3 Carat Heart Shaped diamond ring

Ultimate Guide To Buying a Three Carat Heart Diamond


3 carat heart shaped diamonds are a beautiful choice – they sparkle incredibly well, which means that your ring will catch eyes from across any room!

Heart shapes are one of the less common choices for 3 carat diamond rings, which means that there may not be a huge selection available when you are looking.

However, that doesn’t mean that you should just settle for the first diamond you see. This guide will help you avoid sub-par stones and ensure you get a beautiful and brilliant 3 carat heart diamond.

3 carat heart diamonds header image

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Key takeaway:

There are many factors that affect price and value of a 3 carat heart shaped diamond and no two heart shaped diamonds are the same, even if the specs on the certificate indicate that they should be.

Why working with a diamond specialist makes sense for such a significant investment

While smaller diamonds may be virtually interchangeable, at this carat weight there can be a significant different between two diamonds that look similar on paper.

Their specs may be similar but they are worth very different values.

A diamond specialist will take the time to understand what you are looking for, present several options (often sourced through personal connections and otherwise inaccessible) and guide you towards the diamond which is the absolute best fit for you.

Learn About The Diamond Oak

3 Carat Heart Diamond Price

As a broad range, the cost of a 3 carat heart shaped diamond (from those available at the time we were researching) can vary from $21,000 to $86,000.

3 carat heart diamond price

To understand how much a 3 carat princess heart shaped costs, we conducted research across three online diamond aggregation services which collectively have over 1,000,000 diamonds available to choose from, and then checked this against the most widely-accepted list of wholesale diamond prices.

$21,000 to $86,000 is a significant range, and the price you will pay will depend on the color, clarity and the ‘make’ if the stone ie. how well the diamond has been shaped.

With diamonds, you generally get what you pay for, so ‘cheap’ 3 carat heart cut diamonds will likely have a low-price for a reason – this may be significant inclusions (or ‘flaws’), or it may have poor proportions to reflect light and therefore not sparkle well.

But, when buying a diamond, there is always a balance that needs to be found between the 4Cs and the fifth C – cost. Where that balance lies for you is an individual choice, so it can be worth looking at a few options to where you are comfortable compromising, and where you aren’t.

How Much Do 3 carat Heart Shaped Diamonds Cost?

The table below will give you an idea of how color and clarity affect a 3 carat princess cut diamond’s price:

ClarityKJIHGFED

If a price doesn’t appear, it means that no diamonds at that spec were available at the time this article was written.

It’s important to recognise that at this carat weight, there can be considerable differences between individual stones with similar specs on paper, so these are very much just a guide.

Factors such as availability at the time you are looking, and then specific of the individual diamond (e.g. the cut quality) will affect the price of any individual stone. However, the prices quoted should be a good guide to understand the relative pricing of different combinations of color and clarity for 3 carat princess cut brilliant diamonds.

3 Carat Heart Shaped Diamond Size


A typical A typical 3 heart diamond may be around 9.46mm × 9.462mm × 5.68mm.

Here’s how it looks compared to a 2 carat and a 4 carat:

3 carat heart diamond size comparison

One important thing to understand when you are looking at 3 carat heart shaped diamonds is that carat weight is a measure of weight rather than size.

Carat weight is therefore spread out throughout the volume of the stone ie. length, width and depth. A shallower 3 carat heart diamond may therefore have more material available to increase it’s length and width, resulting in a stone that looks larger when viewed from above.

A 3 carat heart diamond will generally look smaller than its closely related cousin the 3 carat pear diamond ring, and significantly smaller than an elongated shape like a 3 carat marquise diamond ring.

3 Carat Heart Shaped Diamond Color

As you likely know, diamond color is graded on a GIA-developed scale from D to Z, although most diamonds used in jewelry fall into the D to M range:

3 Color scale

Higher carat weight diamonds tend to show up color more easily than smaller stones, especially in the corners where they sparkle less.

If you want to ensure your diamond doesn’t have a yellow tint, it’s important to try and keep the color as high up the scale as possible.

On the other side of the equation is the effect color has on price.

In most shapes, the price difference between an H color, I color and J color diamond can be significant,

With a 3 carat heart diamond, the color grade you choose can be dependant on the color of the ring setting you are going to pair the diamond with. If you are choosing a white colored setting (platinum or white gold), then I color delivers a good balance of white appearance and value.

However, if you are choosing a yellow gold setting, then you can reduce the color of your diamond to K without it looking yellow, as it will still look white compared to the warm tones of the setting.

3 carat heart diamond color recommendation

3 Carat Heart Shaped Diamond Clarity

Clarity is a measure of the presence of inclusions (or flaws) within a diamond.

The clarity scale runs:

3 diamond Clarity scale

Heart diamonds are a brilliant cut, which means that they are optimised to reflect light back from the bottom of the stone in the form of brilliant sparkle. This can mean that inclusions can be difficult to see under the facets, which is a good thing!

A good starting point for 3 carat heart shaped clarity is SI1:

3 carat asscher cut diamond clarity

However, depending on the diamonds that are available at the time you are looking, you may need to increase this to VS2, or even higher, to ensure that the diamond is ‘eye clean’ and no flaws can be seen.

Pictures of 3 Carat Heart Shaped Diamond Rings On The Hand

Higher carat weight rings mean that additional considerations can be needed to be taken into account, depending on the ring setting style chosen.

These images of 3 carat heart diamond rings on the finger will show you how big your ring could actually look.

3 carat heart diamond solitaire ring

Solitaire settings are a great match for heart diamonds – the simple style is a great pairing with the elegance of the diamond.

3 carat heart solitaire diamond ring

A major trend with settings is super slim and petite bands and prongs, which are effective in making the stone itself look larger.

While these can look great, some care does need to be taken with higher carat weights, as an extremely narrow band may not be wide enough to support the stone. It may twist on the finger and become uncomfortable.

3 Carat Heart Shaped Diamond Halo Ring

At 4 carats, some may feel that a halo is unnecessary to increase the size and impressiveness of the ring.

However, if you do choose a halo ensuring the side stones are a good match for the center stone is essential, due to their proximity.

3 carat heart halo diamond ring

Even more so than with a pave or channel setting, working with someone who can color-match the side stones to the center stone is the best way to ensure that they complement each other well.

3 Carat Heart Shaped Diamond three stone ring

Three stone 3 Carat Heart Shaped Diamond three stone ring look great when paired with almost any other shape as the side stones.

3 carat heart triology stone diamond ring

Tapered side stones can work particularly well because the side stones make the transition from the long broad side of the diamond to the narrow band more gentle and more elegant.

Best Place To Buy a 3 Carat Heart Shaped Diamond Ring

Why I recommend Alon at The Diamond Oak

I’ve worked with Alon for over five years, helping people who are looking to buy significant diamonds, as well as those who are selling high quality jewelry.

Through that time, I have seen the exceptional service that Alon delivers to each and every client he works with.

I like this review – it sums up how special working with someone who truly cares can be.

If you are seriously considering making a purchase and want to ensure you get a beautiful diamond at a fair price, I recommend you book in a discovery call with Alon: