It takes a skilled cutter to execute the heart cut, which is essentially the pear shape with an added dimple, cleft, or notch in the top. In fact, some heart cut diamonds are mistaken for pear diamonds with an accidental dimple—and they are devalued accordingly. Due to the difficulty involved, most heart cut diamonds are larger than one carat.
While the word “heart” sounds romantic, some people are put off by the details in any one heart—too elongated, too wide, the ratios seem somehow disproportional, or the metal or the cleft is too distracting. In some cases, the heart is not symmetrical.
Make certain the seller has an easy return policy, in case you or the person to whom you give the ring is not happy with the shape.
Celebrities Wearing Heart Cut Diamond Rings
Celebrities who have worn heart cut diamonds include:
- Elizabeth Taylor (17th century Taj Mahal Diamond)
- Joan Collins (from husband Percy Gibson)
- Marjorie Merriweather Post (the Blue Heart).
Trivia for Heart Cut Diamonds
- The Blue Heart Diamond is a 30.6-carat, heart shaped, blue diamond. The firm of Atanik Ekyanan in Paris cut this heart shaped diamond between 1909 and 1910 from a stone of uncertain origins. In 1910, Cartier purchased it. It was set in a lily-of-the-valley corsage and sold to Mrs. Unzue of Argentina. In 1953 the Blue Heart Diamond was purchased by Van Cleef & Arpels, who set it as the pendant to a necklace sold to a customer in Europe. In 1959, Harry Winston sold the Blue Heart Diamond, set in a ring, to Marjorie Merriweather Post. She donated the Blue Heart Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
- The Heart of Eternity is a 27-carat, fancy vivid blue diamond.