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Hearts and arrows

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Hearts and Arrows Diamonds are precision cut variations of the traditional 57 faceted round brilliant cut. They are cut to “ideal proportions” with superior optical symmetry, polish and a specific faceting pattern. When all these factors are in harmony the result is a repeatable, near perfect pattern of eight symmetrical arrows in the face up position called `crown´ and eight symmetrical hearts when viewed in the table down position, called `pavilion´.


Design factors

The original Hearts and Arrows were diamonds that surfaced in the mid 80’s in Japan and embodied three important design factors. First, they were cut to “ideal proportions”, very close to those summarized by Marcel Tolkowsky in his 1919 book, Diamond Design. Second, they were cut with superior physical and optical symmetry so that they would garner a grade of “Excellent” in the Japanese laboratories. The third and very important factor was that they were cut to a very specific brilliantine scheme to produce the accepted hearts and arrows pattern. This faceting scheme involves prescribed lengths and ratios as well as smaller tables sizes that are imperative in producing a distinctive, repeatable and gradable hearts and arrows pattern.

Less than 1% of the world´s rough diamond crystals are pure enough to become a hearts and arrows diamond. Using 100X magnification and analysis trough all stages of production, the artisanal cutters create perfection at 10X global standards for grading and evaluation.

A Hearts and Arrows diamond takes up to four times longer to cut than other diamonds.

Hearts and Arrows viewer

To see the hearts and arrows pattern in a diamond one must employ a specially designed light directing viewer called a Firescope. The Hearts and Arrows Viewer is a rather simple device that allows the viewer to analyze the physical symmetry, contrast and alignment of facets of a diamond by viewing the stone through both the top (crown area) and bottom (pavilion area) of a diamond, by directing white and colored light at set angles in order to catch and reflect light back from specific facets and angles of the diamond.

Hearts and Arrows certification and scientific and technical research

In the early mid 1990s when Hearts and Arrows (aka H&A) began to trickle into America, they were much more high-tech than the grading labs were. When GIA began to encounter H&A diamonds a few things jumped out from the report. The diamonds were extremely round, tables were 55-57%, the girdles were medium or thin to medium and polish and symmetry were excellent. This kind of consistent cutting was unheard of at the time and cut grading did not exist yet in America.

HRD(Hoge Raad voor de Diamand) applies objective criteria and uses an automatic measuring device developed in-house to determine whether a diamond meets the stringent Hearts & Arrows standard.

IGI (International Gemological Institute) is also one of the laboratories that certify Hearts and Arrows.

The WTOCD (Wetenschappelijk technish Onderzoeks Centrum voor Diamand) is one of the most import scientific and technical research center for diamonds. A proprietary software was developed by WTOCD to analyze the images according to the H&A by HRD Antwerp guidelines. Based on measurements of the H&A patterns, an expert system makes an evaluation of the guidelines. The system delivers consistent, objectively measured, H&A grades.

Diamonds with a Hearts and Arrows cut command a price premium in the world's 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. It has also become a popular sales tool in diamond marketing. 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, and should be looked at in conjunction with the cut grade. However, a Hearts and Arrows Grading in conjunction with Excellent or Ideal cut grade will give a superb sparkle.

Hearts and Arrows guidelines

Every polisher knows that polishing Hearts and Arrows is not easy. Some knowledge about the optical formation of both the hearts and the arrows can ease the job.

The pattern is evaluated for each guideline. Each guideline has a safe zone, a border zone and a reject zone. If the pattern fully complies to the guideline the pattern is in the safe zone (zero penalty) for that guideline. In the other case, the pattern does not fully comply to the guideline and a penalty is given proportionally to the defect in the pattern. The pattern evaluation is situated in the guideline border zone when the penalty is between 0 and 1. A penalty of l, reject zone, results in immediate rejection of the pattern.

8 REGULAR SHAPED HEARTS: A pattern of eight regular shaped hearts should be visible. Missing hearts or extremely irregular shaped hearts result in rejection.

UNIFORM INTENSITY: The eight hearts should be sufficiently bright and the overall pattern brightness should be uniform. Remark: Reflections of impurities in the diamond have a negative effect on the uniformity of the brightness of the pattern.

NO COLOURATION: The hearts should not show any colour. The presence of the typical blue or yellow colour in one or more of the hearts results in a penalty proportional to the total area showing colour and the saturation of the colour

SMALL VARIATION SIZE: All hearts should have the same size. A variation in size results in a penalty proportional to this variation

NO OR SMALL INCISION: An extra incision in the split of the heart should be avoided. Incisions in the hearts will result in a penalty proportional to the size and the variation in size of the incisions.

NO POINTED SHOULDER: The shoulders of the hearts should be flattened. Hearts with pointed shoulders result in a penalty proportional to the number of pointed shoulders. A majority of pointed shoulders leads to rejection.Remark: Pointed shoulders is a result of large tables (>60%)

SMALL VARIATION SHOULDERS WIDTH: All shoulders should have the same width. A variation in shoulder width of the hearts results in a penalty proportional to this variation.

