Sunday, 27 December 2009

World Famous Heart-Shaped Jewelry


By Betsy Johnson

The "heart shape" often conjures up thoughts of love and romance. It has worked its way into our treasured annual holidays like St. Valentine's Day, into greeting cards and gifts, and into our jewelry designs as well. As we all know, jewelry is often made out of precious metals like gold and silver, and precious gems like diamonds and emeralds, and by incorporating the "heart shape" we are produce an object that displays the eternal ideas of romance, love, caring, and belonging. We will now explore the origins of heart jewelry, the "heart shape symbol", and 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?

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.

The diamond wound up in the possession of an Argentinian woman named Mrs. Unzue, who had it set into a corsage. It was sold to Cartier in 1910. When it was sold to Van Cleef and Arpels in 1953 it was still in the corsage setting.

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.

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