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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”.

Weighing in at 30.82 metric carats, it’s debatable whether the “Blue Heart” diamond is of African or Indian origin. Antanik Ekyanan cut the rough diamond in Neuilly, Paris in either 1909 or 1910. The dimensions of this beautiful gem 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.

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.

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