Hearts and Arrows

[WPMitchell]

Still shopping for an engagement diamond. I understand cut is king and that is my priority, but....
How important is a hearts and arrows cut to the eye? Is it something that is appreciated only undermagnification or does it translate to visual sparkle to the casual observer? Is it worth the premium or a non hearts and arrow ideal cut?

If I found a diamond with great deminsions and a great HCA score under 2 would it outperform a hearts and arrows diamond that scored higher than 2?

Thanks,
Warren

 

[TC1987]

HCA is mostly a pass/fail screening tool. Score 2 or lower passes. Score 2-3 is in the "has to be seen or at least studied a little more to determine its merits." Or whether it's worth the price. I consider HCA a first-pass test of the stone's proportions and "geometry," and an indicator or whether or not it will reflect light or leak it. Part of the reason the HCA was created is to facilitate buying diamond sight unseen. The ASET scope tests for leakage. Maybe you want to get an ASET image of that stone.

H&A is a pattern that results from precision cutting and can be used to evaluate precision. Lots of people have non-H&A diamonds and are happy with them. A stone with 60/60 proportions will not have arrows that "pop" as much as deeper diamonds.
https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/hearts-and-arrows-diamonds

eta: A true "hearts and arrows" superideal cut diamond should not have HCA >2. There's another recent thread in here where we discussed that many diamonds will have an arrow pattern, but then when you look at the heart side , you can see that they lack symmetry.

 

[TC1987]

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-bad-could-this-diamond-really-be.201470/#post-3664958#p3664958']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-bad-could-this-diamond-really-be.201470/#post-3664958#p3664958[/URL]

Answering this part:

...hearts and arrows cut to the eye? Is it something that is appreciated only undermagnification or does it translate to visual sparkle to the casual observer? Is it worth the premium or a non hearts and arrow ideal cut?
...

It's a pattern. Yes, you see it. Look through the Show Me the Bling "Eyecandy" ring thread and you'll see lots of arrows. In real life, the arrows are alternating between flashes of white ( brilliance), and flashes of fire (dispersion), and only are dark or black if they happen to be reflecting something dark like the body of the camera. There are ways to cut a stone such that the "arrows" look like black lines all the time, but that's considered a defect and those are not going to be graded AGS 000 or GIA 3X stones, afaik but I am no expert.

Alternate cutting styles exist. For example, some people want chunky facets like Old European Cut and Old Mind Cut. Good Old Gold patented August Vintage cushions and rounds are top performing modern diamonds that are definitely NOT hearts & arrows faceting.