Gold-filled seems to be one of the metals that most people know little about. It is gaining in popularity with the ever-increasing price of metal, so I would like to shed a little light on this useful and attractive metal.
Gold-filled is different from gold-plated, both in the way it is produced, and in its gold content. Gold-filled is made by heat bonding/fusing a layer of gold to a base metal (such as brass). Gold-plating, on the other hand, is made by electroplating a very thin layer of gold ions onto a base metal. The layer of gold in gold-filled metal is 50 to 10000 times thicker than the layer of gold on plated metals.
Gold-filled metal has its own special notation. A common gold-filled is called 12/20. This indicates that the metal is 1/20 12kt gold by weight. (I’ll save the discussion of gold karats for another time.)
The primary advantage of using gold-filled instead of solid gold is cost. Gold-filled usually only costs a bit more than sterling silver. The advantage of using gold-filled over gold-plated is that gold plating tends to wear off quickly. Gold-plated metals are not regulated in the United States, and they have no minimum required gold content, so the quality of gold-plated metals varies widely. Gold-filled is an affordable, quality, alternative to using solid gold.
Although I don’t have any gold-filled pieces currently listed in my shop, I do have some available for customers who prefer it.
A few links:
Increasing gold prices
Gold-filled on Wikipedia
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Very good information. I hoe people understand how much better quality gold-fill is than gold plated. Your jewelry is beautiful by the way.
Wow, quite educational.
That was interesting. I learned something this morning.
Well…I didn’t know that! Thanks for the lesson