I guess I thought you wanted to destroy the transparent plastic, not the chip, Ron. Would be interesting to hear more of the technique the laser engineers propose.

I've thought about the problem before, but I could only come up with a way to cut the chip out of the block with a saw or mill, leaving some plastic around it. Then polish the surfaces. You would not have a chip that looked original, but one that looked kind of like a chip in an air-tite holder. I haven't tried it, but believe it could be done with lots of time and effort.

There are also prototyping devices available that will scan an object and then build-up a duplicate of it in 3D using plastic. I suspect this would be a more practical way to get a chip that looks like the one in the block of plastic. And you don't destroy the paperweight in the process!

However, I only have a BS, not a PhD [g].