DARK MATTER

THE ENIGMA

Black diamond, largest ever cut, sells for £3.2 million

Agence France-Presse
February 09, 2022

The Enigma, a 555.55 carat black diamond, which went on show Monday in the Gulf emirate of Dubai 

Giuseppe CACACE AFP

"The Enigma", the world's largest known cut diamond at 555 carats, went under the hammer in London on Wednesday for £3.16 million ($4.3 million, 3.8 million euros) having recently gone on display for the first time.

The rare black, or carbanado, diamond is believed to have been created when a meteorite or an asteroid hit Earth more than 2.6 billion years ago.

The 555.55 carat, 55-faced diamond reached £3.16 million, excluding the buyer's premium, at an online sale held by London's renowned Sotheby's auction house.

Carbonados are usually found close to the Earth's surface, suggesting extraterrestrial origins.

"It is thought that this specific type of black diamond was created either from meteoric impacts producing natural chemical vapor deposition or an extraterrestrial origin -- from supernovae explosions that formed diamond-bearing asteroids which ultimately collided with the Earth," said the auction house.

One of the most difficult substances to cut, the diamond had never previously been shown by its unnamed owner of the past 20 years.

Experts took three years turning the rough diamond into a 55-face jewel and it recently went on show in Dubai, Los Angeles and London.

Its shape was inspired by the Middle East palm-shaped symbol of power and protection, the Hamsa, which is also associated with the number five.

"The Enigma's price did not quite reach intergalactic levels. But what cannot be denied is that the Enigma is a diamond with unparalleled bragging rights," said Tobias Kormind, managing director of Europe's largest online jeweler, the Mayfair.

"The size, shape and source of the Enigma diamond make it groundbreaking and amazing," he added. "Most diamonds are cut into one of 10 popular shapes but the Enigma's form resembles a hand."

The Enigma is not a gem quality diamond, and carbonados are not normally used in jewellery or sold at auction, but have grown in popularity recently.

They are normally used in industrial drilling due to their extraordinary hardness.

Sotheby's called the diamond a "cosmic wonder" ahead of the sale, which also accepted crypto-currency bids.

Last year in Hong Kong, the Key 10138 diamond sold for 12.3 million dollars, which was paid in crypto-currency.

 

A 555.55-carat black diamond believed to come from space is going on sale

Isabelle Jani-Friend, CNN .

A 555.55-carat black diamond that is truly from out of this world has been unveiled by auction house Sotheby's Dubai.

The rare gem, which Sotheby's has dubbed "The Enigma," is believed to have come from outer space -- either created from a meteoric impact or from a "diamond-bearing" asteroid that collided with Earth.

A natural faceted black diamond of this size is an "extremely rare occurrence," according to Sotheby's, which expects it to sell for as much as £5 million ($6.8 million) when it goes under the hammer in February in London, after being exhibited in Dubai and Los Angeles.

Black diamonds, also known as Carbonado diamonds, can be dated to between 2.6 to 3.8 billion years ago and have trace amounts of nitrogen and hydrogen -- elements found in interstellar space. They also contain osbornite, a mineral present in meteorites.

Nikita Binani, a jewelry specialist at Sotheby's in London, called the diamond "a true natural phenomenon."

"Its sale represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire one of the rarest, billion-year-old cosmic wonders known to humankind," she said in press release Monday.

The shape of the diamond is inspired by the Middle Eastern palm symbol of the Hamsa, a sign of protection, which means five in Arabic. The theme of five runs throughout the stone, according to the auctioneer. In addition to its 555.55 carats, it also contains exactly 55 facets, or faces.

Black diamonds that are faceted have sold in the past at prices surpassing £10,000 ($13,600) per carat, Sotheby's told CNN.

The diamond will be open for bidding online from February 3 to 9, and the auction house said it will accept cryptocurrency as payment.

The move follows the sale of a 101-carrat diamond, dubbed "The Key 10138," which became the most expensive jewel ever purchased with cryptoccurency when it sold last year, according to Sotheby's.

The pear-shaped gemstone sold for the equivalent of $12.3 million, after the auctioneer announced it was accepting offers in bitcoin and ethereum, in addition to traditional forms of payment. Sotheby's would not disclose which of the two cryptocurrencies had been used to make the purchase.

A number of auction houses have begun welcoming cryptocurrencies for big-ticket items, which have included paintings and NFTs -- the blockchain-backed tokens increasingly used to transfer ownership of digital artworks and collectibles. Sotheby's CEO Charles Stewart told CNN's Julia Chatterley last April that he believed NFTs and crypto were opening up the art market.


© Sotheby'sThe black diamond is thought to come from interstellar space.