Are you ready to tackle this one? Might I suggest a nice red blend to sip while perusing this article? Perhaps I’ll do just that while attempting to cover this plethora of information.
Let me begin with good ol’ gold, Au on the periodic table from the Latin, aurum, that beautiful yellow metal that has started and ended wars, what man has lusted after since its discovery. What makes gold so precious? While a soft metal, gold stays pretty - it can be scratched and nicked and bent and dented, but it never loses its lovely color. It doesn’t tarnish. Look at the artifacts from King Tut’s tomb - yep, still pretty after all these millennia. Same with ancient coins that have been crusted over with sediment at the bottom of the ocean from early shipwrecks. With that in mind, gold is precious, it is valuable and expensive. We like it, we love it, we want some more of it! Lucky for us, there are methods for us to enjoy all that glittery stuff at a lower price.
First of all, we know that gold has different karat weights, 24k gold is 99.99% pure gold in its content. Most jewelry is 18k (75% gold,) 14k (50%) or 10k (42%) because the purer the gold, the softer is it. If you want a nice, sturdy ring and are rough on jewelry, 10k might be the way to go because it will be the most durable with 58% of its metal content consisting of those less pliable than pure gold. Any karat weight less than 24k is essentially an alloy. Rose gold is gold blended with copper, white gold contains either nickel or palladium and greenish gold is alloyed with silver to give them their different shades. So while you can purchase a 14k rose gold chain, there is no such thing as a 24k rose gold chain because pure gold is yellow in color.
On to the more confusing topic at hand. You might want to take a sip of that wine now.
So how do we make gold less expensive? By having less gold. Aside from the karat weight, the easiest way to do this is by having a base metal. There is a base metal in all of the methods in the title of this article - gold-plating, gold-filled and vermeil. A base metal is just that - a foundation or base of a less expensive metal such as nickel, brass, copper or silver with gold in this case, layered over it in some manner.
Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up to the good stuff. Perhaps you have some fashion jewelry that is stamped HGE or HGP. Heavy Gold Electroplate and Heavy Gold Plate have no legal definition in the U.S. These terms only mean that a piece has been electroplated in gold. The piece can be beautiful and perfect for short-term wear. It will have that lovely gold color, but unfortunately, it won’t last. After a few wearings, that plating is going to begin to wear off, you might get a skin reaction from the base metal if it’s nickel. Even yet, you might get a lovely green stain on your skin. Don’t let that information keep you from buying a piece you like - just be aware that gold plated items are not meant to be worn frequently.
Rolled Gold Plate, RGP, and gold-overlay are designations for plated items that have a thicker layer of gold than electroplating but not as much as gold-filled. Typically, the weight of gold in the piece must be at least 1/40 of the total weight to receive the RGP stamp.
Gold-filled refers to gold being mechanically bonded to a base metal. Gold-filled items contain 5 to 10 times the amount of gold in standard, gold-plated pieces and 15 to 25 times more gold than electroplated jewelry. In the United States, gold-filled jewelry is monitored by the Federal Trade Commission. In order to be designated as gold-filled and stamped GF, items layered with 10k gold must have a total weight consisting of a minimum of 10% gold. Pieces layered with 12k or over must contain at least 5% gold or 1/20 its total weight. The photo above shows a stamp of “1/20 14k” meaning it is gold-filled with 14k gold and that of its total weight, 1/20 is gold. Other common stamps are 1/10 10k, and 1/20 12k GF. Basically, gold-filled items have the appearance of high karat gold and will last decades and longer. While your gold-filled jewelry is very durable and can be worn while showering, it’s usually best to remove it while bathing and swimming to avoid any prolonged exposure to chemicals and especially if there are soft stones such as turquoise, opals or pearls.
Lastly, we have vermeil, pronounced “ver-may” and also known as silver gilt and gold vermeil, a thin layer of gold is applied over a base metal of either sterling or fine silver. The gold must be of at least 10 karats with a thickness of 2.5 microns for it to be true vermeil. Why use vermeil in jewelry? Vermeil has a very slightly different color from gold or gold-filled items to the trained eye. Mostly, it’s used for its value - you get the luxury of gold knowing it’s layered over silver and more valuable than if it were over brass. I use vermeil magnetic clasps frequently in bracelets and the 925 sterling silver stamp is prominent. It’s just a nice thing to know in my opinion. Silver gilt has been used for hundreds and even thousands of years in decorative items. Because silver can oxidize or tarnish, a layer of gold leaf was often applied to not only give the piece that special golden shine, but to avoid constant polishing as gold does not oxidize. In modern times, sports medals and trophies are often silver gilt. Gold Olympics medals have been gilt since after 1912.
Whew! We made it! Thank you for reading along! Hopefully, you are more enlightened in this interesting world of all things gold. In summary, we start at pure, 24k gold which is pretty but soft and pricy; for the look and durability of karat gold at a fraction of the price, we have gold-filled which can last a lifetime; next is RGP, rolled gold plated then gold-plated which is still lovely but not as enduring; lastly comes gold-electroplate which again, is pretty, but not necessarily meant for extended wear. And now you know...
Happy jewelry-wearing!