New Delhi: Auction house Sotheby's unveiled a rare gem in Dubai on Monday. It's a diamond that is believed to have come from outer space, news agency AP reportd.
The 555.55-carat black diamond, which Sotheby's calls 'The Enigma', is due to be auctioned off in London in February. The special gem was shown off to journalists who were part of a tour in Dubai and Los Angeles, the AP report said.
The auction house expects the black diamond to be sold for at least 5 million British pounds, or US$ 6.8 million.
According to the report, Sotheby's is also open to accepting cryptocurrency as a possible payment for The Enigma.
Quoting Sophie Stevens, a jewellery specialist at Sotheby's Dubai, the report said the diamond has 55 facets, and that the number five bears an importance significance to the diamond.
“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 was quoted as saying. In Arabic, 'Khamsa' means five.
“...there's a nice theme of the number five running throughout the diamond."
Black diamonds are also known as carbonado. They are extremely rare, found naturally only in Brazil and Central Africa.
Speaking about the likelihood of the diamond being from outer space, Stevens told AP: “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.”