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.
These are the top stories, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Queens, N.Y. and Arlington, Va., will ultimately share the spoils of the hard-fought battle for Amazon's new headquarters. The two will split the planned HQ2s ー and the 50,000 jobs that come along with them. In a lower-profile twist, Nashville, Tenn. will unexpectedly be home to an operation center and about 5,000 new jobs.
Michelle Obama's memoir, "Becoming," hit shelves this week, with a rollout that felt more like a concert tour ー including appearances by Oprah, packed stadium events, and near-universal morning TV coverage.
With so many promising movies hitting theaters this weekend, what should you actually see? MovieWeb’s Julian Roman gives us the lowdown on everything from the newest installment of ‘Famtastic Beasts,’ to crime drama ‘Widows.’
Mike Sepso is a gilded name in esports. His latest win? The senior VP of Activision Blizzard was recently appointed a strategic partner of Overwatch team league New York Excelsior. And he also happens to be the leader of Major League Gaming, which he founded with partner Sundance DiGiovanni in 2002. But before he assumed his throne, Sepso conceived MLG during a single lazy summer when he and his partner were basking in the glory of their previous company, Gotham Broadband.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is fighting back after the New York Times published an investigation into how the company failed to address Russian meddling in the 2016 election. California officials doubled the number of people missing as a result of the wildfires to more than 600. And Bill Oliver, director of the new sci-fi drama 'Jonathan,' joins Cheddar to discuss his new film starring Ansel Elgort.
Etsy sees diversity as a key driver of growth ー and it has the numbers to prove it. About 55 percent of employees and 50 percent of the board at the e-commerce marketplace are women. Raina Moskowitz, SVP of People at Etsy, and Karina Daniel Parris, artist and owner of Etsy shop "Lovely Earthlings," spoke to Cheddar about representation of women in art and how Etsy is leading the tech sector in diversity.
The Camp Fire in northern California is officially the deadliest and most destructive fire in the state's history. More than 600 people are unaccounted for and 66 have died, and the fire is still not contained.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Nov. 16, 2018.
It's been quite the week for Facebook, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it seems, still has a fun streak. The high-profile CEO stepped out with rapper Kanye West to kick back, relax, and sing a little karaoke on Monday.
