Gold-Filled jewelry is made using a metal called gold-filled, an increasingly popular jewelry metal that offers the durability and aesthetics of solid gold jewelry without the prohibitively high price point. Gold filled is made of a very thick layer of solid Karat Gold that is mechanically bonded to a base metal core using pressure and heat.

Gold-filled pieces, by law, must contain a minimum of 5% solid gold by weight, which makes it a popular alternative to both solid gold jewelry and also less-durable gold-plated and gold vermeil jewelry.

Gold-bonded jewelry comes in many forms. Gold-filled, gold vermeil, and gold-plated jewelry are typically used as more affordable alternatives to solid gold jewelry, which is great for consumers, but there is often confusion about how these materials differ. As an established manufacturer and supplier of the finest gold-filled jewelry, Ross Metals is dedicated to transparency about these products and associated terms.

Gold Filled Jewelry:

In a nutshell, gold-filled jewelry differs from both gold vermeil and gold plating because it contains a much higher amount of pure gold in the finished jewelry piece (minimum 5% of total product weight must be solid gold, per the Federal Trade Commission), while vermeil and plating both rely on a very thin layer of gold in order to look like gold.

5% solid gold by total weight may seem like a small amount, compared to actual karat gold, but this actually means gold-filled jewelry contains over 100 times more solid gold than Gold Vermeil or Gold plated pieces. And now, with the gold price at all time highs, the value gap between Gold-Filled and Gold Plated has never been larger.

Another key difference is that gold-filled jewelry uses a mechanical layering process to bond a thick gold layer to the base metal interior, while plating and vermeil use electroplating to bond a thin layer to a base metal such as brass for gold plating, or 925 sterling silver for gold vermeil.

Gold Plated Jewelry:

To compare, gold plated jewelry uses approximately 1% the amount of gold as gold-filled jewelry (gold layers of only 0.5 microns thick are standard for gold plated jewelry). Gold plated jewelry, due to the extremely thin layer of gold used, is highly susceptible to tarnishing and, due to its lack of durability, is not recommended for everyday wear or extended use.

Most gold-plated necklaces, for example, are only expected to last 6 to 12 months before the gold layer degrades. Gold-filled necklaces, on the other hand, are expected to last with regular use for 5 to 10 years, at a minimum.

Gold Vermeil Jewelry:

Gold vermeil jewelry is a higher quality product than gold plated options, but it still falls short when compared to gold-filled jewelry in terms of value, durability, and solid gold content. Gold vermeil is a regulated term that strictly refers to jewelry with a solid gold layer of at least 2.5 microns electroplated over a 925 sterling silver base.

While gold vermeil will typically contain more gold, be more durable, and tarnish less than gold-plated, it's still hard to compare to gold-filled. A lot of the time, you pay a premium for gold vermeil (it's typically more expensive than gold plated) without getting much more for the price.

For example, a gold vermeil ring might endure 12 to 24 months before degrading, while a gold plated ring may last 8 to 12 months before degrading. Importantly, a gold-filled ring would be likely to last 5 to 10 years without tarnishing, as a conservative guess. This gap in durability reflects the major difference between the thickness of the gold layer contained in gold-filled versus vermeil and plated options.

Gold-Filled's manufacturing process is very complicated, as there are more steps to finish the product than karat gold or sterling silver. A brass rod is created and is inserted into a thick gold tube, made out of solid 14K Gold. The tube and core are then heated and repeatedly drawn through rollers to fuse, or mechanically bond, the metals together. The process creates a wire with a permanent layer of gold over the core, resulting in a workable gold-filled wire material we use to make jewelry.

To make spools of beautiful gold-filled chains, this wire is fed through chain machines, which help pull, twist and interlock the wire into chain patterns such as curb, rope, figaro, cable etc. Each style only requires a slightly different movement or tooling. After the machinery is done, the chain then undergoes an annealing and polishing process to achieve a shiny gold color.

Learn more about Gold Filled:

Is gold-filled jewelry better than gold-plated or gold vermeil?

In most cases, we recommend gold-filled jewelry instead of both gold plated and gold vermeil options because it's a high-quality yet budget-friendly way to wear gold jewelry.

The best kind of gold layer will always depend on your individual context or preferences but, in our experience working with thousands of jewelry professionals for over 40 years, gold-filled jewelry is the best way to offer the aesthetics and durability of solid gold without the high price tag. Our Gold-Filled is made using solid 14K gold bonded mechanically to a brass core, which is a combination of Copper and Zinc. The thick external layer of real gold will help protect the wearer from any base metal sensitivities they may have. This high plating thickness also makes the jewelry long-lasting and ideal for frequent wear.

What is the primary difference between gold-filled and gold vermeil?

The main difference between gold-filled and gold vermeil jewelry is that gold-filled jewelry is crafted using much more actual gold.

By US law, gold-filled jewelry must contain at least 5% of solid gold by weight, while gold vermeil only requires a minimum thickness of 2.5 microns of solid gold electroplated to the exterior of a sterling silver core. Vermeil labeling requires use of 925 sterling silver as the core, exclusively, while gold-filled may use other base metals such as brass and sometimes copper, zinc, and nickel. Between the two, gold filled is the next best option after buying an actual piece of solid gold jewelry.

Does gold filled tarnish?

Gold-filled is not 100% anti-tarnish like karat gold, but it won't tarnish or wear-away for at least 5 to 10 years, if cared for properly.

In fact, some items, like gold-filled charms, for example, experience minimal friction when worn, allowing them to potentially last decades without any signs of wear. Gold fill remains the best gold-layered (more affordable than solid gold) option for daily wear, longevity, and value proposition.

Learn how to prevent tarnishing here.

Is gold filled real gold?

Yes, gold filled jewelry must consist of real, solid gold by at least 5% of its total weight, and it must be real gold. However, it's crucial to note that this means:

1. 95% of the piece's weight can be other base metals, such as brass
2. Solid gold can refer to any gold purity from 10K to 24K gold. Gold filled typically uses 14K gold, which means a piece of 14K gold filled jewelry will contain 5% 14K solid gold by weight.

For example, if a gold-filled bracelet weighs 10 grams in total, 0.5 grams of that must be 14K Gold. This calculates to around 2.9% gold purity overall (or 0.29 grams of pure gold out of the 10.0 grams in total). a 14K gold bracelet, by comparison, would contain 58.5% pure gold.

Find out more about our metal compositions here.

Is gold vermeil worth the markup, when compared to gold plated?

Gold vermeil is a higher-quality version of gold electroplating and is therefore much more expensive. Due to this added cost, it is generally not worth the price point because both are temporary plating processes. Unless the sterling silver-based piece is cared for meticulously, which would be impossible if the item is worn daily, the gold used in both vermeil and electroplate will eventually fade away (1-2 years for vermeil, less than 1 year for electroplating if worn daily).

How many microns thick is gold filled?

Since the FTC defines gold-filled as a product that contains 5% solid gold by weight, there isn't a minimum thickness associated with the term gold-filled. That being said, a reasonable range for gold-filled thickness for jewelry is 50 to 100 microns thick.

The different qualities of the layer of gold plating are measured in microns. Gold vermeil normally consists of 2.0 micrometers or more vs gold electroplating consists of 0.5 micrometers or less. The vermeil makes the sterling silver more resistant to tarnishing but the layer will eventually fade and tarnishing will occur.

Pricing-wise, Gold Filled is slightly more expensive than Sterling Silver however, it is much more durable and more resistant to tarnishing.