Good as (Solid) Gold: Plated vs Gold-Filled vs Solid-Gold

For all you jewelry enthusiasts, avid accessorizers + gold diggers of every variety, you may know the difference between solid gold, gold-filled + gold-plated, so go enjoy your knowledge and leave this blog, for people like me, who are scratching our heads at all these gold names. Is there really a difference?

First, I just want to clarify that all of Lemonbug’s gold pieces are gold-filled. That means that they have 100% more gold than plated pieces AND they will not tarnish with daily wear, which is reason alone to pass on the plate and go for the gold (filled). Okay, enough puns, let’s get down with the details on what makes gold-filled just so amazing. But first, let’s talk about plating.

Gold-plating is a method of covering nickel, brass or any base metal with a VERY thin film of gold by electroplating it. How much gold? Well, about .00023 of an inch. So yeah, you get the picture.

So solid gold is the best, why not go for that? Well, if you are like me and on a budget, but want to wear beautiful, but economically-friendly pieces, gold isn’t exactly the way to go.

So plating wears off and solid gold breaks the bank… this is when we come to gold-filled. Although it is not solid gold, it has the same desirable elements. It will not wear off or turn colors. A thick layer of gold is pressure-bonded to another metal. As mentioned earlier this layer is 100% more gold than plated gold, but much cheaper. It can be worn daily and in some cases doesn’t fade for 30 years! Now that is just golden.