Everything You Need to Know About Gold Plating

In addition to our article regarding Silver Plating and Sterling Silver, it is natural to have a follow up post about gold plating as well. This is by no means exhaustive but just a little guide to give you some background information regarding the jewellery we sell.

Gold plating is a process in which a thin layer of gold is applied to the surface of another metal, such as silver or brass. The process is often used to create jewellery with a gold finish, or to restore the gold finish on existing jewellery. Here’s how gold plating is typically done:

1. Preparation: The metal surface to be plated is cleaned and polished to ensure that the gold plating will adhere properly.
2. Electroplating: A thin layer of gold is applied to the metal surface using an electroplating process. This involves immersing the metal in a solution containing gold ions, and applying an electric current to the solution. The gold ions are attracted to the metal surface and bond to it, forming a thin layer of gold.
3. Finishing: Once the gold plating is complete, the jewellery is polished and inspected to ensure that it meets quality standards.

Gold plating is a very popular choice for jewellery because it allows for the look and feel of gold at a much lower cost than solid gold. However, it is important to note that gold plating is not as durable as solid gold, and the gold finish can wear off over time.

If you might know, we have talked about electroplating already in the silver plating article. Therefor we going to go a bit deeper in this process, for who might be interested. You can skip this if you aren’t interested in this.

Electroplating is a process in which a metal layer is deposited onto the surface of another metal or non-metal using an electric current. The process is often used to apply a thin layer of metal to a metal or non-metal surface in order to improve its appearance, corrosion resistance, or other properties. Here is a more detailed explanation of the electroplating process:

1. Preparation: The surface to be plated is cleaned and polished to ensure that the metal layer will adhere properly. Any contaminants, such as dirt or oil, must be removed from the surface.
2. Plating solution: A solution containing the metal ions to be deposited is prepared. This solution is called the plating bath, and it typically contains a metal salt, such as a copper sulfate or nickel sulfate, in water.
3. Electrode placement: The item to be plated is connected to one electrode, called the anode, and a second electrode, called the cathode, is placed in the plating bath.
4. Electric current: An electric current is applied to the system, causing the metal ions in the plating bath to be attracted to the cathode. As the metal ions flow towards the cathode, they are reduced, or gain electrons, and form a metal layer on the cathode.
5. Deposition: The metal ions continue to be deposited on the cathode until the desired thickness of the metal layer is reached.
6. Finishing: Once the electroplating process is complete, the item is removed from the plating bath and rinsed to remove any excess solution. The item may then be polished or treated in other ways to improve its appearance or functionality.

Electroplating is a widely used process in many industries, including the production of jewellery, automotive parts, and electronic components.

Now there are differences in Gold plating. A new old kid on the block, is gold plated vermeil.

What is gold plated vermeil

Basically Gold plated vermeil is gold plated jewellery. It becomes vermeil as soon as the base metal is a precious metal. So the metal receiving the plating is 925 silver. And the thickness is a minimum of 2,5 micron. This is the standard for the United States.

Gold plating vs Gold Vermeil

So as metioned above, vermeil has to have a precious metal base this is any metal which received a gold plating versus anything made of Sterling silver or Pure Silver 925 or 1000. However pure silver jewellery is a rare find since it will be too soft and will bend easily.

There are different rules among different countries when something can be called Gold Vermeil so too many to mention here.

will gold plating tarnish

Gold Plating will not turn black like Sterling Silver. You can read about the tarnishing of Sterling Silver and why in our blog post. However, gold plating can become a bit dull, especially if it is not done properly.

Is gold plating hypoallergenic?

This depends completely regarding the base metal and your allergies of course. Nowadays there are much more allergies. You can even be allergic to water. This sounds extremely complicated but just wanted to say that nothing is hypoallergenic, even though sometimes stainless steel is given this label.

So now you know everything what gold plated jewellery is or vermeil jewellery. If you have any questions or remarks after this post please don’t hesitate to contact us.