My daughter has asked for a gold ring for Christmas - I’m finding a few that I think she’d like, but a lot of them are either gold plated or gold filled (they’re in the £15-£25ish price bracket). Any advice on what would be the most hardwearing, and put up with being worn in the shower, etc?! I’ve had gold plated jewellery over the years that just wears off, does gold filled do the same generally?
Thank you!
Gold filled is a thicker layer of gold compared to gold plate but it will in time rub off in the same way to show the base metal underneath. (for something to be called gold filled it should be 5% by weight gold but that doesn’t mean it always is, gold plate just has to be 0.5micron or thicker, rolled gold is somewhere between the two)
Gold fill on brass will look less obvious as the gold rubs off compared to gold fill on copper or a white metal alloy.
Out of curiousity I went to look up how much it would cost to do a solid 9ct gold band ring (1.5mm diameter) - almost £30 for the gold and that’s before you factor in hallmarking costs, time, overheads etc. Eeek the price of gold is high at the moment.
I would avoid gold plated and gold vermeil. They will wear off very quickly.
I have been trial wearing gold filled bangles for the last few years, stacked with other bangles and they are showing no sign of wear yet, so I would imagine gold filled rings would last a while unless she is very hard on them.
Solid gold would obviously cost a lot more, but will always have value.
Brilliant, thanks so much for your help ladies! I think she wants something more fashion than forever, so it sounds as though gold filled might be the way to go. I was really hoping to find something under £30 that was real gold, but from what you’re saying Sasha I’m not surprised I haven’t been able to find anything!