SYMMETRICAL HEARTS: The hearts should have symmetrical points. Asymmetrical points are a result of an offset between the left side and the right side of the hearts. This asymmetry results in a penalty proportional to the offset.

GAP BETWEEN HEART AND V : There should be a space between the heart and the V. The separation between the heart and the V must be crisp to avoid rejection. For border cases a penalty is given.

BALANCED V`S : The center pattern consisting of eight V`s should be well balanced. A disturbance of the symmetry in the V pattern results in a penalty proportional to the disturbance. An upperlimit on the penalty prevents immediate rejection.

8 REGULAR SHAPED ARROWS: A pattern of eight regular shaped arrows should be visible. Missing arrows or extremely irregular shaped arrows result in rejection

UNIFORM INTENSITY: The eight arrows should be sufficiently bright and the overall pattern brightness should be uniform.

NO COLOURATION: The arrows should not show any colour. The presence of the typical yellow or blue colour in one or more arrows results in a penalty proportional to the total area showing colour and the saturation of the colour.

SMALL VARIATION IN SIZE: All arrows should have the same size. A variation in size results in a penalty proportional to this variation.Remark: Variation in size often occurs together with excentricity of the central pattern

CENTRAL PATTERN—DIAMETER: The star shaped central pattern, formed by the basis of the shafts of the arrows should not be too large or too small. Large central patterns result in a penalty proportional to the diameter of the central pattern. Very small central patterns result in rejection. Remark: A large central pattern is a consequence of short arrows.

CENTRAL PATTERN—SHAPE: In the ideal case the central pattern is a perfectly symmetrical star shape. The central pattern may show deviations from this ideal star shape as long as the pattern remains regular shaped. Regular shaped implies an 8-fold symmetry for the central pattern. The presence of symmetry deviations in the central pattern results in a penalty proportional to these deviations.

NO CLUSTERING: Clustering is the disturbance of the arrows pattern by white areas that surround the shafts of the arrows. Clustering results in a penalty proportional to the total cluster area and the cluster brightness.Remark: Extreme clustering annihilates the star shape of the center pattern

POINT-SHAFT ALIGNMENT: The point and the shaft of each arrow should be aligned. In other words the major axis of the point and the shaft of each arrow should coincide. A difference in angle or position of the major axis of the point and the shaft results in a penalty.


The cut will be excellent/excellent/excellent (This is the highest quality) when proportions/polish and symmetry has the lowest penalty of each of the guidelines there are used for certification.

Hearts and Arrows labeling

Some in the diamond industry disagree on which diamonds should receive the "Hearts and Arrows" label. Because there used to be no industry standard, one person or company may say a diamond is a Hearts and Arrows diamond while another may say it is not.[1] Most diamonds with an overall cut graded by GIA as "Excellent" (with Excellent symmetry as well) or American Gem Society as "0" (or "Ideal") will have some sort of hearts and arrows pattern when seen through a viewer, although the pattern may not be perfect. All in the diamond industry believe the Hearts and Arrows pattern should be graded, and only those with the top grade should be called Hearts and Arrows. Those people believe just the presence of Hearts and Arrows pattern alone is not enough to be considered a hearts and arrows diamond, the pattern must be perfect to fit within certain guidelines.

Nowadays IGI and HRD grade Hearts & Arrows optimal cut, and IGI have a specific certificate. GIA does not grade Hearts & Arrows cuts, although GIA certificates will sometimes contain a note stating "Laser Inscription: H&A." This note on the GIA certificate simply indicates that "H&A" was laser inscribed on the diamond before it was graded by GIA. Neither the "H&A" laser inscription nor the corresponding note on the GIA certificate is an indication that GIA observed hearts and arrows patterns on the diamond.[2]

Only an official certificate can describe the features of the diamond.

History

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. 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.[3]
  • 1997 Hearts on Fire brands in the US and is the first Hearts and Arrows branded diamond to be sold in retail stores.
  • 1998 www.heartsandarrows.com [1] debuts as then only Hearts and Arrows only website on the internet with its sole purpose of introducing these new diamonds to the American market.
  • 1999 Whiteflash Inc.. brands in the US and is the first Hearts and Arrows branded diamond (A CUT ABOVE® Diamond) to be sold exclusively on the Internet.
  • 2004 Brian Gavin presents his paper "Hearts and Arrows - How They are Formed and How They are Graded", at the First International Diamond Cut Conference (IDCC) in Moscow, Russia. Brian, co-founder of Whiteflash later goes on to start Brian Gavin Diamonds (BGD)


References

  1. ^ Gia - Excellent Cut Grade - Diamond Review
  2. ^ Beware of GIA Lasered "H & A" Diamonds
  3. ^ History - GoodOldGold.com
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