What is the World’s Most Popular Heart-Shaped Jewelry Item?
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.
The “heart symbol” has been around for years, used to refer to the spiritual, emotional, moral, and intellectual core of humans. It’s often depicted as “red” as this symbolizes blood (as it is the heart that pumps blood through the body) and strong emotions…and what emotion can possibly be stronger than that of true love?
Heart-shaped diamonds are very rare in nature, but they do exist. The “Blue Heart” (also called the “Eugenie Blue”) diamond is perhaps the most famous of these. In fact, many people consider it to be the best example of a blue diamond that has ever existed. Rivaled in fame by only perhaps the Hope Diamond, it is the unique heart shape that makes the “Blue Heart” really stand out from the crowd. From the standpoint of simplicity and pure elegance, it’s hard for any gem to compare with the “Blue Heart”.
The “Blue Heart” diamond is 30.82 metric carats, and it’s debatable whether it is of either African or Indian origin. The rough diamond was cut in Neuilly, Paris by Antanik Ekyanan in either 1909 or 1910. Currently it’s 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.
Next stop…an European family. They then sold this heart jewelry gem to a gentleman named Harry Winston in 1959. He put the diamond into a ring, and then sold it to Marjorie Merriweather Post, who eventually donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. This wonderful example of heart jewelry is currently on display at this institution today. Want a bit of trivia? At one point the “Blue Heart” Diamond, the Hope Diamond, and the Heart of Eternity were all on display at the Smithsonian.
Betsy Johnson has some great deals for you at: open heart jewelry and heart jewelry. Check them out!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
