Understanding Your Replica Jewelry: Sodalite, Jasper & Gold Plating

Question
I have been given a beautiful necklace + earrings with a certificate. The certificate says it is a replica and is made with Piedra Jade Sodalite Jaspe and Amerillo. What can you tell me about these stones. Also the certificate reads reproductions are made in 18 karat solid gold - solid metal gold plated with 24karats gold - silver 925. This is confusing. I am not sure which it is. I would like to know how I should look after the gold plating - would I expect it to come off and how I can tell if it is plated or if 18karat solid. Thank you for your help. I really love the piece.

Answer
Annette,
Sorry, it sounds like you have a lovely piece, but I can't be of much help. I'll give it a shot though.

I'm not an expert on those stones, so I couldn't tell you anything interesting that you wouldn't be able to find in the Wikipedia. You may already know that piedra means stone in Spanish and Jaspe should have probably been written as Jasper. I don't know what the spanish word is, but I like Jasper too. The varieties it comes in are beautiful.

The metal information, the way it is written, is confusing to me as well. I can tell you a few things about it however that you maybe didn't know. Pure gold is 24kt. Karat values less than 24 could be expressed in percentages. 18kt.... is 18/24 so it is accurate to say that 18kt gold is 75% pure gold. Generally the other portion of the gold alloy includes silver. In the case of 18kt yellow gold, we use silver and copper in equal portions. For 18kt white gold, its silver and paladium. The silver 925 is definitely refering to silver that is 92.5% pure. That is the standard way to stamp silver and platinum pieces, though with platinum a higher purity is desired...for quality platinum, you'd want 995.

There isn't really a good way to tell if its plated or solid without filing or scratching the piece, but generally, quality gold jewelry is solid all the way through. I suspect you have a quality piece from a quality store.

I'm not 100% certain, but if I have my facts straight, the Clintons purchased some jewelry items from Galeria Cano during a visit to Colombia around the time of Bill's presidency. If I'm mistaken, it was a place very similar to the look and decor of Galeria Cano.