Hearts and Arrows Diamonds

'Hearts and Arrows' describes a perfectly symmetrical round Super Ideal cut diamond. The name Hearts and Arrows refers to the way the light reflects off the facets of the diamond to show a pattern of eight perfectly-aligned hearts when looking up through the pavilion of the diamond and a pattern of eight perfectly-aligned arrows when looking down through the table of the diamond.

As the hearts and arrows pattern evokes the idea of Cupid shooting his arrows into hearts to make people fall in love, the Hearts and Arrows diamond is considered a perfect choice for an engagement ring or eternity ring.

Hearts and Arrows Pattern

A perfectly achieved Hearts and Arrows pattern distinguishes a truly spectacular diamond from a less perfect or mass-produced stone. It is possible to purchase a high-quality Ideal cut diamond without it achieving Hearts and Arrows. Cutting a diamond to a true Hearts and Arrows pattern is extremely difficult and requires a remarkable level of skill as every facet of the diamond must be aligned at a perfect 180° to the opposite facet or the pattern will be distorted or misaligned.

Less than 1% of diamonds are Ideal cut and even less of these are Super Ideal cut. The beauty of the Hearts and Arrows cut diamond to the naked eye is in the brilliance of the stone. In a perfect Hearts and Arrows diamond, 99% of light is reflected and refracted back resulting in more visible sparkle and fire.

Well Made Hearts	Well Made Arrows	Poorly Made Hearts	Poorly Made Arrows

True Hearts and Arrows diamonds

A true Hearts and Arrows diamond is a work of exquisite beauty and an investment that will grow in value. When shopping for one of these stones, it is important to ask for documentation on the quality of the cut because many diamond merchants call any above-average diamond an Ideal cut stone.

The IGI (International Gemological Institute), GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and the AGA (American Gemological Institute) all provide a report to jewellers giving a professional assessment of the quality of an individual stone and its characteristics, including the cut, and this report can provide assurance that you have purchased a truly remarkable diamond.

For additional information on how the cut of a diamond affects its value or help in choosing the perfect diamond, please ring to speak to one of the ZS Diamonds experts on 0161 233 9977.