JewelLoop · Buying reference

How to read a lab report

A laboratory report describes a stone: what it is, its measurements and grades, and what the lab could detect. Tap any part of the example report to see what it means and the scale it sits on. The example is a generic layout, not any laboratory's own design; every lab arranges its reports differently.

Before you rely on a report

Check the number

Laboratories let you look up a report number online (GIA's reports point to reportcheck.gia.edu). The details there should match the paper and the stone.

Match the stone

Weight, measurements and shape should agree with the stone in front of you. If the girdle carries a laser inscription, it can be read with a loupe and should match the report.

A report is not a price

A report describes and grades the stone; it does not put a value on it. JewelLoop never values, identifies or prices stones either.

Ask what was tested

Treatment and origin results depend on what the laboratory can detect. Read the comments: they often carry the most important information.

Sources

Report fields and the clarity plot: International Gem Society, How to read a GIA diamond grading report; the colour coding of plot symbols (red internal, green or black external) and the plot's purpose as printed on GIA reports and summarised in their published guides. GIA, Colored stone reports: the identification report "identifies and describes a material and lists detectable treatments"; the identification and origin report adds a geographic origin opinion for natural alexandrite, demantoid, emerald, jade, opal, Paraíba tourmaline, peridot, red spinel, ruby and sapphire only.

Grade scales: GIA D-to-Z colour, GIA clarity (FL to I3), fluorescence None to Very Strong, as on JewelLoop's colour, clarity and fluorescence pages; cut, polish and symmetry Excellent to Poor (GIA). Every value on the example report is invented for illustration.