Gold Plating Wearing Off Quickly? Causes & Fixes

Question
Dear Thomas,

Hello, I am in America. Recently I received a gold plated ring. I am not exaggerating when I say that the plating either oxidized or wore off as soon as I touched the ring. I wore it for no more than thirty seconds and noticed the silver metal was already showing. When I rubbed a finger over it, the plating was removed completely.

I tried Treasure Gold to fix it (thought it couldn't hurt since the ring was ruined anyway) and it worked surprisingly well. I cannot tell at all that the silver had been showing.

My questions are...

1. Why did the gold plating wear off with just a touch? Was it just poorly made? Does this commonly happen?
2. Will the Treasure Gold actually stay on the ring? Should I seal it? If so, what should I use?

Thank you for your help. God Bless.

Answer
Jaime, I  appreciate this question. I believe what you have is an example of VERMEIL.  To verify this, look for a metal mark for either "sterling" or "925".   The word vermeil is loosely pronounced like ver-mae, not accurate to the French but closer than it might be pronounced otherwise.  Look for the quality marks for sterling silver. I a mark there? If it is, the item is gold plated sterling, which is legally called vermeil.  The plate is quite thin and repairs which require heat cannot be done on the items since any heat will cause the thin gold layer to simply vanish.

Are there no marks indicating the silvery metal is sterling silver? If so, then there is no way to know what you really have and it is likely a costume jewelry of some sort.

Now, the question is why would the gold wear off from simple touching? I am guessing the yellow color is not a gold plate at all but perhaps a tarnish of some sort which is yellowish in color. Any sort of gold plate, even the very thin vermeil, would endure touching!

As for treasure gold, this product as I am familiar with it is wax based.  There is not a real way to seal it and keep the look you want. The answer is to wear the ring and replace the treasure gold as you must.   


It is certainly not common for a gold plate to come off of an item so easily. I have not heard of this happening before your question arrived and this makes your question extremely interesting. As I said, vermeil is about as thin as plate can go and still be recognized legally with a particular name.  Any thinner simply does not qualify to legal standards.

Try the treasure gold and see how it does.  If not lasting well, you might be happy enough with the ring polished to the silver color, if it will stay that color with simple cleaning.

Best wishes in this.  God Bless, yes.      Thomas.