Gold Plated vs Gold Filled: What's the Difference?
Note: This was originally published on 01-06-2014 in my blog in my old online store, which no longer exists.
Gold and silver plated jewelry is very popular these days, and it's affordable too. But in this article I'm going to explain why it's probably not your best value.
Both gold plated and gold filled jewelry consist of a coating of at least 10 karat gold over another metal, usually brass. The difference is in the thickness of the coating.
Gold plated is normally 7 millionths of an inch thick, but may be as thin as 2 millionths of a inch. (2/1,000,000) That is why it wears off, and then you've got a nasty looking piece of jewelry that is showing the base metal through the worn off spots. The notation HGE means "heavy gold electroplate". This is thicker than regular plating, normally 40 millions of an inch.
Here is a clasp which is worn through the gold plated layer:
Gold vermeil is thicker, having a layer of gold that is 100 millionths of an inch (1/10,000) thick on a base that is at least 92.5% silver. This coating is up to 50 times thicker than gold plated. Personally, when I see gold vermeil jewelry components, most of them seem to be 24K vermeil, which is a richer color and absolutely gorgeous. But that may need to be another blog post. If there is a quality mark for gold vermeil, I don't know what is is, and my vermeil components don't have any mark that I can see.
I love the look of these 24K gold vermeil earring components. If you know me, I bet you can guess what I'm going to dangle off them.
Gold filled is the thickest of all, normally 5% gold by weight. I can't give you the thickness by inch, because it's measured by weight instead. It is thick enough that with normal use the gold should last a lifetime. You can tell gold filled by it's markings, usually 1/20 or 14/20. The 1/20 means that it is 1/20, or 5%, gold. The 14/20 means that it is 14 karat gold and that the gold is 1/20 of the total.
This texured fused glass pendant is wire-wrapped with 14K gold filled wire:
Karats are the measure of how much gold is in the metal alloy. 24k is pure gold. Anything less than that is an alloy with some other metal. There are a couple of reasons for mixing the gold with other metals. One is to make it cheaper, but the main reason is to make it stronger. 14k means that the alloy is 14/24 gold, or 14 divided by 24 which equals 58 1/3% gold.
Silver until recently was either solid or plated. However, due to recent cost increases, it is now available in filled also. It is not uncommon to find 1/10 filled silver, which means it is 10% silver. There are many different quality silvers, which I won't go in to here, but in a future post.
How do you choose? Of course, if you are looking at a piece of jewelry, it's not likely you will have a choice in the thickness of the gold layer. It is what it is, and you need to decide if you want to spend your hard earned money on it or not. I think the main thing to consider is the function of the particular component, and how much wear it will receive. For example, a pair of earrings (with the exception of posts or ear wires) probably isn't going to get a lot of wear as far as touching or rubbing. A ring, however, is a whole different story. Plated dangles on earrings might last quite a while before that thin layer wears off. Rings get a lot of wear and rubbing. So I'm not going to tell you to never buy plated jewelry. Just consider the function of the piece. Also consider the cost. If it's only plated, I wouldn't be willing to spend as much money on it.
I hope this post has helped you feel more confident about understanding the difference in plated and filled jewelry next time you shop. Oh, and last but not least, if you'd like to subscribe to future installments of my jewelry tips, you can do so by clicking here.
Sources:
Complete Metalsmith, Tim McCreight
Rio Grande (jewelry supply)
