Gold Filled Gold Plated Jewelry Markings

The quality marks for gold plated indicate that an article has been electroplated with gold of at least 10 karats.

Gold filled gold plated jewelry markings. Gold jewelry and other gold collectibles have always been prized for their beauty and the valuable metal they contain. In europe purity marks are commonly shown as percentages. Because different types of manufacture use different amounts and qualities of gold in the creation of objects it is important to know how to verify solid gold gold plated and gold filled objects. In that case it s either plated or filled gold or it s costume plain old jewelry not real gold.

Gold plated jewelry however has a much thinner gold coating. Standard purity marks used for vintage gold jewelry. Gold filled jewelry may also be marked with fractional numbers around the karat quality mark. Vermeil pronounced ver may is gold.

The 1 20 means that 1 20th of the total weight or 5 is real gold. Solid gold jewelry in contrast is made entirely of one material usually an alloy that contains gold mixed with other metals to make the compound harder and more durable. A piece may be identified as gold filled gold overlay rolled gold or with abbreviations of those terms such as gf for gold filled. Gold filled items are similar to gold plated pieces in that they are not solid gold.

The 10k simply stands for 10 karat which is the purity of the gold plating. Hge for heavy gold electroplate is another mark that indicates gold plating you can also see hgp. Like gold plated jewelry some gold filled jewelry has a thicker layer of gold than other gold filled jewelry. Some other markings mean a jewelry item is not fine karat gold.

Looking at gold markings is one of the fastest ways to establish what your jewelry is made of. For example 1 10 14k g f means that the piece is gold filled and that 1 10 of its weight is 14 karat gold. Gold can be all the way up to 24k 999 or 9999 which indicates about 99 percent pure gold. There is no minimum thickness required for silver plated or gold plated articles.

There are about a dozen numbers in between from 10k or 417 to 23k or 950. You may also see gep which means gold electroplated and rgp meaning rolled gold plate. Rae gf stands for gold filled which means that this piece is plated with gold and has some other metal underneath. In some instances the weight of the gold is actually marked on the gold filled jewelry.

Sometimes the karat value is shown as a ratio such as 18 24 or 14 24 this is most commonly seen with gold filled jewelry as mentioned in the section above. Gold plated jewelry markings. Look for other hallmarks or stamps that indicate plated gold such as hge gold filled plate rgp ep or 1 10. The most common stamp used in gold plated jewelry is gp standing for gold plated.

See my other guide to find out more about the different kinds of gold plated jewelry including their markings.