HEARTS & ARROWS
MYTHOLOGY
In classical mythology, Cupid was the god of desire, erotic love, attraction, and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess, Venus, and the war god, Mars. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the visual pattern of eight hearts – when looking down through the pavilion – and eight arrows – when viewing the stone in the table-up position – would be called Hearts and Cupids in 1988.
HEARTS & ARROWS
FIRESCOPE
However, it is important to mention that none of that would have been possible without gemmologist Kazumi Okuda, who developed a tool called the Firescope in 1970. This tool uses colored reflectors to display a pattern that shows the direction and intensity of light emitted from a diamond. It determines how much light is exiting the diamond at proper angles, and whether the diamond is optically symmetrical. The pattern of hearts and arrows was first accidentally viewed using a Firescope.
HEARTS & ARROWS
PRESENT DAY
Since its creation in 1988, the Hearts and Cupids phenomenon has quickly spread from Japan to the U.S.
Today they are more commonly called Hearts and Arrows.
A Hearts and Arrows cut will feature really nice symmetry, which allows for the pattern to appear. However, this does not mean that the diamond cut is ideal or excellent.
At Grunberger Diamonds, all our diamonds are ideal cut. Adding the Hearts and Arrows feature allows our diamonds to bring unparalleled fire and brilliance to your jewelry.
HEARTS & ARROWS
Perfect Hearts & Arrows patterns are difficult to cut consistently, especially in melee sizes. Here are examples of poor Hearts & Arrows pattern that can be often found in diamonds.
Poor Heart & Arrow patterns are when the shape of the hearts and arrows are inconsistent, disconnected, undefinable or missing.
