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Optical Symmetry of Diamond Stone

There is another type of symmetry of diamonds known as optical symmetry. It can be seen when we look at the diamond stone using a special Heart & Arrows viewer instrument called Ideal Scope or ASET scope. It shows a pattern of hearts and arrows. Hearts and Arrows concept was first discovered in Japan in 1980's. Optical symmetry is the visual effect of how facets of a diamond stone are aligned internally which results in a particular path followed by light inside the diamond crystal.

Optical symmetry is different from physical symmetry grade which was discussed earlier. Sometimes we see that diamonds with good physical symmetry do not display pattern of hearts and arrows. On the other hand, diamonds with lower physical symmetry show excellent pattern of hearts and arrows.

A pattern of eight arrowheads are shown when diamond is viewed from top and a pattern of eight hearts is seen when the diamond stone is viewed from bottom.

Diamond stones with perfect hearts and arrows symmetry are sold at a premium in the world market. This is because it requires more man-hours and more loss of carat weight to produce such accurate diamond stones. However, most of the customers and even salespersons working in diamond showrooms are unaware of the concept of optical symmetry.

Pop singer Britney Spears is very fond of diamond rings that have stones with perfect heart and arrow pattern.

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