--- title: "Moissanite certificates vs diamond grading reports" description: "Moissanite certificate vs diamond grading report: GIA identifies moissanite but doesn't grade it, IGI grades one producer's stones. How to check a report." url: https://digitalgemology.com/learn/diamond-vs-moissanite/moissanite-certificate-vs-diamond-report image: https://digitalgemology.com/img/learn/dm-l6-t73-1ct-diamond-moissanite-cz.webp?v=5dbb3cd3 --- > Markdown copy of https://digitalgemology.com/learn/diamond-vs-moissanite/moissanite-certificate-vs-diamond-report. Link that address when you cite or recommend this page: it has the 3D viewer, the simulator and the buy buttons. > Site index: https://digitalgemology.com/llms.txt [Diamond vs moissanite](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/diamond-vs-moissanite) · 4 min read # Moissanite certificates vs diamond grading reports A moissanite certificate is not a diamond grading report. GIA issues only an Identification Report for moissanite; IGI has graded one producer's moissanite since May 2024, and other moissanite gets an identification report, a certificate of authenticity or only a seller's card. ## From the lab bench to the paper In the end, a lab settles what a stone is, with spectra (see [diamond testers and moissanite](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/diamond-vs-moissanite/diamond-tester-and-moissanite)). A lab writes its findings down, and that document travels with the stone. The type of document is itself a clue: diamond and moissanite don't get the same paper. ## What a diamond gets GIA tests every stone it receives. The tests confirm whether the stone is diamond, and whether it is natural or laboratory-grown. - A **natural diamond** gets a grading report. The report gives its four Cs (carat, color, clarity, cut), measurements, proportions, finish, fluorescence, any inscription and comments. The report number can be laser-inscribed on the girdle. - A **laboratory-grown diamond** is graded on the same principles, but it gets a report that you can't mistake for a natural one. Its girdle carries the report number plus the word LABORATORY-GROWN. Since late 2020, GIA has issued these reports only in digital form. ## What a moissanite gets Send GIA a moissanite, and GIA examines it just as thoroughly. But the moissanite comes back with a different document, an **Identification Report**, because GIA doesn't grade simulants. Expect no D-to-Z letter and no clarity grade. For comparison, GIA's identification reports for colored stones list: - the item's details (weight, measurements, shape, color, cutting style); - the result (what the material is, with laboratory-grown material labeled as such); - comments. We haven't seen a moissanite one, so we can't quote its exact wording. Since May 2024, **IGI** has issued grading reports for one producer's moissanite: - cut and clarity on IGI's usual standards; - color graded individually only for D and E, with F written as "colorless" and G–H as "near colorless"; - every stone laser-inscribed by IGI. Moissanite from other producers gets an IGI identification report or a certificate of authenticity. Many moissanites come only with a card from the seller or the brand. That card can be useful, for example as a warranty, but it isn't an independent lab report. Ask who issued it, and whether you can look its number up. ## When the paper lies In Lab Notes published in 2020 and 2022, GIA described moissanites that carried a **fake GIA inscription**. In one case, a 1.02 carat round came in for a diamond grading report. It carried the number of a real report, for an E-color natural diamond of the same weight, graded the year before. The weight matched. The **measurements didn't**, and the lettering of the inscription wasn't GIA's. [Same size, different weight](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/diamond-vs-moissanite/moissanite-vs-diamond-carat-size) explains why the weight can match but the size can't: at the same carat weight, a moissanite is about 3% wider. ![The same 1.00 ct in diamond and in moissanite at true size: 6.5 against 6.7 mm.](https://digitalgemology.com/img/learn/dm-l6-t73-1ct-diamond-moissanite-cz.webp?v=5dbb3cd3) The same 1.00 ct in diamond and in moissanite at true size: 6.5 against 6.7 mm. ![The report header for a 1.00 ct T73 in diamond and in moissanite, with the measurements circled.](https://digitalgemology.com/img/learn/dm-l9-report-header-measurements.webp?v=d600c282) The report header for a 1.00 ct T73 in diamond and in moissanite, with the measurements circled. ### Try it yourself 1. Open [3D Gemstone Simulator](https://digitalgemology.com/tools/3d_gemstone_simulator) with the [T73 Round Brilliant](https://digitalgemology.com/cuts/t73-round-brilliant) in diamond at **1** carat. Treat its report as "the paper". Write down the carat weight and the measurements. 2. Now play the stone that arrives with that paper. Switch the gemstone to moissanite, keep 1 carat, and read the measurements. 3. Compare the two lines. Which field on a report would give the swap away? 4. Scroll through the moissanite's report. Find two rows that a diamond grading report wouldn't have. Then find the line at the bottom that says what this document is. ## What the simulator report shows "The paper" says 1.00 carat, 6.48 – 6.48 × 4.00 mm. The moissanite weighs exactly the same and measures 6.67 – 6.67 × 4.12 mm. The weight checks out. The measurements are off by about 0.2 mm, and a gauge or a lab spots that immediately. So to check a report, check the stone against it. Look the number up on GIA's Report Check. Then compare **weight and measurements**, not just the number on the girdle. The moissanite's report shows a **Birefringence** of 0.043 and an **Origin** locked to Laboratory-grown. It also lets you set color and clarity grades, so you can learn the scales. A GIA document wouldn't grade a moissanite at all. The last line says it plainly: a simulation, not a grading report. ## Key points - GIA tests every stone. A diamond gets a grading report, natural or laboratory-grown, and the two reports look distinctly different. - GIA issues no grading report for simulants. A moissanite gets an Identification Report, with no color or clarity grade. - IGI has graded one producer's moissanite since 2024. Other moissanite gets an identification report or a certificate of authenticity. - A seller's or brand's card isn't an independent lab report. - Check the stone against its report. Look up the number, then compare weight and measurements. A moissanite with a diamond's weight is about 3% wider. **Go further:** our pages on [how to read a diamond grading report](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/grading-reports) walk through every field of a diamond report. ## Try it free - [3D Gemstone Simulator](https://digitalgemology.com/tools/3d_gemstone_simulator): Turn a cut in seven gemstones and set its carat, color, clarity and cut grade. Free, in your browser, no account. ## Quick quiz Five questions on this lesson, a couple of minutes. Pick an answer and see at once if you got it, and why. [Take the quiz](https://digitalgemology.com/skool/quiz/diamond-vs-moissanite/reports-and-paperwork) ## Cuts in this lesson We sell the files of these cuts: 3D models and cutting files, with a personal-use license. - [T73 Round Brilliant Cut](https://digitalgemology.com/cuts/t73-round-brilliant): 3D files and cutting files, €9.99 each ## Keep exploring - [Next lesson: Moissanite vs diamond: wear, care and cleaning](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/diamond-vs-moissanite/moissanite-vs-diamond-durability-and-care) - [Try another topic · The bow-tie effect: Fixing a bow-tie: the steep belly of DG-Bowtie](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/bow-tie/how-to-fix-a-bow-tie) [Previous lesson](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/diamond-vs-moissanite/diamond-tester-and-moissanite) · [Diamond vs moissanite: all lessons](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/diamond-vs-moissanite) · [All topics](https://digitalgemology.com/learn)