About this laboratory
AGL Antwerp is the founding laboratory of Antwerp Gemological Laboratory, established in 1989 at Hoveniersstraat 22 in the heart of the Antwerp Diamond District. Antwerp's diamond-cutting heritage stretches back more than five centuries: it was here, in the early 1500s, that the “Antwerp cut” was developed, and it is here that an estimated eighty per cent of the world's rough diamonds and roughly half of all polished diamonds still pass through every year. Locating our founding laboratory in the Antwerp Diamond Centre placed AGL directly inside this trading ecosystem.
The work of the Antwerp laboratory centres on diamond grading and certification. Our gemologists apply the full 4 Cs framework — Carat weight, Colour grade against a master set running from D to Z, Clarity grade plotted on a high-resolution diagram, and Cut grade with measured proportions and symmetry — on every polished diamond we receive. For fancy-colour diamonds, we issue full colour-origin reports identifying the cause of colour (natural, HPHT-treated, irradiated, or coated) on the strength of FTIR and photoluminescence spectroscopy, with DiamondView imaging used to identify synthetic CVD and HPHT growth structures.
Beyond diamonds, the Antwerp laboratory handles coloured-stone work for European clients, with origin determination on sapphires, rubies, and emeralds carried out using the same LIBS and FTIR protocols deployed at our Sri Lanka and Shanghai locations. The Antwerp facility also serves as AGL's training centre — new gemologists across the network complete a residency in Antwerp before being promoted to senior grader status at their home laboratory.
