Whiteflash ACA: About Hearts & Arrows

Whiteflash ACA: About Hearts & Arrows - In the 1980s Japanese cutters were the first to produce diamonds cut so exactly that facet reflections overlapped, creating kaleidoscopic patterns when seen through reflecting viewers.
Home Article 24 : What are Whiteflash ACA Hearts & Arrows diamonds? Article 25 : What are Expert Selection diamonds? Article 26 : What is the virtual diamond database that many sellers use? Article 27 : Why are some of your in-house diamonds missing their grading reports? Article 28 : WHY ARE HEARTS IMAGES POSTED FOR EVERY WHITEFLASH ACA HEARTS AND ARROWS DIAMOND? Article 29 : A Brilliant Diamond Buying Experience Article 30 : Founder Debi Wexler Article 31 : Management Article 32 : Contact Information Article 33 : Do you receive walk-in customers? Article 34 : What happens in a personal viewing? Article 35 : If I purchase my diamond and setting from Whiteflash how soon will I receive them? Article 36 : What are your policies for setting diamonds and related charges? Article 37 : Who pays for shipping and insurance in a mixed situation? Article 38 : Will you copy a setting I saw somewhere else? Article 39 : How long does custom work usually take? Article 40 : How long from finished wax to finished ring? Article 41 : How much deposit is required for custom work? Article 42 : What is the custom work process, start to finish? Article 43 : What is included with my purchase? Article 44 : Will Whiteflash price-match? Article 45 : Do you offer standard discounts? Article 46 : Do you offer special discounts? Article 47 : Does Whiteflash collect sales tax? Article 48 : Do you accept trade-ins if the diamond was purchased elsewhere?	All images are Whiteflash ACA Hearts & Arrows Diamonds In the 1980s Japanese cutters were the first to produce diamonds cut so exactly that facet reflections overlapped, creating kaleidoscopic patterns when seen through reflecting viewers. The techniques spread to other cutting houses and evolved. Hearts & Arrows diamonds reached the US in the mid 1990s. Top quality H&A diamonds are valued for their uniqueness and quality as the ultimate in cutting precision. They are sometimes called superideals. A Hearts & Arrows viewer is a reflecting optical symmetry tool. Looking through it you will see arrows radiating outward in the crown of a H&A diamond. Turn the diamond over and a circle of hearts appears in the pavilion. The arrows pattern may also be seen in light return viewers and some actual photography, but the H&A Viewer is the only tool that reveals hearts patterning. All facets must be precisely aligned to appear correctly. If any part of the diamond is even slightly asymmetric the patterns will be uneven or distorted. US labs have no grading standards for optical symmetry, so examples of true H&A patterning are rare. H&A diamonds may have symmetrical cut, but not all are cut to ideal parameters and not all have optimum light return. As their popularity grows more factories attempt to produce them and standards have declined. If we regard the most acute level of optical symmetry as true hearts & arrows then examples of non-true hearts & arrows are much more commonplace. Sometimes we are asked if a diamond with a top grade in 'symmetry' will show hearts & arrows. The answer is no. There is a difference between lab-graded symmetry and optical symmetry (read more here). Whiteflash presented a grading system for optical symmetry at the International Diamond Cut Conference in Moscow in 2004. It was hoped that laboratories and peers would unite to maintain higher standards for manufacture of H&A as they have in Japan where the standard was set. Though laboratories do not offer a grade for Hearts & Arrows, Whiteflash does, and we are the only company to safeguard buyers with a guarantee of optical symmetry meeting the IDCC presentation criteria (read more here).
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