When you are shopping for a diamond ring, the grading report is a vital document that contains information about the diamond’s quality read here for more about GIA, EGL, and IGI certificates.

As a consumer, the grading report helps you understand what you are buying and to a certain degree, enables you to justify its value and the price you should be paying.

Because of this, you should only buy a diamond with a grading report that originates from a neutral 3rd party to prevent any conflict of interest and biased grading. thierfore its necessary to know about GIA, IGI, and EGL labs.

Wants to know the price of diamonds in Malaysia: click here

Gemological Institute of America GIA

GIA stands for Gemological Institute of America and is widely famous as the standard-bearer of the diamond certification industry. Everything that the GIA does is focus on education, whether it’s for the consumer or the jeweler.

An important factor that makes the GIA our top choice for diamond certificates is the fact that they are truly an independent, non-profit entity. Every diamond that is carefully check by the GIA it observe by four expert gemologists, and it’s impossible for jewelers to “game” the system by getting grades that are better than what the diamond actually is.

The process is fairly simple. Jewelers source the diamonds, ship them to the GIA and then receive them back a few weeks later with grading certificates for each stone.

One of the biggest reasons that a jeweler may shy away from GIA certifications and verifications is the fact that it takes longer for a diamond to get through the GIA system.

European Gemological Laboratory EGL

EGL is an abbreviation for European Gemological Laboratory. It is a European base grading agency and has a big global presence – with offices in London, Paris, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Johannesburg, among others. EGL is famous for pioneering diamond grading techniques for stones weighing less than a carat and has a large market share in Europe.

They are also notoriously known for the introduction of the ‘SI3’ clarity rating for diamonds and have also embroiled in controversial consumers lawsuits for over grading diamonds.

International Gemological Institute  IGI

IGI is the International Gemological Institute that is base in Antwerp, Belgium. After GIA, they are actually the 2nd most well-known lab in the world.

IGI grades a significant amount of cut and polish diamonds in the market and they are prevalent in Asian countries. IGI also grades synthetic diamonds on a commercial scale.

While EGL and IGI are more widely known in Europe and Asia, they both operate offices in key cities like New York. As a result, it won’t be uncommon for you to see retailers carrying diamonds with reports from these labs in the west.

IGI diamond gradings are fairly lenient compare to GIA’s diamond grading. IGI generally tends to upgrade color and clarity

At Audrey’s , we only deal with GIA certification diamonds. The highest grading standard laboratory in the world.