What is the World\’s Most Popular Heart-Shaped Jewelry Item?
Dec 5, 2009 Customer Service
When we think of the \”heart shape\” we more often than not think of romance and love. It has managed to work its way into our treasured holidays such as St. Valentine\’s Day, into our greeting cards and gifts, and into our designs of jewelry as well. This jewelry is often made out of precious metals (such as gold and silver) and gems (such as diamonds and rubies), and when we incorporate the \”heart shape\” we are creating an object that portrays the eternal ideas of not only romance and love, but caring and belonging as well. We will now explore the origins of the \”heart shape symbol\”, heart jewelry, and learn about the world\’s most famous heart-shaped diamond.
For years and years the heart symbol has been used to refer to not only the spiritual and emotional, but also the moral and intellectual core of a human being. It is usually colored \”red\” as this suggests not only blood (which the heart is responsible for pumping thorough the body), but strong emotions like passion 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.
The next stop of this precious heart jewelry gem was an European family, who then sold it to a gentleman named Harry Winston. The year was 1959, and he placed this diamond into a ring, and subsequently sold it to Marjorie Merriweather Post. Marjorie Merriweather Post eventually donated it to the Smithsonian Institution located in Washington, D.C. It is here at the Smithsonian that this wonderful example of heart jewelry is currently on display. As a bit of nostalgic history and trivia, it\’s interesting to note that at one point the Blue Heart Diamond, the Hope Diamond, and the Heart of Eternity were all on display at the Smithsonian Institution.
Betsy Johnson has two great blogs: heart jewelry and open heart jewelry if you would like to learn more.
categories: heart jewelry,jewelry,diamonds,gifts,presents,for her,holidays
Tags: Customer Service, diamonds, for her, gifts, heart jewelry, Holidays, jewelry, presents
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