Gold plated, gold vermeil, gold filled, solid gold. On day one they can look identical. A year later they don't. Here's what each term means, how much gold you're actually getting, and where an older method, fire-gilding, fits in.
Two rings sit side by side in a listing. Both are silver with gold. One is $40 and the other is $400. The photos look almost the same, and the descriptions use nearly the same words.
The difference is in two things the photos can't show: how much gold there is, and how it's attached to the metal underneath. Those two things decide whether the gold is still there in a year.
Gold plated
Plating is done by electrolysis. The piece goes into a chemical bath, a current runs through it, and a thin film of gold builds up on the surface. The base underneath is often brass or copper, sometimes silver.
The film is very thin. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's jewelry guides say "gold plate" or "gold electroplate" should mean at least 10 karat gold at a thickness of at least 0.175 microns. That's well under a hundredth of the thickness of a human hair. "Heavy gold electroplate" means at least 2.5 microns.
Plating is not a bad thing. It's how most fashion jewellery gets its colour, and on earrings or a pendant that rarely touches anything, it can last a long time. The trouble starts on pieces that rub: rings, bracelets, the edges of a carving. Wear finds the high points first, and once the film is through, the base metal shows. It can be re-plated, but it can't be repaired in place.
Gold vermeil
Vermeil (say "ver-may") is a stricter kind of plating. Under the same FTC guides, it means a sterling silver base, coated with gold of at least 10 karat, at least 2.5 microns thick. That's roughly fourteen times the minimum for ordinary plating.
Two things make vermeil worth more. The gold is thicker, so it lasts longer. And the base is sterling silver, not brass, so when the gold does eventually wear, what shows through is silver rather than a yellow or pink base metal.
It's still a surface film, though. The rules for wear are the same as plating, just slower.
Gold filled
Gold filled works differently. A sheet of gold alloy is bonded to a base metal with heat and pressure, then rolled or drawn into wire or sheet. Under the FTC guides, the gold must be at least 10 karat and make up at least 1/20 of the total metal weight.
That's a lot more gold than plating, and it wears very well. The catch is that gold filled is made as wire and sheet before anything is shaped. It's ideal for chains, hoops and simple bands. It isn't something you can carve, because cutting into it would go straight through the gold layer.
Solid gold
Solid gold is gold alloy all the way through: 9K, 14K, 18K or 22K, depending on how much pure gold is in the mix. Nothing wears off because there's nothing underneath. It's also the most expensive by a wide margin, and on a large, heavy piece the metal alone can cost more than the work.
Where fire-gilding fits
Fire-gilding is older than any of these. It's a family of methods that use heat, not electricity, to join gold to another metal. It was used on temple bronzes, ritual objects and sculpture long before electroplating existed.
On our bench it works like this. A thick leaf of 24K gold is laid onto sterling silver and brought to about 900°C, hot enough for the gold and silver to bond into one another, not hot enough for the gold to run. The heat is judged by eye at the torch, one small area at a time. Then every gold edge is cut again by hand under a 40× microscope, so the gold stays where it belongs and the silver stays clean.
Because the gold is bonded into the silver rather than sitting on top as a film, there's no thin boundary for daily wear to find. It's far tougher than plating or vermeil. It's still gold on silver, not solid gold, so a deep gouge against stone or tile can mark it, as it would mark anything.
There's one more difference. Plating, vermeil and gold filled usually cover a whole piece. Fire-gilding is normally used selectively: on the horns of a dragon, the eyes of a garuda, a single tree on a ring. The contrast between gold and dark silver is part of the design. You can read more on our Traditional Fire-Gilding page.
Side by side
| Term | How the gold gets there | How much gold (US guidance) | What's underneath |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold plated | Electrolysis, thin film | At least 10K, 0.175 microns | Often brass or copper |
| Heavy gold electroplate | Electrolysis, thicker film | At least 10K, 2.5 microns | Any base metal |
| Gold vermeil | Usually electrolysis | At least 10K, 2.5 microns | Sterling silver |
| Gold filled | Sheet bonded by heat and pressure | At least 10K, 1/20 of total weight | Usually brass |
| Fire-gilded (our method) | 24K leaf bonded at about 900°C, re-cut by hand | Selected areas, not a film | Sterling silver |
| Solid gold | Gold alloy throughout | All of it | Gold |
These thicknesses come from US guidance. Other countries use similar words with different rules, and many sellers don't follow any rules at all. Treat the word on a listing as a starting point, not a guarantee.
Four questions to ask before you buy
- What's the base metal? Sterling silver, brass, stainless steel? This is what you'll see when the gold wears.
- What karat is the gold? 10K, 14K, 24K? Higher karat is richer in colour and softer.
- How thick is it, or what fraction of the weight? A seller who knows will tell you in microns or as a fraction. "Thick gold" on its own means nothing.
- How was it applied? Electroplated, mechanically bonded, or fused with heat. Each wears differently.
Which one makes sense
For earrings and pendants that rarely rub against anything, plating is fine and the price is right. For something worn every day, especially a ring or a bracelet, look for vermeil, gold filled, or a method where the gold is bonded rather than laid on. And if the gold is part of carved detail, plating will wear first exactly where the detail is finest, which is where you'd least want to lose it.
If you're unsure whether the silver itself is real, start with What Is Tibetan Silver? And for keeping the gold and silver looking right over the years, see How to Clean Sterling Silver Jewelry.
On day one, every kind of gold looks the same. The difference is what's left after a year on your hand.
Dragon Ring · Taotie Bangle · Garuda Pendant · Traditional Fire-Gilding
More from the Journal: Hand-Carved Silver: Five Ways to Tell · Oxidized Silver · What Is Tibetan Silver?