IGI Certificate
An IGI report is an independent laboratory's account of the stone in your piece. This page explains who issues it, what it records, and how to check it against IGI directly.
Who IGI is
IGI is the International Gemological Institute, an independent gemmological laboratory founded in 1975 and headquartered in Antwerp. It operates laboratories in several countries, India among them, and examines natural diamonds, laboratory-grown diamonds, coloured stones and finished jewellery.
What makes a report worth having is not the name on it but the distance between the laboratory and the sale. IGI has no interest in what a stone sells for. It measures, grades and records — and if a stone is poorer than hoped, the report says so.
IGI is one of the laboratories whose reports accompany Divija pieces, alongside SGL and DGLA. For solitaire diamonds we also provide GIA certification. Which laboratory examined a particular stone is stated on that piece's product page and on the report that arrives with it.
- Since 1975Founded in Antwerp, the historic diamond centre
- IndependentNo stake in the sale of the stone it grades
What a lab-grown report has to say
A laboratory-grown diamond is chemically and optically a diamond. It is graded on the same colour, clarity and cut scales as a mined one, which is exactly why the report has to be explicit about which it is: the grades alone would not tell you.
An IGI report for a laboratory-grown diamond states that it is laboratory-grown, in words, on the face of the document. Nothing about that is a footnote or an abbreviation to be decoded.
Divija describes a lab-grown stone as lab-grown on the product page, on the report and on the invoice. If those three ever disagree, the report is right and we have made a mistake worth telling us about.
Verifying your IGI report
A certificate is only worth something if it can be checked against the laboratory that wrote it. It takes about a minute.
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Find the report number
It is printed on the certificate that came with your piece, and on a certified diamond it is often laser-inscribed on the girdle as well.
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Check it at igi.org
GO TO IGI.ORG →Enter the number in IGI's own report verification service, reached from the laboratory's site. Verify with whoever issued the report, never with the seller — including us.
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Compare it against your stone
The measurements, weight and grades on the record you retrieve should match the certificate in your hand exactly.
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Tell us if anything differs
If a single figure does not match, contact us before doing anything else. We will take it up with the laboratory.
The link above goes to igi.org. Use the report-check service there with the report number printed on your certificate. If the record will not come up, send us the number and we will take it up with IGI.
IGI certification, answered
Which laboratories does Divija certify through?
We provide certification from IGI, SGL and DGLA. GIA certification is provided only for solitaire diamonds, so a GIA report will not accompany other jewellery. The product page states which laboratory examined the stone in that piece before you buy.
Does every Divija piece come with an IGI report?
No — certification applies to the centre stone, so the pieces that carry a report are the ones built around a significant stone. Smaller accent stones are not individually certified anywhere in the industry; the cost of doing so would exceed the value of the stones. The product page states what documentation a piece comes with, and which laboratory issued it.
Why do some pieces have an IGI report and others an SGL one?
Both are independent laboratories issuing the same kind of document, and a stone is examined by whichever laboratory it went to. The grades are read the same way. What matters is that the report is verifiable with the laboratory that wrote it, which either one is.
Is the report number really on the diamond?
On many certified diamonds, yes — laser-inscribed on the girdle, the thin band around the widest point. It is far too small to read with the naked eye and needs magnification, but it is what ties a specific stone to a specific report rather than to a piece of paper that could belong to any stone.
Is an IGI report the same as a valuation?
No. A grading report describes the stone — weight, measurements, colour, clarity, cut, origin. A valuation puts a monetary figure on the finished piece, usually for insurance, and that figure moves with the market while the grades do not. They answer different questions, and the report is the more objective of the two.
I have lost my certificate. Can it be replaced?
Contact us with your order number. A replacement has to come from the laboratory that carried out the original examination, and we will make that request on your behalf. The laboratory may charge a fee for it.
Should the certificate go with the piece if I sell it?
Yes. A certified stone without its paperwork is worth noticeably less on resale, because the next buyer has to take the description on trust. Keep the report with the piece.
Laboratory practices and grading scales change over time. For a definitive answer about a specific stone, IGI is the authority — we will help you reach them.
Ask us about your report
Send us your report number and we will walk you through what it says, line by line.