What is good quality gold plating?
Did you know that not all gold plating is the same?? Often a sales person tells you that “..this is gold plated jewellery”, and if you dont know the different types of gold plating, you might just end up buying an inferior quality item!
“Not all gold plating is created equal”
So first, lets understand what is gold plating?
Gold plating is a thin coating of real gold onto an item’s surface. In the case of jewellery, the item which is coated with gold is usually made of silver, referred to as gold plated silver jewellery, but it can also be made from other metals like brass, German silver etc.
What are the different types of gold plating?
Every gold plating has two parameters
- Thickness of coating, which is measured in micro-meter or microns.
- Purity of gold used for coating, measured in karat, from 12k to 24k, 24k being the purest.
We can create silver jewellery with gold plating of different purity, for example 14k – 22k, which creates different colours of the final platting as per designer’s choice. 22k gold (92.6% purity of gold) has a more deep yellow colour, as compared to 14k which will be more whitish / less yellow.
The thickness of the gold plating effects how long the gold plating lasts and keeps looking golden. This is the primary indicator of plating quality!
Correct names for different types of gold plating?
| GOLD PLATED | HEAVY GOLD PLATED / VERMEIL | GOLD FLASHED / GOLD WASHED | |
| Thickness of gold layer (in microns) | min. 0.5 microns | 2.5 microns | less than 0.5 microns |
Thinner coatings however (less than 0.5 microns) are also commonly misnamed as “gold plated” when actually they should be called “gold flashed” or “gold washed”. So beware of sales people who refer to gold flashed items as gold plated! And always ask to clarify the coating thickness before you buy gold plated silver jewellery, since now you know!
Gold plated silver jewellery can have further treatments (some safe, some unsafe) which can effect the longevity of the gold plating like nickel plating before gold plating or e-coating after gold plating. But those are subjects for another blog. Coming soon…
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All silver jewellery with gold plating sold on silvorna.com is min. 0.5micron gold plated and further treated with e-coating to enhance the longevity of the colour. Check out our collection of gold plated silver necklaces, gold plated silver earrings, gold plated silver rings & gold plated silver bracelets.
