Is hearts and arrows cut truly better?

[Willay]

Hi

I'm new to the site and new to looking for diamonds. I've noticed a lot of dealers with hearts and arrow diamond cuts and I want to know if this cut is truly better than an AGS ideal cut.

For example, if 2 round diamonds are the exact same in all respects except cut, will an AGS ideal cut be noticeably less brilliant than a hearts and diamond cut (that also has recieved an AGS ideal grade)? I've looked at the AGS color maps comparing the example I stated, but I want your opinions about how they match up to the naked eye. I only have the pictures online to compare and it's hard. I have not had a chance to go to a jeweler and see things for myself, but I plan to when I have some time.

All help and opinions are welcome.

 

[Ravinmad]

Better is subjective.

Hearts and arrows are also sometimes called Superideal cuts. They have or prescribe to a specific set of angle combinations. In small (less then .75-1ct)diamonds H&A (the arrows when mounted) can be difficult to see, and what each and every individual vendor called H&A is subject to some degree of variation. Check out the hearts and arrows website for alot of detailed information about them. You can find alot of stones that are not called H&A that fall and fit into the catagories or cut profiles used and thus you dont pay a preminum on them.

Brian Gavin, Whiteflash, Good old Gold, etc- all of these vendors offer H&A stones. Interestingly enough, Good Old Gold has some excellent videos on the differences in them in addition to details on other speciality cuts. His videos are top rate and I suggest you watch them.

 

[yssie]

Hi

I'm new to the site and new to looking for diamonds. I've noticed a lot of dealers with hearts and arrow diamond cuts and I want to know if this cut is truly better than an AGS ideal cut.

For example, if 2 round diamonds are the exact same in all respects except cut, will an AGS ideal cut be noticeably less brilliant than a hearts and diamond cut (that also has recieved an AGS ideal grade)? I've looked at the AGS color maps comparing the example I stated, but I want your opinions about how they match up to the naked eye. I only have the pictures online to compare and it's hard. I have not had a chance to go to a jeweler and see things for myself, but I plan to when I have some time.

All help and opinions are welcome.

They are totally different.


When you look at a stone and see all the facets what you're looking at are "virtual" facets - an RB actually only has 57 physical facets, but they reflect and multiply into the patterns you see. The goal of cutting a H&A stone isn't the hearts and arrows patterns, that's a byproduct - the goal is the precision of cut that results in excellent radial optical symmetry (symmetry of the virtual facets) - looking at the hearts and arrows patterns through the scope is just an easy way to see that byproduct.

Neither AGS nor GIA considers optical symmetry in cut grading - the symmetry grade is for the physical facet symmetry. Neither AGS nor GIA grades optical symmetry, and they don't endorse other people's assertions (any mention of H&A in the report is just a notation that someone somewhere inscribed the characters H&A on the stone). So a given AGS0 might have a perfect, imperfect, or barely-there hearts pattern - you'd need pics to say more. Decent (not necessarily excellent, just not poor) optical symmetry will result in some sort of arrows pattern - what it looks like will depend on the stone's proportions, whether you can see it will depend on whether the proportions make it easy to see, how you're holding the stone, how big it is (bigger stone = bigger facets = easier to see the patterns)...

AGS0 is just a grading system. It's good, but it's not perfect - nothing is! You'll have to decide if having hearts and arrows is important to you, if having the other perks and generous policies that come with buying a H&A stone is important to you, what your eyes like to see, and then evaluate each option on its own merits... As ravin says some lines (WF, BGD, Crafted by Infinity) also require that their branded stones have certain proportions, so you'll find that that their stones all have very similar hearts and arrows patterns, other vendors (GOG, JA) put the emphasis on optical symmetry and don't restrict proportions so their branded stones may have hearts and arrows patterns that look quite different. Just different business models.


To answer your question - no, you do not need H&A to get a beautiful stone. There's no way a H&A and a near-H&A can be "otherwise identical", but if they're similar enough I know that *my* eyes wouldn't necessarily pick the H&A as prettier/sparklier/whatever - the proportions will have the biggest effect on how a stone looks.

 

[Willay]

Thank you Ravinmad and Yssie

I have just recently started researching diamonds and my top priority is brilliance. Carat, color, and clarity all take back seat but from what I've gathered, cut seems to have the largest influence on brilliance.

Since you mentioned the online dealers like White Flash, Good Ol Gold, James Allen, Brian Gavin, ect, do you have any preferences among these online dealers?

 

[yssie]

Since you mentioned the online dealers like White Flash, Good Ol Gold, James Allen, Brian Gavin, ect, do you have any preferences among these online dealers?

You'll be fine with any of them. Look through their stones and settings and see if anything sings to you, then contact that vendor. Many of us have worked with several vendors and have favourites, but all are perfectly trustworthy.

ETA www.highperformancediamonds.com - PS vendor of Infinity stones

 

[Dreamer_D]

Unless you are a diamond nut and own many different stones, the finer nuances of cut will be lost on you I don't mean that is a condescending way, but just to point out that the smaller details we obsess over here on PS are really finer details. Now, if you *want* to join the ranks of crazy cut nuts, then bring it on and keep asking questions and learn as much as you like! But, for more practical purposes, the answer to your question is that an AGS0 diamond will look similar to you whether it is H&A or not. And those small differences you note in images and plots will likely not be apparent to your najed eye, and if they were, it takes a while to develop your own taste in "diamond flavour". Those smaller nuances are largely a matter of taste and require development of your diamond palat through exposure.

Now, that said, some people -- mostly vendors of H&A stones -- do firmly believe that H&A stones look noticably different than AGS) non H&A stones. So if you absolutely want to play it safe, you cannot go wrong with an H&A stone. An AGS0 H&A is basically guaranteed to be a killer looking diamond. You pay a little more, but it is peace of mind.

I personally prefer H&A modern rounds. But I am a nut.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I think it's going to be very necessarily for you to see stones in person.
I can totally "get" your desire for the most brilliant stone- but the term "brilliance" is not something we all see the same way.
Plus, diamonds perform differently in different lighting environments- what's most brilliant in the grocery store may not be the most brilliant in a candle lit restaurant.