Sotheby’s will offer a 555.55 carat black diamond named The Enigma in a single-lot online auction running from 3 to 9 February. Described as the largest faceted diamond of any kind to appear at auction, it will be sold without reserve, and the house will accept payment in cryptocurrency.
The stone carries 55 facets and is the largest Fancy Black Natural Colour diamond in the world, as reported by Gubelin and the GIA as of 2004. It was listed as the largest cut diamond in the world in the 2006 Guinness Book of World Records, and it has been held by its owner for more than two decades, never previously exhibited publicly or offered on the open market.
Its cut is shaped after the Hamsa, the Middle Eastern palm symbol associated with protection and with the number five, echoing both the stone’s 555.55 carat weight and its 55 facets.
The Enigma is a carbonado, a class of black diamond dating from roughly 2.6 to 3.8 billion years ago. Carbonados contain traces of nitrogen and hydrogen abundant in interstellar space, as well as osbornite, a mineral found in meteorites, and are known to occur naturally only in Brazil and the Central African Republic. These origins support the theory that such stones formed either from a meteoric impact or from a diamond-bearing asteroid that collided with Earth.
Because carbonados are among the hardest materials known and are near impossible to cut and polish, black diamonds have typically been reserved for industrial use, with gem-quality natural coloured stones remaining scarce on the market. Sotheby’s notes that the sale follows last year’s purchase of the diamond known as The Key 10138, which sold for a record price paid in cryptocurrency.
Ahead of the auction, the diamond was unveiled at Sotheby’s Dubai and will be on view in the DIFC from 17 to 20 January, with a further exclusive viewing at the Dubai Diamond Exchange on 18 January. It then travels to Los Angeles from 24 to 26 January and to London from 2 to 9 February.
(Press Release)
