Security features are the marks on a printed report that make it hard to copy. On a GIA report they are microprinting, security screens, watermarks, a two-dimensional barcode, a hologram and sheet numbering.
In more detail
They protect the paper, not the link between paper and stone. Always check the stone itself against the report too.
On a grading report
Printed into GIA's paper report. IGI says that its paper report has at least five security features.
Related terms
- 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.
- 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.
- Inscription: 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.