It’s February again, and love is in the air. It’s that time of year when you start seeing hearts–literally–everywhere you look, and everybody is allowed to make everything shaped like hearts: heart shaped sprinkles in your coffee, heart shaped doughnuts–it would not be so difficult to get your special someone anything for that special day, only, that it would actually even be too easy, considering that everything around you is already shaped like a heart. So how do you come up with something that quite befits the holiday all at the same time without making it look like you picked it up at a drugstore?
You could go for a heart shaped diamond. Now, nothing beats class like a diamond, and even if it is shaped like a heart like pretty much everything else in February, it will always be special and unique.
Heart Shaped Diamonds
Firstly what you need to know about heart-shaped diamonds:
They are called heart cut diamonds; essentially it means they are a pear shaped diamond with a cleft at the top, and is considered to be the most romantic of cuts because it is designed to maximize brilliance, with 59 facets. The cut is important because it determines the light performance, dimensions, and finish, of a stone. If it is cut too shallow, light will be lost out of the bottom (called the pavilion) and the diamond will lose brilliance; cut too deep and the light will escape out of the sides and appear dark. It would not matter how large or how many carats your diamond is if it is not cut right.
The heart shaped diamond is described as being cut in the most ideal of proportions, although it takes great skill to go from a pear shaped diamond to a heart shaped diamond because each lobe should be equally round and symmetrical all while maintaining its characteristic shine.
The ideal length to width ratio should be 1 to 1, and the cost around, say, 20-25% less than a typical round gem of the same weight. The diameter of the heart should be measured across the widest portion of the lobes, instead of the tip to the bisecting of the lobes or in between them. Using this diameter the other proportions of the diamond could be found such as the girdle thickness, table size, depth, crown, and pavilion measurements.
The heart shaped diamond is an ideal pendant diamond, and should work for any type of setting, be it a solitaire, or accented with other stones. It should however be set with five prongs to ensure stability and security. The prongs should be distributed thus: two for the lobes of the heart, two for the sides, and a V-shaped prong to secure the bottom tip of the heart. The ideal recommended qualities of a heart cut diamond (although opinions and tastes do vary) should be as follows:
Cut: good
Color: G
Clarity: S12
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Sharon Sussman is Director of Products at Brilliance, LLC, a company that specializes in certified and expertly cut diamonds.
