marla@ssc-vax.UUCP (Peckham) (02/26/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINEAGE WITH YOUR MESS *** After reading soo many misconceptions about the differences between "gold plated" and "gold filled" and "gold", I felt I had to put my $.02 in. As my father spent his entire life in the jewelry business, and I love collecting the "real" stuff, I have spent quite some time getting an understanding of these terms. The term SOLID GOLD can refer to any composit of gold and another metal. 24 karat gold is pure gold. The lower the karat, the lower the percentage of gold. By law, anything under 10 karat may not be called pure gold. (In some areas, the law may be different) When you see something called gold filled, what you are usually looking at is 4 karat gold. After the piece has been made, the surface is treated to remove the base metals until the piece has a surface of say 12 karat. This is what is meant by 12 karat gold filled. If you scratch the surface, you will still see gold, however it will be 4 karat instead of 12 karat. Gold plated (or electroplated), are pieces that have been manufactured out of a base metal and then had a thin layer of gold "painted" on the surface. Many methods are used for this. The big problem with this technique, is that this gold layer tends to rub off very quickly, any you are stuck with the base metal showing through. Hope this answers any questions you might have on this subject. Marla S. Baer-Peckham ssc-vax!marla P.S. A good way to check out a jewelry store is to ask them about this. If the salesperson tries to tell you tere is no difference between gold plated and gold filled, walk out. They do not know their business, and you shouldn't trust them. (Would you buy a computer from a sales clerk who didn't know the difference between ROM and RAM?) MSBP