Gold Terminology 101: a comprehensive guide

Jewelry shopping can be quite confusing at times, especially when it comes to Gold. What do those k numbers mean? What is the difference between Gold Plating, Gold Vermeil, and Solid Gold? That´s why we are giving you the complete breakdown. Welcome to gold terminology 101. After reading this guide, you will be a gold expert!

Gold Plating

If you read about a piece being "gold plated" you can expect it to look like solid gold, but actually, it is not. The shine comes from a golden layer on top of a less precious metal like copper or stainless steel.

The base material is being dipped into a gold bath, so the top layer needs to be handled with care: it needs to be taken off before showers and not worn extensively over long periods of time. 

It is the most economical way to work with precious gold. So for all the ones who enjoy switching up their looks with amazing looking jewelry, this is a great option to dip the toe into the jewelry world without overspending.

Gold Vermeil

The fancier way of doing gold plating. The base material for this kind of jewelry is quite precious itself: Sterling Silver. Just like plating, gold vermeil jewelry gets a good gold bath, but usually with a thicker layer of the precious metal.
 
That is also the reason why (quite confusingly) some seemingly golden pieces have the 925 Sterling Silver stamp. This one is simply referring to the base material.
 
It is categorized as fine jewelry, but just like plating, it needs some extra love and care to maintain its shine.

Gold Filling

Here, again, we are not dealing with a piece made out of gold entirely. There is another base material underneath, but the gold layer is much thicker.
 
Other than gold plated jewelry, gold-filled one gets not only a golden bath but a mechanical bonding process where a thicker layer is molten on top of the base material.
 
Gold-filled jewelry is, by its nature, more expensive, but also more durable. These pieces can actually withstand a bath in the ocean. However, as with everything, the more care you take, the longer it will keep its beauty and shine.

Solid Gold

No base materials here, the whole piece is made out of one material only. If you go down to the core, you will find only one metal: gold.
 
But, it still is not "just" gold. In fact, if one would try and use solid gold in its purest form (24 karats, more on that number later on) you would get a very soft, bendy, and overall not a longlasting piece of jewelry.
 
For that reason, solid gold pieces are alloys of different metals to create a more sound structure for your precious pieces. These are the most longlasting, but of course, the most expensive ones, too.

What does the karat number mean?

The karat number (or karatage) simply tells you the percentage of pure gold contained in a gold alloy (a mixture of metals, melted together). The higher the number, the more solid gold is put into the mix.

24k Gold: the purest form

If that is the purest form, how come you never see this stamp on your jewelry? Because gold in its pure form is not a great metal to work with, actually.
It is too soft and would scratch very easily. That´s why jewelers created different alloys to work with.

18k: Almost pure

If you read 18k Gold, it means that there are a whopping 18 parts of pure gold and only 6 parts of alloy metals in the mix.
It is considered a great choice for special occasions because even though it might not tarnish, this high percentage of gold makes it easy to scratch.
It has a bright gold shine and a deeper yellow-ish color.

14k: The Everyday Alloy

This combination contains fewer parts of solid gold but has the advantages of both worlds. While the 14 parts of gold keep the shine and beauty of the piece, the remaining 10 parts keep the whole structure solid and stable.
It also gives the piece a beautiful, lighter yellow color and has an overall modern look to it.

Not all that glitters is solid gold...(but sometimes, that´s a good thing)...

We hope that this guide gave you some direction and a better understanding of all the different ways these precious metals are being used. 

Pin this guide for later to have it handy for whenever you go jewelry-shopping!