A Sotheby’s Dubai employee presents a 555.55 Carat black diamond titled “The Enigma” (Mystery) to be auctioned at Sotheby’s Dubai gallery, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates .
Kamran Jebreili / AP
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Kamran Jebreili / AP
A Sotheby’s Dubai employee presents a 555.55 Carat black diamond titled “The Enigma” (Mystery) to be auctioned at Sotheby’s Dubai gallery, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates .
Kamran Jebreili / AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Sotheby’s Dubai has revealed a real diamond from this world.
Sotheby’s calls the 555.55-carat black diamond – believed to have come from outer space – “Mysterious”. The rare gem was introduced to journalists on Monday as part of a tour in Dubai and Los Angeles before it goes up for auction in February in London.
Sotheby’s expects the diamond to sell for at least £5 million ($6.8 million). The auction house plans to accept cryptocurrency as a possible payment.
Sophie Stevens, a jewelry specialist at Sotheby’s Dubai, told The Associated Press that the number of years is significant for the diamond, which also has 55 facets.
“The shape of the diamond is based on the Middle Eastern palmistry of Khamsa, which symbolizes strength and it symbolizes protection,” she said. Khamsa in Arabic means five.
“So there’s a nice theme of years running through the diamond,” she added.
Stevens also said the black diamond likely came from space.
“With carbonado diamonds, we believe they were formed through extraterrestrial origins, with meteorites that collided with Earth and formed chemical vapors or actually came from the rocks themselves,” she said. meteorite.
Black diamonds, also known as carbonados, are extremely rare and are only found naturally in Brazil and Central Africa. Cosmic origin theory is based on carbon isotopes and their high hydrogen content.
