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.
Amazon made company history and recorded its biggest shopping day yet on Cyber Monday following an already-lucrative five-day holiday weekend that totaled over 180 million in products sold.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018.
After surviving a near-fatal motorcycle accident, Academy Award-nominated actor Gary Busey claims to have visited "the other side." Now he's out with his own "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth" ー an autobiography he calls "Buseyisms." He sits down with Cheddar's Alyssa Julya Smith to talk about his book.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle united with labor leaders on Monday to slam GM's announcement that it would cut more than 14,000 jobs ー a combination of factory and office roles ー and put five plants on the chopping block.
Scott Cutler, SVP of Americas at eBay, told Cheddar that the trends that are changing the retail landscape became clearer this year, with mobile purchases on the day before Thanksgiving now making for the unofficial kick-off to the season. EBay expects to gross more in online transactions than Walmart, Macy's and BestBuy combined.
E-commerce and mobile was the breakout star this Thanksgiving weekend with more customers picking the couch over the queue, shopping earlier ー and increasingly on their phones. "It's not just about Black Friday anymore ー there's the day before Thanksgiving, there's Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday. Small Business Saturday was pretty big too ... It's basically a whole week at this point," Rob Marvin, associate features editor at PCMag told Cheddar on Monday.
Elon Musk says there's a 70 percent chance he'll go to Mars ー even though there's also a good chance he won't come back. Musk spoke on his plans to personally take the SpaceX Starship (formerly known as the BFR) to Mars in an interview with Axios broadcast Sunday on HBO, during which he also said that Tesla was "single-digit weeks" from dying this spring and summer.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Nov. 26, 2018.
Now that cannabis legalization is sweeping the U.S. and Canada, legal weed is joining the Black Friday shopping madness. For those cannabis enthusiasts on the hunt for heady deals, educator and consultant Emma Chasen discusses best practices for a thrifty ー and legal ー "Green Friday."
For full interview, [click here] (https://cms.cheddar.com/videos/VmlkZW8tMjcwOTk=).
Undercover Colors is a tech start-up that recently launched a disposable test that shows you if your drink is spiked with a date rape drug. CEO Barbara Cook talks about how the product works, and how the company plans to make a difference for undergraduate students.
