Hearts and arrows is a pattern that a precisely cut round brilliant shows in a reflector viewer. Face-up it shows eight arrows, and face-down eight hearts.
In more detail
The pattern appears only when opposite facets match in angle and direction. It shows cutting precision, not how much light a stone returns. It also needs angles that suit the stone's index: the T73 loses the pattern in moissanite. GIA and AGS do not grade hearts and arrows.
How we measure it
The Hearts & Arrows Scope traces both views from each cut's own model, with a symmetry figure for each. Five cuts carry the pattern there: the T73, the T105, DG-Vitruvio, DG-Anteros and DG-Broken Hearts and Arrows. In moissanite, the T73's pattern falls apart while its symmetry stays at 100%.
Related terms
- Hearts & Arrows Scope: The Hearts & Arrows Scope is a free Digital Gemology tool that simulates a hearts and arrows viewer. It shows a round brilliant's arrows face-up and hearts face-down, with one symmetry figure per view.
- Hearts and arrows viewer: A hearts and arrows viewer is a reflector scope that colors a stone by the direction its light comes from. In it, a precisely cut round brilliant shows eight arrows face-up and eight hearts face-down.
- Hearts and arrows symmetry: Hearts and arrows symmetry is the share of a hearts and arrows pattern where all sixteen halves match. Our Hearts & Arrows Scope gives it as a whole percent for each view.
- Symmetry: Symmetry is the report grade, from Excellent to Poor, for the exactness of a stone's outline. It also covers the shape, placement and alignment of the facets.
- Refractive index: Refractive index is the speed of light in a vacuum divided by its speed in the stone. A higher index bends light more where it crosses a surface at an angle.