AT&T Network of the Future Glass Holographic Paperweight

Over a long career in technology, I picked up a lot of exposition / convention show give-aways and tchotskies. The stuff was mainly for my kids who eagerly waited for presents from dad after being on the road. Logo laden pens, calculators, hats, t-shirts and so forth were the norm. Today some collectors covet these early corporate marketing and advertising items. As you might expect, my collection of corporate give-aways eventually found their way into the trash as the kids grew up but I hung onto a couple truly memorable items.

I received this large chunk of holographic glass (halogen lit paperweight?) from AT&T in the 1980s while employed at NCR. It was an award for contributing to the development and marketing of some innovative telecommunications technologies. AT&T’s major marketing push at the time was the “Network of the Future.” These were the pre-Internet days of an evolving ARPANet; the starting point for today’s Internet that everyone enjoys.

The deeply 3D holographic graphic is AT&T’s famous earth overlaid with communications lines traversing the globe. At the time it became known as the “Death Star” logo.