GemRight Agarwood / Eaglewood / Oud Identification and Grading Services

A piece of natural agarwood mounted on a 22K yellow gold ring accented with natural diamonds. Photo courtesy of Chan Xiang Yuan (China).

GemRight Gemology has categorised agarwood / eaglewood / oud as an organic gem within gemology to the likes of pearls. It has launched its identification and quality grading services and had begun accepting submissions as of 1 April 2026.

Through years of market observation, GemRight Gemology has noted the significant rise in transacted prices of natural agarwood and its popularity as a treasured accessory such as pendants and beaded bracelets. Combined with technological advances in successfully propagation of Kynam-type agarwood and innovations in enhancing both cultivated agarwood and non-agarwood materials to imitate natural agarwood, significant level of distrust exists with consumers’ rights unable to be safeguarded.

Hence, GemRight Gemology undertook 3 years of fieldwork visiting sources of natural agarwood and their samples (Singapore, Vietnam, China, Indonesia), sources of agarwood cultivation (China, Thailand, Malaysia) and locations where enhancements to both agarwood and non-agarwood material were conducted. A total of 2,612 samples were studied, allowing GemRight Gemology to build a robust library of visual and chemical data which is used to compare with samples submitted.

2 levels of reporting are now available:

1. Concise Reporting
   This level provides the essential information identifying the material examined and if any enhancement on the material has been detected

2. Standard Reporting
   This includes the identity of the material, any enhancement(s) detected, categorises the scent type into Hoi An Type or Xing Zhou Type, determine the amount of resin formation and the fragrance strength in room and warmed temperatures.

Due to the complexity of the analysis before a conclusion can be provided, no verbal consult can be provided.

Given that now exist a robust way of testing agarwood, possibly the only such service outside of mainland China, GemRight Gemology hopes that both consumers and sellers of agarwood can regain confidence in buying and selling of this prized gift of Nature.

To support this, GemRight Gemology also accepts item submission through its mail-in programme. Please check the relevant page for the guide to submit items through mail.