Heart Cut Diamond Engagement Rings
About Heart Cut Diamonds
Heart cut diamonds use a variation of the pear or teardrop shaped diamond cut. After a stone has been cut into the pear shape it is cleaved at the top to create the two lobes of the heart.
On average heart cut diamonds will have 80-85% of the value by weight of an ideal round cut diamond. While it may seem foolish to use a cut that is worth less than the popular round cut, diamond is a natural product requiring the jeweller to work around the natural structure of the stone. In some cases heart cut diamonds can maintain 50% more of the original stone’s size compared to round cut diamonds, making up for the price-per-karat difference.
The width of heart cut diamonds are measured at widest part of lobes, while height is measured from the bottom tip of the gem to a point parallel with the top of the lobes. Sizes are often quoted with the width alongside the ratio between the gem’s width and height. The most valuable heart cut diamonds have a 1 to 1 ratio, but wider and narrower ratios are available, typically 0.75:1 or 1.25:1. Heart cut diamonds are mainly used for amulets, but can also be found in rings and occasionally earrings. Pink heart cut diamonds have always been popular but were boosted to high fashion status a couple years ago after Jennifer Lopez started wearing an engagement ring holding a six karat stone.
The Heart of Eternity is the largest and most famous of heart cut diamonds. Classified as a “fancy vivid blue” stone by the Gemological Institute of America, it was found in South Africa’s Premier Diamond Mine. After cutting the weight of the gem is 27.64 karats. It has an estimated value of £11 million.
The Heart of Eternity was first unveiled in 2000 as part of the De Beers Millennium Jewels collection display at London’s Millennium Dome. On November 7th of that year robbers attempted to steal the gems, but were caught immediately. If the heist had been successful it would have been the largest robbery in history. The police had been tipped off earlier replacing the real diamonds with replicas: people going to see the debut of this new gem around the time of the robbery were actually looking at a piece of crystal. It’s believed this greatest of heart cut diamonds was sold during the show to a private collector.