There are many terms thrown around the jewelry industry. One you see often when shopping for jewelry is “gold plated.” As a consumer, you should know what, exactly, you are buying. There are many types of plating, but no matter which way you look at it, anything that’s gold plated (or sometimes called “gold filled”)…is not worth anything. Depending upon the type of jewelry (and the price), plating may be heavy or micro thin, but with the advanced state of technology, there’s never much gold on these pieces. They are practically worthless, and here’s why.
Gold wash – This type of plating is…well, cheap. It’s super thin, ½ micron at best. For comparison, a micron is 1 millionth of an inch. In other words, REALLY thin. In fact, this plating is so thin that the gold wears off easily. Usually only found on costume jewelry, there aren’t any jeweler’s marks to indicate this type of plating and thus no industry standard.
Electroplate – This plating, layered over a base metal piece, can be as thin as 1 micron or as thick as 20. The longevity of the gold luster is completely dependent upon the thickness of the gold plating (which makes a lot of sense, right?). There may be a mark, such as EP or GP to indicate the plating, sometimes along with the purity of gold used (18K, 14K, etc).
Hard Gold Electroplate – This is the same as Electroplate, only thicker – a lot thicker at 100 microns. Obviously, this type of plating is meant to last a long time. This is typically found on high use items such as watch casings.
Gold Overlay – This isn’t a plating process, but a fusion process. A sheet of base metal is covered with several thin layers of gold, which is then heat fused together and made into jewelry pieces. There is usually a mark to indicate the weight and type of gold used. For example: 1/30 18K GF would mean that a layer of 18K gold was fused to a base metal and that 1/30 of the total weight of the piece is 18K gold.
Gold Filled – This is a higher standard of Gold Overlay. Here, the gold must be 1/20 of the total weight of the piece. These pieces are usually marked 18K GF or 1/20 18K GF. This type of plating is very sturdy and should last the life of the wearer, if not longer.
So there you have it. Now you probably know WAY more than you ever wanted to know. Remember, all that glitters is NOT always gold!
