Good Arrows But Incomplete Hearts

[Prufrock]

I was shown a EGL "Tolkowsky Ideal Cut" diamond by a local vendor that shows crisp arrows patterns, but two of its hearts are incomplete. (The vendor is NOT selling it as a Hearts and Arrows.)




Can anyone explain how two incomplete hearts afftect the diamond''s light performance? I initially thought hearts and arrows go together, but I guess I was mistaken. If one has to pick one or the other, either crisp hearts or crisp arrows, for a diamond that falls short of being a TRUE Hearts and Arrows, which one is more preferrable?

 

[Gearhead]

Good question. I hear the 8 beautiful arrows ensure a good face up presentation and if one heart smaller then symmetry is off???? But I can be wrong since I've just recently stated looking myself. Rest assured, you'll get feedback soon enough. You can get a perfectly wonderful performing stone even without hearts and arrow patterns. And that is exactly what I set out to do hoping to save a few bucks sans the H&A pattern. But it turns out that I'll have to search just as long if not longer trying to find that type of stone that I'd go mad!

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Somewhere in the tutorial or front page is an article by Brian the Cutter who is at least as nutty as me, but he is into hearts. Now this should not be taken to mean he is all musssshhhy and soft.
He is actually a REAL MAN. Tough and nasty as them thar South Africaanas come.

but he is very knowledgeable and also a nice bloke. (Aussies hate admitting that about SA'cans, fortunately we rarely need to bother, because there are not that many nice ones)

(BTW it was a nice wine tonite)

 

[valeria101]

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On 2/5/2004 3:08:20 AM Prufrock wrote:


I initially thought hearts and arrows go together, but I guess I was mistaken. If one has to pick one or the other, either crisp hearts or crisp arrows, for a diamond that falls short of being a TRUE Hearts and Arrows, which one is more preferable

AND

Gerahead wrote:

"Good question. I hear the 8 beautiful arrows ensure a good face up presentation and if one heart smaller then symmetry is off????
[...] You can get a perfectly wonderful performing stone even without hearts and arrow patterns. And that is exactly what I set out to do"
?

----------------[/quote]

Unless you are a cardiologist or an archer, no idea what those harts and arrows are good for. For the respective love symbol you need them together, and they are not so. The harts will never show in a setting and the arrows - how many people would know to look for them in your diamond?

The H&A pattern was a byproduct of cutters' attempts to define the proportion needed to insure great light return in a diamond. It just so happened that H&As formed and became both a sales name and a good visual hint about how well that stone would sparkle when compared to all other stones (which are not present for the exercise, nor could be). Logically, small variations on the H&A patterns lead to some variation in light return, and it is usually light loss not gain. Since the harts and the arrows are not a goal in themselves, apparently paranoid judgment disqualifying a diamond as "not true H&A" due to a microscopic variation form norm in it's patterns may be understandable. (The forming of the pattern is explained in the Pricescope cut tutorial, if you lost sleep...)

I am not aware if serious sensitivity analysis has been done to insure that small H&A distortions lead to SMALL (not huge) light losses. So? No idea whether having harts and no arrows (as the QOH and HOF square) or arrows and no harts is better. Both are flaws and there is a good way to tell whether your almost-H&A stone is a bargain or a dog: IdealScopes anyone? It takes a minute to get an educated opinion of how your stone ranks among the best and brightest (pun intended).

Hope this helps... a bit.

 

[strmrdr]

It really depends on the overall cut.

Check out this one with good arrows but the hearts are off but its an eye poping diamond.
http://www.goodoldgold.com/1_010ct_g_si1_h%26a.htm

 

[pqcollectibles]

Strm is right. It will really depend on the overall cut. Could be a great performer, but you'll get better opinions by posting stats.