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Diamond cut#Hearts and arrows phenomenon

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+#REDIRECT [[Diamond cut#Hearts and arrows phenomenon]]
-{{context}}
-{{unreferenced|date=July 2006}}
-[[Image:Diamondhearts.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Bottom side view of an excellent cut diamond with a gemscope showing a hearts pattern.]]
-[[Image:H_a.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Digital photo of hearts and arrows under white lighting.]]
-'''Hearts and arrows''' (H&A) is a cutting style for round brilliant [[diamond]]s modelled after a pattern popularized by the [[EightStar|EightStar Diamond Company]]. The pattern is a series of eight gray arrowheads when viewed from above the crown with one eye and eight heart shapes when viewed from below the pavilion. H&A viewers eliminate incoming light from certain angles and cause the pattern to appear black or very dark gray. In order to display this pattern flawlessly, the diamond's top facet or "table facet" must be exactly perpendicular to the bottom of the diamond or "pavillion". It must also be cut to have excellent symmetry of its major facets and have particular lengths of its lower girdle facets.
-Diamonds with a H&A cut command a price premium in the US market, reflecting the generally greater time needed to produce them and the greater loss of weight from rough, as well as their generally better overall cut quality.  Although the hearts and arrows property is indicative of a top-tier cut, it does not always mean the diamond will be the most brilliant.  Optimal facet placement is the key to brilliance and more important than facet patterning.  Not all ideal cuts will have the hearts and arrows effect either.
-While the major facets must be very symmetrical, there is considerable room for variation in cut quality and appearance from the "minor" facets, and from the angles of the major facets.
-The timeline of the evolution of Hearts and Arrows is:
-* [[1977]]-[[1984]] Ken Shigetomi et al perform research to develop the FireScope.
-* Kazumi Okuda contracted by Ken Shigetomi develops a tool based upon Shigetomi's research to help examine diamond cut, this device eventually becomes the FireScope.
-* [[1985]] First [[EightStar]] diamond cut by Higuchi for Takanori Tamura in [[Tokyo]] after research using the Firescope and a worldwide search to find diamonds which gave a perfect result in it found almost none out of tens of thousands examined.
-* [[1987]] First "copy" of EightStar by Ken Shigetomi of Tokyo, called ''Apollon 8''.
-Shigetomi's company fails because of quality control problems.
-* [[1988]] Kinsaku Yamashita, A salesman for ''Apollon 8'' buys the remaining ''Apollon 8'' diamonds, develops relationships with the ''Apollon 8'' subcontractors and renames the cuts ''Hearts and Arrows''. Kinsaku Yamashita also patents the Heart and Arrow viewer and copyrights the words ''Heart and Arrow''.
-* [[1990]] EightStar Diamond Company USA founded, initially as offshore cutting operation for the Japanese company
-* [[1997]] ''Hearts on Fire'' brands in the [[United States|US]] and is the first hearts and arrows diamond to be sold in retail stores.
-* [[1997]] ''A Cut Above'' brands in the [[United States|US]] and is the first hearts and arrows diamond to be sold exclusively on the internet.
-* [[2005]] The ''Solasfera'' diamond in the [[United States|US]], is first to cut a diamond with "10" perfect hearts and arrows.
-The different cuts each have somewhat different appearances and balance of features and aren't complete, literal copies of the EightStar cut.  Some exhibit much better results.
-[[Category:Diamond cutting]]