The “heart shape” often conjures up thoughts of love and romance. It has worked its way into our treasured annual holidays like St. Valentine’s Day, into greeting cards and gifts, and into our jewelry designs as well. As we all know, jewelry is often made out of precious metals like gold and silver, and precious gems like diamonds and emeralds, and by incorporating the “heart shape” we are produce an object that displays the eternal ideas of romance, love, caring, and belonging. We will now explore the origins of heart jewelry, the “heart shape symbol”, and 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?

The Greeks were known for a lot of incredible things, but little is known of their jewelry. The first true examples we have of Ancient Greek Jewelry is pieces that utilize beads shaped in the form of various animals and shells. Around–00 B.C. they started to utilize gemstones and gold into their various jewelry designs. By the time 300 B.C. had rolled around, they had ventured into the area of colored jewelry that utilized amethysts, pearls, and emeralds. They made cameos from a striped down pink and cream agate known as the Indian Sardonyx. As was the case with most cultures, Greek jewelry designs started off simply, but as time progressed, they grew increasingly more elaborate and complex.

Jewelry was a bit of a luxury in the world of Ancient Greeks. It was not worn in the daily lives of people, but during special occasions or while on public appearances. A common gift of the time, it was often used to show off a lady’s beauty, social status, and incredible wealth. It was thought that jewelry had mystical powers, such as protection from the “Evil Eye”. The “Evil Eye” was a look that another person could send your way to bring you injury or bad luck…or so it was thought. Most of the Greek jewelry of this time period was made from silver and gold, with ivory and gemstones, clay and bronze thrown into the mix as well.