People shopping for gold jewelry should understand the difference between gold vermeil, gold-filled and gold-plated jewelry before making a purchase. It’s easy to assume these three terms are interchangeable, but they’re quite different from each other. Knowing what these differences are can help you make an educated and informed purchasing decision that’s right for your personal style and budget and avoid any potential surprises.
What is Gold Vermeil?
Gold vermeil (pronounced ver-MAY) is also referred to as silver gilt in the jewelry industry. Gold vermeil is actually a very thin plating of gold over a piece of jewelry made from silver. For something to be considered gold vermeil, it must meet certain standards and specifications in the United States.
In the U.S., the piece needs to have a silver base and the gold plating on top needs to be made from a gold alloy of 10K or higher, meaning that the alloy is composed of 41.7% gold and a 58.3% alloy of something else. 10K gold is the lowest solid gold alloy used in jewelry that can still be considered “fine” jewelry.
The gold on the piece also needs to be at least 2.5 microns thick. To get a sense of how thin this actually is, it’s about 28 times thinner than a stand of human hair, which is incredibly fine.
Just as high-quality gold pieces are stamped with engravings denoting their gold content (i.e., 14K, 18K), high-quality gold vermeil jewelry will usually be stamped with the marking “925” somewhere on the piece. This marking tells consumers that the piece is high quality gold vermeil because the base is made from sterling silver.
What is Gold-Plated Jewelry?
Gold-plated jewelry uses a less expensive base metal than gold vermeil (which again, must be made of silver), such as copper or brass. Gold is then plated on the outside of the jewelry. Because the base metal for gold-plated jewelry is usually less expensive than silver, you might logically conclude that the cost of a piece of gold-plated jewelry is less expensive than something classified as gold vermeil.
However, gold-plated jewelry doesn’t have any minimum karat weight or plating thickness requirements, if the piece is plated with a thicker layer of gold at a higher karat weight, say 18K or 20K, the gold-plated piece may be more valuable, as it contains more gold.
With gold-plated jewelry, there is no regulation regarding the width of the coating, unlike vermeil gold, which must be at least 2.5 microns thick. But this lack of standardization also means that the thickness of the gold used on gold-filled pieces can be much heftier than gold vermeil, sometimes even as much as 200 times more.
The reason a jeweler or designer might add that much more gold to a piece is simply to distinguish it from other designs and give it more value. But bear in mind, the added gold will come at an additional cost.
Be sure to ask the jeweler about how much gold is contained in a gold-plated piece before making your purchase to be sure the price aligns accordingly.
What is Gold-Filled Jewelry?
Calling jewelry “gold-filled” is a bit of a misnomer in that the jewelry is not actually filled with gold. In the case of gold-filled jewelry, the gold is bonded to the outside of the piece of jewelry which is made from a less expensive base metal like copper or brass, much like gold-plated jewelry.
But because gold-filled jewelry has a coating even thicker than gold-plated jewelry, it’s more durable. Just be aware that the more gold content a piece has, the more expensive it will be.
There are three types of gold-filled jewelry and they’re denoted by their bonding process. A bonding process is the method in which the gold is applied to the jewelry. Gold-filled jewelry must contain at least 5% of its weight in gold but where that 5% is bonded to the piece further distinguishes the different kinds of gold-filled jewelry.
The three types of gold-filled jewelry are:
- Single clad: Gold is layered only on one side of the base metal; the whole 5% of the gold material is on one side.
- Double clad: Splits the gold alloy and layers it on both sides of the base metal; 2.5% on each side, resulting in a thinner layer throughout.
- Wire clad: The 5% gold alloy content is layered entirely around the base metal.
If you’d like to learn more, this blog post provides an excellent visual representation of what gold-filled jewelry looks like at a macro level.
Now that you know how gold vermeil, gold-plated and gold-filled jewelry is made, look at a side-by-side comparison of each to get a deeper understanding of their differentiators. If needed, bookmark this post or print it out to take with you while shopping for a handy cheat sheet.
The Differences Between Vermeil, Gold-Filled and Gold-Plated Jewelry
Gold Vermeil vs Gold-Filled Jewelry
| Gold Vermeil | Gold-Filled |
| Uses silver as a base metal | Uses brass or copper as a base metal |
| Uses one layer of gold plating over base metal in a consistent thickness | Uses one layer of gold over base metal on different parts of the piece in varying thickness |
| Regulated thickness of gold plating (minimum of 2.5 microns thick) | No regulation for thickness of gold layer, but must contain at least 5% of weight in gold |
| More hypoallergenic | Can be hypoallergenic depending on thickness of gold |
| Less resistant to wear and tear | More resistant to wear and tear |
| Created by electroplating | Created by heat bonding |
Gold Vermeil vs Gold-Plated Jewelry
| Gold Vermeil | Gold-Plated |
| Uses silver as a base metal | Uses copper or brass as a base metal |
| Regulated thickness of gold plating (minimum of 2.5 microns thick) | No regulation of minimum gold plating thickness |
| Is usually more expensive than gold plated | Can be more expensive than gold vermeil depending on thickness of gold |
| More hypoallergenic | Can be less hypoallergenic depending on thickness of gold |
| Created by electroplating | Created by electroplating |
Gold-Plated vs Gold-Filled Jewelry
| Gold-Plated | Gold-Filled |
| Uses copper or brass as a base metal | Uses copper or brass as a base metal |
| No regulation of minimum gold plating thickness | No regulation for thickness of gold layer, but must contain at least 5% of weight in gold |
| Thinner layer of gold on top | Thicker layer of gold on top |
| Less hypoallergenic | More hypoallergenic |
| Less resistant to wear and tear | More resistant to wear and tear |
| Created by electroplating | Created by heat bonding |
It’s no secret that gold jewelry is expensive, but gold vermeil, gold-plated and gold-filled pieces of jewelry can provide you with stunning options that are typically less expensive than the cost of pure gold jewelry while still creating chic and stylish looks that don't break the bank.
But keep in mind, just because these types of gold jewelry are less expensive, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat them with the same care and consideration as you would a piece made from 14K or 18K gold. Be sure to familiarize yourself with ways to properly clean and care for your gold jewelry as well, as proper maintenance can protect it against wear and tear, keeping your jewelry just as sparkly as the day you received or purchased it.
Now that you have an in-depth understanding of the differences between gold vermeil, gold-plated and gold-filled jewelry, you’ll hopefully be more discerning when it comes to selecting jewelry for yourself or your loved ones and make a choice right for you.
And don’t forget to treat your vermeil, gold-plated and gold-filled jewelry just as importantly as you do your other pieces of fine jewelry by protecting them with personal jewelry insurance. Personal jewelry insurance can provide you with protection and coverage typically not available through standard homeowners insurance. Click the button below to check your rate.
