What does the “heart shape” conjure up in your mind? For many of us, we think of love and romance. This shape has effectively worked it’s way into St. Valentine’s day, our greeting cards and presents, and into the design of our jewelry items as well. Jewelry is often made from gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, etc., but by adding the “heart shape” into the mix we add the concepts of love, romance, caring and belonging as well. In this article we will explore the world of heart jewelry, the “heart shape” as a symbol, and take a peak at the world’s most famous heart-shaped diamond.

When we think of the spiritual, emotional, moral, and intellectual core of humans, what symbol comes to mind? For most of us it is the “heart shape”. The heart shape is often shown in the color “red” as this depicts both blood (it is the heart that pumps blood through the body) and intense emotion. What emotion can possibly be stronger than that of true love?

Finding a true heart-shaped diamond is a rare event, but they do exist. For example, the most rare and famous of these is the “Blue Heart” (also called the Eugenie Blue) diamond. Many people consider it to be the best example of a blue diamond that the world has ever seen. The only diamond that can rival its fame is perhaps the Hope Diamond, but with the unique heart shape of the “Blue Heart”, it really stands out in the crowd. From the standpoint of pure elegance and simplicity, there are few diamonds that can hold a candle to the “Blue Heart”.

The “Blue Heart” is a 30.82 metric carat diamond. It is thought to be of either African or Indian origin. The original rough diamond was cut by Antanik Ekyanan of Neuilly, Paris in either 1909 or 1910. It’s current dimensions are: 20mm x 19mm x 12mm.

In 1910 Cartier purchased this diamond from an Argentinean woman named Mrs. Unzue. Mrs. Unzue had the diamond set into a corsage. It was in this corsage when the diamond was purchased by Van Cleef and Arpels in 1953.

An European family ended up with the diamond next, and they sold it to a gentleman named Harry Winston in 1950. He placed this heart jewelry gem into a ring and sold it to Marjorie Merriweather Post. Now on to it’s final resting place… Marjorie Merriweather Post donated it to the Smithsonian Institution, and this wonderful example of heart jewelry is on display here today. For trivia buffs, three of the world’s most famous diamonds, the “Blue Heart”, the Hope, and the Heart of Eternity were all on display at the Smithsonian at one time.

You can read more of Betsy Johnson’s Heart-Shaped Jewelry Articles and see examples of some affordable Heart-Shaped Jewelry Items by following these links.