All That Glitters May Be Gold Plated, Gold Filled or Vermeil

One of the more frequent questions that our customer service people are asked has to do with the difference between gold filled and gold plated items. And along those lines the related question of "And what is vermeil anyway?" often arises about that same time.
Let's tackle the plated variety first. Gold plated jewelry has a very fine layer of the precious metal electromagnetically bonded to it. The thickness of gold (or silver if silver plated) is generally only a few microns thick, so care must be taken not to polish too vigorously or the plating will wear more quickly. 18 or 22 kt gold is typically used. BTW, the metal underneath the plating is a base metal that must be able to conduct electricity for the bonding process to work. At Beadaholique we use only brass or stainless steel as these metals contain no nickel which many folks are allergic to. That was easy!
Moving up in quality a step we have gold filled. Gold filled is made by fusing a layer of carat gold to a suitable supporting metal (or alloy) using equipment that carefully controls pressure, heat, and time. Electroplating is not part of this process. The bond produced is a permanent one and the thickness of the gold is a hundred times or more thicker than that of gold plate. In fact a gold filled item must contain a fifth (1/20th) of its weight in gold and will have a quality mark that will identify its carat. For example, 14 carat Gold Filled will be marked as 14/20, meaning that the outer 1/20th of the piece is 14kt gold. 18/20 means the outer 1/20th is 18kt, etc.
Like solid gold, filled jewelry is tarnish-resistant and safe for most people with sensitive skin. It will not flake or peel and can be treasured for years.
And now for our finale, vermeil. (pronounced vur-may)
Vermeil is produced by coating sterling silver with carat gold. A base metal is never used. Sometimes referred to as gilded silver, vermeil is made using the process of electrolysis -- electricity and an acid bath -- to attach the gold to sterling. To be considered vermeil, the gold must also be at least 10-carat and be at least 1.5 micrometers thick. This layer of gold is thicker than that applied using the electroplating process and will far outwear a gold plated item.
There you have it. Hopefully no one was hurt and everybody had a good time!
Chris
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