Billion-Year-Old Black Diamond Rumored To Be “From Space” Up For Auction

The largest cut diamond in the world is about to go up for auction. The extraordinary jewel, nicknamed "The Enigma" is a billions-year-old Fancy Black diamond that is rumored to originate from space.

According to the auction house, the stone is a carbonado black diamond, which are extremely rare, occur naturally, and usually date from 2.6 to 3.8 billion years old. It contains nitrogen and hydrogen but also a mineral called osbornite usually found in meteorites, which suggests an outer space connection.

What that connection is exactly is unclear, however. Extraterrestrial diamonds from meteorites are tiny, usually nano-sized. This diamond is anything but nano. It weighs 555.55 carats (111.11 grams), about the same as a bar of soap. Diamonds are made of carbon so they form as carbon atoms under a high temperature and pressure. They bond together to start growing crystals. The Enigma could have formed in the collision between an asteroid and our planet, or meteoritic material somehow survived the high heat and pressure of the natural diamond formation.

The natural faceted diamond has been polished into exactly 55 facets. The work of cutting one of the hardest stones in the world took several years, concluding in 2004. In 2006, it won the Guinness World Record for the largest cut diamond in the world.

Since then, there has not been much news about this diamond. It has not been on the market nor exhibited to the public. Now it is going to be auctioned by Sotheby's and will be exhibited in Dubai, Los Angeles, and London. The diamond will be offered "without reserve" — the winning bid will be the highest bid, regardless of the bid value or the value of the diamond itself — but the rock is expected to fetch over $6 million, reports BBC News.

Interestingly, Sotheby's has said cryptocurrency will be accepted as payment, marking a turning point in buying physical highly valuable objects.

The peculiar design is inspired by the Hamsa, the palm-shaped symbol seen in Middle-Eastern and North African countries, used often as a sign of protection against evil but also of power and strength.

Neptune may have mountains made out of diamond. Perhaps a big strike there busted up a few pieces which eventually found its way here.

The Russians are sitting on top of a meteor crater that has billions of carats of gem grade diamonds they are keeping off the market to keep prices high. If even the Dutch market were to release the diamonds they have already stockpiled, gem grade white diamonds would sell for about $10 a carat. They are NOT rare. Except for red diamonds which are the rarest, Black diamonds are actually the second rarest of the fancy color diamonds.

Evidence shows that all black diamonds come from a single source, a single huge asteroid, 1 kilometer in diameter which struck the earth between 1 billion and two billion years ago, which may have caused the rift that separated the American continents from Africa and Europe. The trace elemental evidence in all black diamonds seems to indicate that the asteroid may have been born at the center of a supernova billions of years ago.

All black diamonds up until about 20 years ago were small (except for three) were sand sized up to pea sized, found strewn on the ground in Central Africa and South America… but about 16 to 20 years ago, someone dug into a lode of much larger black diamonds. Some quite large. Apparently somewhere in Africa someone may have found the body of that asteroid or a chunk of it.

The three larger black diamonds known prior to then were the Black Orlov, a faceted gem originally about 600 carats with lots of garbage that was cut down to a faceted gem of 167.5 carats that was called the eye of Burma and put in the Scepter of the Tsar. The Small Orlov, cut from a piece of the original Orlov, of about 68 carats, and another 37 carat smaller piece. Those found in the last year range much larger…

I have about 150 black diamonds, purchased when they were first being found for VERY low prices. They are not controlled by the diamond cartel and are cut in Israel and India. Some are now cut in China. However, the mine which was hidden, has apparently been overrun by rebels and the entrance destroyed about four years ago and those who knew where it was located killed. No newly mined pieces are coming out, so prices are rapidly rising.

All black diamonds cannot be graded on the traditional 4C system of color, cut, clarity, and carat, as clarity cannot be graded on an opaque black diamond. Instead, Black Diamonds are graded on a scale of from one to five A’s, with five A’s being the best. The one in this auction, which I have seen several other photographs of, is at best a a AA quality black diamond. In other photos it shows up almost brown in color. The cut is not great being it’s natural mined shaped, although the polish is good, but carat is high. My 16.5 carat ring has an AAA black diamond for two reasons. One is that there is a poorly cut facet on the back side. The other is that the table (top surface) occasionally oozes a modicum of something from the interior (oil?) and won’t take as fine a polish as the other facets. Do I care? The rear facet can’t be seen, and wiping it off every so often takes care of the other issue, so no, I don’t. The AAA rating cuts the value down to 25% of what it could be if it were AAAAA. I have other black diamonds that are rated with the full five A’s by a gemologist and have the certificates with them.

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