A Guide to Gold Plated Jewelry

What is Gold Plated Jewelry?

Gold plated jewelry is jewelry that has a gold layer bonded to a base metal.

It's important to understand, however, that not all gold plated jewelry is of the same quality. There are important manufacturing factors that effect the quality of a piece of gold plated jewelry.

In this post, we'll discuss some of these factors, including:

Gold karat levels.
Base metals.
Plating techniques.

Lastly, we'll share the only four jewelry maintenance tips you'll ever need.

Gold Karat Levels

Here's an overview of the different karat levels, or purity levels, of gold.

24k Gold: This is 99.99% gold making, it the highest, or most pure, karat level.

18k Gold: This is an alloy, or a mixture of metals, that contains about 75% gold and about 25% of other metals. Those other metals determine the color of the gold.

For example, copper mixed with gold produces rose gold jewelry while silver and palladium create white gold.

14k Gold: This is also a gold alloy that consists of 58.3% gold and 41.7% other metals such as copper, silver, or palladium.

10k Gold: Another gold alloy, consisting of 41.7% gold and 58.3% other metals.

What Karat Level is Best?

Despite being the purest form, 24k gold is not the optimal purity level to use for jewelry. This is because gold is a very soft and malleable metal, so it's prone to scratch or otherwise damage easily.

Instead, 18k or 14k gold is best.

Not only do these purity levels contain enough gold for a nice shine, the other metals that are mixed with the gold create a more durable form of gold that's not prone to scratch or damage.

Base Metals

Next, you should know about base metals.

Although there are many different types of base metals, the most common are brass, copper, sterling silver, and nickel.

What is the Best Base Metal?

I'm going to make a statement that any google search will not agree with: When it comes to gold plated jewelry, there is no "best" base metal.

What About Vermeil?

Vermeil jewelry is great. But that's only because it has a really thick gold layer bonded to the sterling silver. The thick gold plating, therefore, takes more time to fade.

The reason I'm saying the base metal doesn't matter is because there's a layer of real gold bonded to the base metal that separates the base metal from your skin.

If the gold plating erodes, the base metal underneath the gold is exposed. If this happens, the base metal comes in contact with your skin. That is when skin can turn green.

Also, if the the base metal is exposed, it can react with the chemicals in the air and that's when gold plated jewelry tarnishes.

Therefore, you want to focus on how the gold is plated to the base metal and how to keep the gold plating from eroding.

First, we'll cover two of the most common jewelry plating techniques you'll come across.

Electroplating vs PVD Plating

Electroplating

Most gold jewelry is plated using a process called electroplating.

Like all plating techniques, it's a process that allows one metal to be bonded with another.

Electroplating can be pretty complicated but here are the basics:

For example, when plating gold over brass, the manufacturer places the brass jewelry in an electrolyte solution that contains gold.

Electricity is then passed through the electrolyte solution which causes the gold in the solution to bond with the brass.

The Result: A durable layer of gold atomically bonded to the brass.

Electroplating is used in a variety of industries, not just jewelry.

For example, car rims and bumpers are electroplated with chromium because it prevents corrosion and produces a bright shine.

PVD Plating

Now, onto PVD plating.

PVD stands for Physical Vapor Deposition.

This is a pretty complicated process, but I'll do my best to explain it in five succinct steps, again using gold bonded to brass.

1. Create a Vacuumed Chamber - The brass jewelry is placed in a chamber. The impurities in the air of that chamber are removed by creating a vacuum.

2. Heat the Vacuumed Chamber - The vacuum sealed chamber is then heated to remove other impurities from the brass.

3. Cleaning the Brass - The brass is then cleaned by removing oxides.

4. Vaporize the Gold - Gold is then vaporized into a positively charged plasma state.

5. Coat the Brass with the Gold - A negative charge is then applied to the brass which causes the gold to forcefully bond with the brass jewelry.

The Result: A very strong atomic bond between the brass and the gold.

Which is Better?

PVD plating.

Although both processes apply a negative charge to the brass and a positive charge to the gold, PVD plating uses higher energy levels which creates a stronger atomic bond between the gold and the brass.

Therefore, PVD plated jewelry is more durable.

Which is Most Common?

Electroplating.

Electroplating is a less complicated process that uses less expensive technology.

Therefore, electroplated jewelry is more affordable.

But when it comes down to it, how you maintain your jewelry makes a big difference.

So, here are the only four tips you'll ever need to maintain your gold plated jewelry.

Four Jewelry Maintenance Tips

1. Avoid Chemicals

First, make sure your jewelry does not come in contact with any harsh chemicals.

Examples include any health and beauty products, chlorine, or salt water. Any of these chemicals can erode your jewelry's gold plating.

2. Wipe Down After Use

Second, with a soft microfiber cloth, wipe off any dust, dirt, sweat, or natural oils that accumulate on your jewelry.

Ideally, this should be done at the end of every day you wear your jewelry.

Important: Use a plain, soft microfiber cloth. Not a cloth that contains any cleaning chemicals. Those chemicals are considered harsh.

3. Deep Clean When Necessary

Don't deep clean your jewelry unless you see a need for it. Simply wiping it down will do.

But if you start to notice debris accumulating on your jewelry and wiping it off isn't doing the trick, perform the following steps:

Fill a bowl of distilled water with a few drops of dish soap.
Submerge the jewelry and let it soak for 5 minutes.
Pull out the jewelry and remove any debris with a microfiber cloth.
Rinse the jewelry thoroughly with distilled water.
Dry the jewelry completely with a soft microfiber cloth.

4. Store in a Cool, Dry Place

Lastly, when you're not wearing your jewelry, store it in a jewelry bag that's provided with your order. This keeps the moisture in the air from accumulating on your jewelry and corroding the gold plating.

These maintenance tips may seem like a lot of work, but they're really not.

All you have to do daily is wipe your jewelry off and make sure it's in a bag.

Avoiding harsh chemicals is something that comes naturally, and deep cleaning your jewelry should be done only as needed. Probably every month or two, depending on how often your wear your pieces.

If you follow these four simple steps, your gold plated jewelry will last for years to come.

Final Thoughts

If you don't want to spend a small fortune on solid gold, we truly believe gold plated jewelry is a great option.

But you have to buy the right type of gold plated jewelry and maintain it well.

Hopefully, this post helped you to do that.

Thanks for taking the time to read it.