Buying gold jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether
you’re considering a gift of gold jewelry for someone special or
as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn the terms used
in the industry. Here’s some information to help you get the
best quality gold jewelry for your money, whether you’re
shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.
Gold The word gold, used by itself, means all gold or 24 karat
(24K) gold. Because 24K gold is soft, it’s usually mixed with
other metals to increase its hardness and durability. If a piece
of jewelry is not 24 karat gold, the karat quality should
accompany any claim that the item is gold.
The karat quality marking tells you what proportion of gold is
mixed with the other metals. Fourteen karat (14K) jewelry
contains 14 parts of gold, mixed in throughout with 10 parts of
base metal. The higher the karat rating, the higher the
proportion of gold in the piece of jewelry.
Most jewelry is marked with its karat quality, although marking
is not required by law. Near the karat quality mark, you should
see the name of the U.S. registered trademark of the company
that will stand behind the mark. The trademark may be in the
form of a name, symbol or initials. If you don’t see a trademark
accompanying a quality mark on a piece of jewelry, look for
another piece.
Solid gold refers to an item made of any karat gold, if the
inside of the item is not hollow. The proportion of gold in the
piece of jewelry still is determined by the karat mark.
Jewelry can be plated with gold in a variety of ways. Gold plate
refers to items that are either mechanically plated,
electroplated, or plated by any other means with gold to a base
metal. Eventually, gold plating wears away, but how soon will
depend on how often the item is worn and how thick the plating
is.
Gold-filled, gold overlay and rolled gold plate are terms used
to describe jewelry that has a layer of at least 10 karat gold
mechanically bonded to a base metal. If the jewelry is marked
with one of these terms, the term or abbreviation should follow
the karat quality of the gold used (for example, 14K Gold
Overlay or 12K RGP). If the layer of karat gold is less than
1/20th of the total weight of the item, any marking must state
the actual percentage of karat gold, such as 1/40 14K Gold
Overlay.
Gold electroplate describes jewelry that has a layer (at least
.175 microns thick) of a minimum of 10 karat gold deposited on a
base metal by an electrolytic process. The terms gold flashed or
gold washed describe products that have an extremely thin
electroplating of gold (less than .175 microns thick). This will
wear away more quickly than gold plate, gold-filled or gold
electroplate.