Heart shape diamonds jewellery

Heart

A heart shape diamond is the ultimate symbol of love, a testament to the strength and devotion of any relationship. Little wonder they're an ever-popular choice for engagement and eternity rings.

Typically formed with 56-58 facets, the heart shape reveals brilliance and fire in a diamond while also reflecting a great deal of light. The wearer's personality is said to be emotional, thoughtful, feminine, affectionate and sensitive.

So if you want to give the gift of love, shop our collection of stunning heart shape diamonds.

What You Need to Know About Heart Diamonds

Heart shape diamonds are one of the most popular fancy cuts, not only due to their unique form but also because of how the facets capture and reflect light. This results in visible brilliance that echoes the wearer's fluttering heartbeat.

Because this cut of diamond requires an abundance of skill and precision to create, it has become a prized stone among hopeless romantics. Still, at the time of writing, only 1.6% of GIA-certified diamonds available for sale globally are hearts (19,195 out of 1,178,007 diamonds).

Due to the unique shape of heart cut diamonds, ratio is particularly important, ideally between 0.90 and 1.10. This will allow for perfect proportions and make the heart appear as tall as it is wide.

History and Origins of Heart Diamonds

Heart shape diamonds started out as a symbol of royalty. The oldest mention of this regal stone dates back to 1463, when the Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, wrote a letter to Nicodemo describing the literary pursuits of the powerful Cosimo de Medici "like a heart-shaped diamond."

Shortly afterwards in 1562, Mary Queen of Scots sent a ring to Queen Elizabeth featuring a heart-shaped diamond. It was considered a symbol of friendship as well as goodwill and remains one of the most famous diamond hearts in history.

Around the same time, French nobleman Cardinal Richelieu owned a 20 carat heart shaped diamond that was given to him by a wealthy diamond merchant. He later gifted the diamond to the king.

A Guide to the Cut, Colour and Clarity of Heart Diamonds

Cut

Hearts can be tall and slender or short and plump. However, you should always look for a symmetrical, pleasing shape, a centred culet and lack of bowtie. Also know there is no industry accepted standard of what makes an ideal cut heart shaped diamond.

Colour

Colour can concentrate in the bottom point of a heart shaped stone due to the unique faceting technique, so always look at each area of the diamond. You want the stone to look the same colour in all areas. Thankfully, the brilliance of the heart will mask some colour.

Clarity

Heart shape diamonds are brilliant cut stones that produce an amazing amount of sparkle, so small inclusions are often hidden by well-placed facets. You can still get a flawless, eye-clean look with VS2 or SI1 clarity gems.

Heart Diamond Ring Settings

Setting designs can make or break the appearance of a heart shape diamond ring, so consider the following:

Five-prong

Most jewellers will suggest this setting, as the final prong will protect the tip of the heart - the most vulnerable part of the diamond.

Bezel

A great choice for smaller sized diamonds as the bezel setting accentuates the heart shape of the stone.

Halo

The surrounding diamonds will add an extra layer of brilliance to the diamond.

Tips for Buying Heart Diamonds

When choosing a heart shaped diamond, symmetry is crucial because the two halves of the stone must be identical. The split between the two lobes should be obvious, while the wings must have a round shape.
As opposed to other diamond shapes, heart cut stones often appear smaller, especially after set in prongs. Therefore, bezel and three prong settings are generally considered best for small heart shaped diamonds.
The heart shape tends to show slight colour in its point, so you may want to budget for a higher colour grade than you want when buying a diamond.
Heart shape diamonds sparkle best when they’re above 0.50 carats. Anything less than this will make it hard to identify the shape, especially once the stone is set.

4C Of Diamond

Diamond Color

GIA developed the definitive diamond color scale or chart in the early 1950s, a time when there were a lot of different and subjective terms in the marketplace for describing a diamond’s color: white, blue white, AAAA, for example.

The GIA scale begins with the letter D, representing colorlessness, and continues with increasing presence of color to the letter Z, representing light yellow, light brown or light gray. The 23 color grades on the GIA Color Scale (or diamond color chart) are subdivided into five subcategories, which are: colorless (D-F); near colorless (G-J); faint (K-M); very light (N-R); and light (S-Z).

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Diamond Clarity

Diamond Clarity refers to the inclusions and blimishes.

To understand diamond clarity, we must first understand how diamonds are created. Natural diamonds are the result of carbon exposed to tremendous heat and pressure deep in the earth. This process can result in a variety of internal characteristics called ‘inclusions’ and external characteristics called ‘blemishes.’

Evaluating diamond clarity involves determining the number, size, relief, nature, and position of these characteristics, as well as how these affect the overall appearance of the stone. If you are trying to determine what is the best clarity for a diamond, remember that no diamond is perfectly pure. But the closer it comes to purity, the better its clarity

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Diamond Cut

Achieving the best cut for a diamond reflects in the stone’s final beauty and value.

Diamonds are renowned for their ability to transmit light and sparkle so intensely. We often think of a diamond’s cut as shape (round, heart, oval, marquise, pear), but what diamond cut actually does mean how well a diamond’s facets interact with light. Precise artistry and workmanship are required to fashion a stone so its proportions, symmetry and polish deliver the magnificent return of light only possible in a diamond.

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Carat Weight

Diamond carat weight measures Diamonds Apparent size.

To put it simply, diamond carat weight measures how much a diamond weighs.

A metric “carat” is defined as 200 milligrams. Each carat is subdivided into 100 ‘points.’ This allows very precise measurements to the hundredth decimal place. A jeweler may describe the weight of a diamond below one carat by its ‘points’ alone. For instance, the jeweler may refer to a diamond that weighs 0.25 carats as a ‘twenty-five pointer.’ Diamond weights greater than one carat are expressed in carats and decimals. A 1.08 carat stone would be described as ‘one point oh eight carats.’

All else being equal, diamond price increases with diamond carat weight because larger diamonds are rarer and more desirable. However, two diamonds of equal carat weight can have very different values (and prices) depending on three other factors of the diamond 4Cs : Color , Clarity , and Cut