Gold-Filled Jewellery Is The Affordable (And Chic) Alternative To Plated Pieces
It’s way more durable than gold-plated jewellery, and less expensive than solid gold
Call it the Goldilocks of gold jewellery, the perfect compromise between gold-plated and solid gold jewellery. It’s unlike gold-plated jewellery, which is essentially a low-quality metal plated with a thin (and we mean thin — more on that in a bit) layer of gold.
That layer can actually wear off in a matter of weeks, leaving you with a tarnished piece of jewellery. Gold-filled jewellery also differs from solid gold jewellery, which, as the name suggests, is made of solid gold although the level of gold purity may vary.
So what is gold-filled jewellery exactly? Essentially, it consists of a thick layer of gold bonded to the outer layers of another metal, such as brass or copper. This may sound similar to gold plating, but a piece of jewellery can be labelled as gold-plated as long as the layer of gold is half a micron thick (that’s 1/100,000 as thick as a centimetre) while a piece of gold-filled jewellery must consist of at least 5% of the total weight of the piece.
That said, the gold will wear off over time — just like it will with any type of gold jewellery — but the metal beneath won’t peek through like it will with gold-plated jewellery.
Affordable, lasting and high-quality, these are more than enough reasons to consider gold-filled jewellery for your next purchase! We love gold-filled jewellery too, so we’ve curated the prettiest gold-filled jewellery pieces for your browsing (and buying) pleasure.
Text: Natalie-Elizabeth Tan/HerWorld