Auction house Sotheby’s Dubai has unveiled a diamond that’s literally from out of this world.
Sotheby’s calls the 555.55-carat black diamond — believed to have come from outer space — “The Enigma.” The rare gem was shown off on Monday to journalists as part of a tour in Dubai and Los Angeles before it is due to be auctioned off in February in London.
Sotheby’s expects the diamond to be sold for at least 5 million British pounds ($6.8 million). The auction house plans to accept cryptocurrency as a possible payment as well.
Sophie Stevens, a jewelry specialist at Sotheby’s Dubai, told The Associated Press that the number five bears an importance significance to the diamond, which has 55 facets as well.
“The shape of the diamond is based on the Middle-Eastern palm symbol of the Khamsa, which stands for strength and it stands for protection,” she said. Khamsa in Arabic means five.
“So there’s a nice theme of the number five running throughout the diamond," she added.
Stevens also said the black diamond is likely from outer space.
“With the carbonado diamonds, we believe that they were formed through extraterrestrial origins, with meteorites colliding with the Earth and either forming chemical vapor disposition or indeed coming from the meteorites themselves,” she said.
Black diamonds, also known as carbonado, are extremely rare, and are found naturally only in Brazil and Central Africa. The cosmic origin theory is based on their carbon isotopes and high hydrogen content.
As 2018 comes to an end, Cheddar is picking the year's top winners and biggest triumphs for Cheddar's Hall of Fame.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Dec. 31, 2018.
Your days to travel in 2018 may be numbered, but 2019 beckons. So what's ahead for the travel industry next year? Lola.com CEO Mike Volpe joined Cheddar to present his predictions for travel in 2019.
Restaurants across the country are facing higher labor costs and minimum wage hikes, and that could spell doom not only for the businesses themselves, but also for working class Americans, according to former CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Pudzer. "People believe they are helping the working poor, but in fact, you're actually hurting them," Pudzer told Cheddar on Friday.
There's a new mixed-martial arts league on the block. The Professional Fighters League ー or PFL ー is wrapping up its inaugural season with a championship match on New Year's Eve. According to Peter Murrary, the CEO of the league, the match's purse, $1 million, is a major draw for athletes ー money talks, and can mark achievement.
San Francisco and New York get the ink for being outlandishly expensive, but Los Angeles' housing crisis has become so severe that it threatens the very industry on which the city relies. According to Katie Kilkenny, an associate editor at The Hollywood Reporter, median rental prices in Los Angeles, Calif., have increased by 32 percent since 2000
As 2018 dwindles, we're reviewing the year's most extravagant fails as part of Cheddar's Hall of Shame.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Dec. 28, 2018.
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Instagram accidentally released an update to its app on Thursday, enraging users and igniting a firestorm on social media. The social media platform, which hit 1 billion users in June, modified how users view their main feeds ー switching from a vertical scroll to a horizontal swipe, à la popular dating app, Tinder.
