---
title: "Inscription: meaning in gemology"
description: "An inscription is text that a laser writes on the girdle of a stone, too small to see without magnification. Most often it is the report number."
url: https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/inscription
image: https://digitalgemology.com/img/og-digital-gemology.png?v=d224fb01
---

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[Glossary](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary) · Grading report

# Inscription

Also called laser inscription, girdle inscription, Laserscribe, inscription(s)

An inscription is text that a laser writes on the girdle of a stone, too small to see without magnification. Most often it is the report number.

## In more detail

It ties the stone to its report. GIA inscribes the number on every Dossier stone, and TREATED COLOR on an HPHT color-treated stone. GIA inscribes lab-grown stones with "Laboratory-Grown" and the report or assessment number. Check the lettering as well as the number: a fake inscription can copy a real number.

## On a grading report

The report lists any inscription under Inscription(s). IGI calls its inscription Laserscribe. It inscribes every lab-grown stone with "LG" before the number, and natural stones on request.

## Related terms

- [Report number](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/report-number): The report number is the unique number a lab gives a report. GIA registers it in its database, so anyone can look it up.
- [Girdle](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/girdle): The girdle is the narrow band at the widest part of a cut stone, between the crown and the pavilion. It is the edge that a setting grips.
- [Diamond Dossier](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/diamond-dossier): The Diamond Dossier is a shorter GIA report for loose natural diamonds of 0.15 to 1.99 carats, D to Z. It gives the four Cs and a proportion diagram, but no clarity plot.
- [Laboratory-grown diamond](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/laboratory-grown-diamond): A laboratory-grown diamond is a diamond that people grow with machines, by HPHT or CVD. It has essentially the same composition, crystal structure and properties as a natural diamond.
- [Report Check](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/report-check): Report Check is GIA's online database. Enter a report number to see what GIA itself recorded; IGI's equivalent is Verify Your Report.

## Learn more

- [The ID section of a diamond report: number, shape and measurements](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/grading-reports/diamond-report-identity-section)
- [Comments, treatments and lab-grown origin on a diamond report](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/grading-reports/diamond-report-comments-treatments-origin)
- [Moissanite certificates vs diamond grading reports](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/diamond-vs-moissanite/moissanite-certificate-vs-diamond-report)

[All 328 terms](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary)