A diamond’s shape is often the very first consideration when selecting a piece of diamond jewelry. It’s quite clear why: each shape has its own attributes and offers a different aesthetic. Today there is a wide variety of diamond shapes available. Diamond shape is regularly confused with diamond cut. However, these two are not one and the same. A diamond’s cut and crafted finish refers to the stone’s facet arrangement, including symmetry and proportion. On the other hand, a diamond’s shape is the general silhouette of the stone: round, square, rectangle, octagonal, oval, marquise, pear, heart, or triangle. [Source: GIA]

This blog post highlights a particular diamond shape. A symbol of love and romance - the heart-shaped diamond! Ideal heart-shaped diamonds have two symmetrical halves with distinct cleft and even wings and lobes.

I have designed and created custom jewels using heart-shaped diamonds and continue to love working with them. My preference is to work with heart-shaped diamonds that are larger than 0.50-carat, that way the shape of diamond is clearly visible and can be appreciated fully.

*Of course, my love for heart-shaped diamond can be seen here in my painting, titled "The Portal of Quest". 30"x40". Acrylic on Canvas. 2015. ©Reena Ahluwalia.*

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Heart-shaped diamonds are often referred to as an extremely popular fancy cut and the ultimate representation of love. The most romantic of all diamonds, they are highly sought-after for very special occasions such as engagements and anniversaries.

Diamonds became popular as ornaments in jewelry in the 1400s and the different techniques and styles of diamond cuts were gradually developed over many years. In 1475, Lodewyk van Bercken (or van Berquem), a Flemish stone-polisher from Bruges, introduced the concept of absolute symmetry in the placement of facets on the stone. His minutious and precisely studied advancements resulted in the first pear-shaped Pendeloque or Briolette-cut, a revolutionary breakthrough on shape, design and cutting excellence.

'Pure Heart' - Portrait of a White Heart-Shaped Diamond. 36 x 36 inches. Acrylic on Canvas. ©Reena Ahluwalia. See Reena’s Paintings. — *'Pure Heart' - Portrait of a White Heart-Shaped Diamond. 36 x 36 inches. Acrylic on Canvas. ©Reena Ahluwalia.* *See Reena’s Paintings.*

The Heart-cut can be closely related to the Pendeloque. Its appearance often begins as a pear shape, the possible inclusions located ideally in the center of the rounded end that the diamond cutter will flatten and indent with a cleft, the girdle widened until the length is approximately equal to the width. It is essential for a heart-shaped diamond to have a highly skilled cutter, to insure that the distinctive lobes are balanced, smooth and well defined, while retaining a brilliant shine. Consisting of minimum fifty-eight facets, the result is full of fire, comparable to the traditional round brilliant-cut. According to gemologists, the ideal length-to-width ratio of a heart-shaped diamond should be approximately 1 to 1 in order to exhibit the best possible brilliance. However, there are many heart-shaped diamonds which are cut much narrower and much wider than the ideal proportions, primarily depending on the attributes of each particular rough diamond, making of every perfectly cut hearts a rarity. [Source: Christie's]

And... here are some of my favourite heart-shaped diamonds! They are rare, famous and fabulous, I hope you will enjoy taking a look at them!

At 118.78 carats, the “The Graff Venus” is the world’s largest D-color, Type IIA, flawless heart-shaped diamond. The Graff Venus was cut from a 357-carat rough diamond discovered in 2015 at the Letšeng Mine in Lesotho. Image: Graff Diamonds

The Blue Heart Diamond photo shown here set in a platinum ring surrounded by 25 white diamonds. The stone measures 20.01 mm wide, 19.99 mm tall and 11.89 mm deep. Photo by Chip Clark, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

*The Hope Diamond, right, without its white-diamond pendant, and the 30.62 carat Blue Heart Diamond. Photo: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.*

The Blue Heart diamond is a 30.62-carat, heart-shaped, brilliant-cut blue diamond. The cutting firm of Atanik Ekyanan of Neuilly, Paris cut this heart shape, which weighs 30.82 metric carats and is of a rare deep blue color, sometime between 1909 and 1910. This date raises the question whether the rough stone came from Africa or India. In 1910 Cartier purchased the diamond and sold it to an Argentinian woman named Mrs. Unzue. At the time, it was set in a lily-of-the-valley corsage and remained so until Van Cleef & Arpels bought the gem in 1953. They exhibited it set in a pendant to a necklace valued at $300,000 and sold it to a European titled family. In 1959 Harry Winston acquired the gem, selling it five years later, mounted in a ring, to Marjorie Merriweather Post. Finally Mrs. Post donated to the Blue Heart to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. where it remains to this day. [Source: famousdiamond.tripod.com]