Are you ready to be confused? B)
OLD ROCK =
-a company name
-the name of a mine
-the name of a vein
-a brand
The Old Rock company sold the Old Rock brand, but they sold other brands as well. The "Old Rock" coticules did not exclusively come from the Old Rock vein, and not all hones coming from the Old Rock vein were sold under the Old Rock brand. The "Old Rock" coticules did not even exclusively come from the "Old Rock mine", as the company obtained raw rocks from other mining companies as well.
I think the best way to understand it, is to compare it with a tomato farm. You grow tomatoes, and when harvested, you end up with whole bunch of tomatoes, both sorted by size, uniformity, firmness, etc. 25 years ago, I did student jobs at Europe's largest clock auction for vegetables. We had over a dozen of different tomato classes, by the way: none of them having any relevance to how they tasted. The way they were distributed, by the time the tomatoes reached the consumer, it was impossible to tell their origin.
The Old Rock company was the largest Coticule manufacture, they turned raw Coticule rock into hones. These hones were triaged and labeled after production. Their highest grade was sold with the Old Rock label. The company was owned by the Offergeld family (a name of Jewish origin). To this day, they still own the mine and brand name. Everything I've read and heard, suggests that they had a fine nose for business opportunities and marketing. Some 10 years ago, Maurice Celis, owner of Ardennes Coticule, negotiated with them to reopen the Old Rock mine. They could not reach a financial agreement, that Maurice found feasible. Otherwise, Ardennes might have continued the Old Rock brand.
Kind regards,
Bart.
