IGI, GIA or HRD: which report to ask for in Canada

A diamond report is the one piece of paper in the sale that the seller did not write. It is issued by a laboratory that never meets you, has no stake in the price, and puts its name to the grade. Three laboratories account for nearly every report a buyer in Canada will be shown: IGI, GIA and HRD. This is what each one is, when you should expect to see it, and how to check it before you pay.

What a report is, and what it is not

A grading report records a specific stone: its weight, its measurements, its colour and clarity grades, its cut grade where the shape allows one, its fluorescence, and a plot or a description of its inclusions. Most carry a number that is also inscribed on the stone's girdle, visible under magnification. That number is what ties the paper to the diamond in your hand.

A report is not an appraisal and not a valuation. It says nothing about price. It is also not a guarantee of beauty: two stones with identical grades can behave differently in light, which is why we read every stone by eye before it is offered and why the grade is the beginning of the conversation rather than the end of it.

The three laboratories

GIA

The Gemological Institute of America. A non-profit institute, the author of the colour and clarity scales the whole trade uses, and the report most natural diamonds of consequence carry.

IGI

The International Gemological Institute, headquartered in Antwerp with laboratories on several continents. The report you will see on most lab-grown diamonds, and on many natural stones too.

HRD

HRD Antwerp, the laboratory of the Belgian diamond trade. Common on stones that pass through Antwerp, well regarded, and less often seen in Canada than the other two.

All three grade to the same scales. Where they differ is in history, in the mix of stones they see, and in how the trade prices a given grade from each. A GIA grade on a natural stone is the reference the market prices from. An IGI report is the working standard for lab-grown, and a lab-grown stone offered without one should make you ask why. HRD sits alongside both, and a stone with an HRD report is not a lesser stone; it is a stone that was graded in Antwerp.

The grade is never ours to give. It arrives with the stone, from a laboratory that has never met either of us.

Which report to ask for

For a natural diamond, ask for GIA first. It is the report the trade prices from, the one an insurer or a future buyer will recognise without explanation, and the one that makes a resale or a trade-up simplest. IGI and HRD reports on natural stones are legitimate and we sell stones that carry them; if the price reflects it, they are often good buying.

For a lab-grown diamond, ask for IGI. It grades a large share of the lab-grown stones on the market, its lab-grown reports state the growth method, and the trade knows exactly what an IGI grade on a lab-grown stone means. GIA also grades lab-grown stones, and a GIA report on one is fine, but it is not the norm and it should not carry a premium.

For a finished piece, the loose stone's own report is what matters for the centre stone. Small stones set in a band or a halo are not individually reported by any laboratory, and a piece we make for you carries a jewellery report for the piece as a whole.

How to check a report before you pay

Every one of the three publishes its own verification page. Type the report number in and the laboratory shows you what it recorded. Do this before you buy, from the laboratory's own site rather than a link the seller gives you:

IGI

https://www.igi.org/verify-your-report/

GIA

https://www.gia.edu/report-check-landing

HRD

https://my.hrdantwerp.com/

Then, when the stone arrives, look for the inscription on the girdle under a loupe and match it to the paper. If they do not match, you have 7 days from delivery to write to us, and we repair, replace or refund in full with the return insured by us. That window is on the guarantee page, and it sits on top of your consumer rights, not in place of them.

Reports we would not accept

A report from a laboratory you cannot verify online is a report you should not pay for. A report that has no inscription number and no plot is a description, not a grade. An appraisal on a jeweller's own letterhead that names a replacement value is a document for your insurer and says nothing about the grade at all. And a report older than the stone's current cut, which happens when a stone is recut after grading, describes a diamond that no longer exists.