HEARTS AND ARROWS
Hearts and Arrows are a visual spectacle within certain
diamonds. This pretty pattern was first recognised by the Japanese
in the 1980’s using a viewing scope gadget. Viewing hearts and
arrows (H & A) patterns in diamonds does not guarantee excellent or
ideal symmetry. It is true that perfect hearts and arrows means
that facets have been well aligned but there are many different shaped hearts and arrows, simply viewing this phenomenon isn’t
proof of a well cut, well proportioned diamond. If the heart is
split and not perfectly formed it fails and should the arrow shafts
not align with the arrow heads then they too fail. Very precise
analysis is required to ascertain the perfect shape of the hearts
and arrows and this must be performed under near microscopic
conditions using the novel toy like ‘Hearts and Arrows Scope’. There
are 8 hearts and 8 arrows, if any one of these 16 patterns does not
perfectly align it is not true H & A. Although nice to have there
is a premium attached to the visual ‘bonus’; also note that once
the diamond is set in a ring the hearts will no longer be visible
for this reason if your not a collector, investor or a connoisseur
focus should be on the reported symmetry i.e.: Excellent/Ideal,
Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor. It’s interesting to note that any
cubic zirconia (CZ) which is an artificial synthetic diamond bought
for a few cents will almost always show H & A in fact we have
marketing paper weights the size of tennis balls that show Hearts
and Arrows so don’t be too taken by this clever marketing
visual.
