Posted on 01/19/2022 10:28:34 AM PST by nickcarraway
And you can buy it with cryptocurrency. The Enigma, a 555.55-carat black diamond is currently being exhibited in the United Arab Emirates and will soon be up for bidding, the auction house Sotheby's said in its listing.
According to the details provided by Sotheby's, the diamond is the largest black diamond in the world and was listed as the largest cut diamond by the Guinness Book of Records in 2006. Black diamonds, also called carbonado, are extremely rare and are found in Brazil and Central America, Time reported.
Researchers are still figuring out what makes these diamonds so tough at the same time trying to answer why they occur in limited places. Lead isotope analysis has shown that these rocks are about three billion years old but surprisingly, they're found in younger sedimentary locations.
An alternate theory, which was reported in the New York Times in 1996, states these rare pieces of rock originated in a supernova almost four billion years ago and traversed through space for over a billion years before entering the Earth's atmosphere and crashing as a meteorite in a region that later became modern-day Brazil and Central America.
Sotheby's is sticking to the extra-terrestrial origin in its descriptions of the item, and apart from being a 555.55-carat diamond, it also has 55 facets. The diamond will travel to Los Angeles later this month, followed by an exhibition in London as its auction begins on February 3.
Sotheby's will also accept cryptocurrencies as a mode of payment for the item, although it won't be the first time it is doing so. Last year, the Hong Kong branch of the auction house sold a 101.38-carat pear-shaped diamond to an unknown buyer who exercised the crypto option, making it the most expensive piece of jewelry bought using an altcoin, at least from public records.
Nevertheless, it is still a major confidence boost for cryptocurrencies that have seen large fluctuations in their valuation by the markets.
Now thats impressive!!
Glad they let me know this is coming up on the block. I’ll defer getting that new Python so I can bid on this rock.
I may have to throw a bid out there on it. It’d make a heck of a Monopoly token.
Would make a good drill bit......................
Well, I checked on a Sotheby-related auction story for some strange reason. Now I am intrigued, really.
Just what in heck is that all about?
Black diamond = coal?
Black diamond = coal?
Seems legitimate to ask.
If it’s not cut in a pentagon (5 sides), I don’t want it.
Part of the windshield of a interstellar cruiser that got junked on the way to pick up the Atlantians.
/s
They were afraid to exhibit it and auction it in the US.
Some BLM types with a stolen car outside would rush in with a plastic garbage bag and steal it.
“Police made no arrests. There are no suspects. People are reaching out to the public for help. Suspect is a male of medium build.”
It is so mysterious that it was carefully cut over a long and carefully negotiated work contract l, to exactly 555.55 carats, by the guy that asked for it to be cut that way, by someone he knew that could cut it that way and return it to him, all for getting paid to fulfill the contract. Yawn….
Spoon Man:
more details please. Who is he, where is he from and is he married?
My Star Ship needs that but I’m a little low on my funds:-)
Very unusual and beautiful.
Seems like a fairly ordinary chunk of rock.
I have a uncut black diamond, about 1.5 carats.
These are shinier, bigger bang for the buck, already cut and mounted and quite tasty.
So. Using the American Gem Society gradients for quality (clarity) and color, 0 being the highest score and 10 being the lowest, I think we can safely score this magnificent stone as follows:
clarity - 15
color - 20
This stone will henceforth be known as The Godiva Diamond.
Thank you.
Seems legitimate to ask."
Only if you don't know diddly-squat about mineralogy.
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