What are ‘hearts and arrows’ diamonds?

Hearts and Arrows are a type of diamond cut that many buyers often seek for.

Hearts and Arrow diamonds are a topic which pops up frequently, often my buyers would ask me, “does that round diamond have hearts and arrows?”

Most people may not know what they are but they know that for a diamond to be beautiful and brilliant, it should be a hearts and arrows diamond.

Hearts and Arrows or H&A is a type of diamond cut that reflects light brilliantly with symmetry, you can see this with a special tool that is made just for viewing this type of diamond.

Let us take a look at what Hearts and Arrows diamonds actually are.

The Origin of Hearts and Arrows Diamonds

The Hearts and Arrows diamond pattern style was first discovered with an old school “Firescope” which was invented by Dr. Kazumi Kuda in the year 1970.

The Firescope reflects light, enabling us to see the directions and intensity of the lights shining out of a diamond. We can analyze the colors and patterns we see from this reflection – What angles the reflections are? How precise are the angles? These questions are all used to check the symmetry of the diamond.

From the sample image above, you can see that there are 4 main colors on this diamond: red, pink, black and white.

• Red is the part that your eyes are able to detect as the brightest part.
• Pink is the second brightest part.
• Black is the darker part of the diamond (dark flash), it is a scintillation that you see when the diamond is moving.
• White is the light that runs through the diamond, it stops at the bottom of the diamond.

In some theories, they might replace the red color with other colors such as blue. This does not matter as whatever color you may use, the patterns will still turn out to be similar.

Now, once we are viewing a hearts and arrows diamond from above, the shape you see will be similar to an arrow. When viewed from below, you will see a heart shape – hence the name Hearts and Arrows.

Hearts and Arrows and Their Sentimental Values

The shape of hearts and arrows that was observed accidentally was patented for the first time in Japan by Kinsaku Yamashita and was used as an official trademark in 1988.

After that, the hearts and arrows diamond rose in popularity from the land of the rising sun to the USA in 1990.

Nowadays, hearts and arrows diamonds are a priority for some diamond cutting companies – they are willing to reduce the cut quality so that their diamond cutters can
cut their diamonds into a shape as similar as a hearts and arrows diamonds as possible.

The sentimental value of hearts and arrows diamonds lies within the feelings of the buyer, it creates an image of a cupid shooting an arrow straight at a heart, it is a
symbol of love even though the heart is not visible when the diamond is set into an engagement ring – its image still lingers.

You can check the daily price of Heart and Arrow diamonds on this page.

Real Hearts and Arrows Diamonds are Rare

The Hearts and Arrows pattern is often used as a guarantee that the round diamond has received a high-grade cut. In reality, that is not always the case.

It is true that the heart shape and the 8 arrows will directly affect the symmetry of the diamond which is one of the 3 factors of a 3 Excellent Cut (Cut, Polish, and Symmetry). Still, it cannot be used as a guarantee that the diamond will have a spectacular cut or polish.

Many buyers may have received altered knowledge about hearts and arrows diamonds, even though you can see the hearts and arrows in the diamond you are buying; there are still other factors such as the details within the shape, the gap for light reflection, and the location of the pattern. These will all affect the beauty, and most importantly, it will also affect the value of the diamond.

Most buyers do not know these minor differences, only an expert or a gemologist will be able to analyze these things for you.

However, the belief and demand for hearts and arrows diamonds are still important to most buyers. This might be caused by a marketing tactic that a behemoth company
has launched and continued since past times.

In reality, diamonds with beautiful cuts are already rare and real hearts and arrows diamonds are even rarer.

From the information that I have found, there are less than 1% of diamonds on Earth that have qualities that are perfect enough to be able to be cut into a hearts and arrows
diamond. This procedure requires a 100x magnifier in every step of the process, the diamond cutter should have an expertise of 10 times of the global standards to be able to cut this type of diamond.

A real heart and arrows diamond will certainly have a much higher price than a typical round cut diamond.

Conclusion: Do Not Forget the Other 4Cs

There are different grades of hearts and arrows diamonds, same as the 4Cs of Diamonds, the beauty of a diamond depends on the principles of proportions. The cut
of a diamond will directly affect the brilliance and sparkle of a diamond, making it one of the more important factors.

If you have any questions on “Hearts and Arrows Diamonds”, feel free to contact us.

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Read more: What is ‘diamond fluorescence’ and is it good or bad?