credited with it: Frances Gerety. De Beers’ own 2015 company statement and Assouline both credit Gerety with coining the phrase in 1947 — Debeersgroup wrote, “First coined for De Beers in 1947 by copywriter Frances Gerety, ‘A Diamond is Forever’ has influenced popular culture for decades and continues to today.” Other accounts place the moment in the late 1940s: Diamondsourceva records a 1948 anecdote that the caption was “scrawled on the bottom of a picture of two young lovers on a honeymoon,” while SahilBloom’s analysis uses the looser term “late 1940s.” The book assembles these threads to show how a single line moved from agency sketch to global slogan.

The book frames the slogan as both cultural catalyst and industry engine. Assouline writes, “When copywriter Frances Gerety captured the diamond’s essence with the phrase ‘A Diamond Is Forever’ in 1947, the declaration enshrined the diamond as a promise of love and endurance, a sentiment resonating far beyond the notion of a simple gift.” Counterpointing that romantic history, SahilBloom argues that “De Beers created the modern diamond industry through the use of market manipulation, psychological hacks, and clever marketing,” describing how supply control across trading hubs in England, Switzerland, Israel, Belgium, Holland, and Portugal amplified the campaign’s effects.

De Beers’ corporate stewardship of the line is a recurring chapter. The company’s Forevermark brand, according to a Debeersgroup release dated May 28, 2015, reintroduced the tagline in a Holiday 2015 campaign; Forevermark CEO Stephen Lussier said, “We are thrilled to bring this incredible equity back to Forevermark where it truly belongs. After all, our name is built on the line. But it is not enough to simply bring it back. We need to recharge it with meaning and most importantly fuse it with the Forevermark brand promise.” The release also notes that “less than one per cent of the world’s diamonds are eligible to become a Forevermark diamond” and that Forevermark “benefits from over 126 years of diamond expertise.”

Visually, the book traces De Beers’ strategy of equating diamonds with fine art and modern taste. Assouline highlights commissioned works by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Raoul Dufy to draw “a direct line between a diamond’s rarity” and creative genius, and Diamondsourceva points to later campaigns such as the September 2003 “Women of the World Raise Your Right Hand” ads aimed at affluent women ages 35 to 64, which presented four ring styles—modern vintage, contemporary, floral, and romantic—as right-hand statements of personal style.

Named by De Beers’ copy as “the best advertising slogan of the century” by Advertising Age Magazine, “A Diamond Is Forever” remains the through-line of the new book. By gathering original ads, commissioned artworks, and contemporary interviews, the publication sets out to document a slogan that reshaped courtship rituals, brand strategy, and the economics of a global trade.