International Gemological Institute (IGI) is a gemological organization which certifies
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
,
coloured stone and
jewellery
Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...
. It was established in 1975 in Belgium.
On 21 May 2023,
Blackstone Group
Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...
announced their acquisition of IGI.
History
In March 2007, IGI collaborated with the Tanzanite Foundation to help distribute jewellery certificates using a grading scale called the Tanzanite Quality Scale (TQS), for the gem called
Tanzanite, which was discovered in
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
in the 1960s.
In April 2010, IGI marked the opening of their laboratory in
Surat
Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...
, their fifth diamond grading laboratory in India.
Operations
IGI has a staff of over 650 gemologists, appraisers and professional office personnel.
IGI provides its services to the public through diamond dealers, and jewellery manufactures. IGI provides independent grading reports, coloured stone reports, identification and appraisal reports, diamond authentication and attestations of origin, and laser inscription services. They also offers diamond and coloured stone courses through IGI's Schools of Gemology. Graduates from the IGI school of Gemology are awarded an IGI Diploma.
Market position
IGI is the largest laboratory for certification of diamonds and fine jewellery.
IGI is
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries.
M ...
(ISO) 9001: 2000 certified in four countries, including the United States, Canada, India and the United Arab Emirates.
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{authority control
2023 mergers and acquisitions
Gemological laboratories
Research institutes in Belgium
Organisations based in Antwerp
Organizations established in 1975