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About Gold Jewelry
by: Sam Serio
Without a doubt, Gold is one of the world's most
precious metals. It is also a certainty that gold enjoys
an unsurpassed popularity as a medium for jewelry
expression. Both jewelry artisans and consumers alike
are "in love" with gold. There seems to be no end to the
range of colors, finishes and styles available and gold
remains a perennial favorite setting for gemstones.
Gold can last forever, will not corrode or rust and can
be found anywhere. Gold exists in plants, rivers,
oceans, mountains, it's nearly everywhere but it is
extremely difficult and costly to extract
this amazing metal. Did you know that a single ounce of
gold can be pulled into a thin wire that stretches
nearly five miles long? An artisans hammer can work that
same ounce into a very thin sheet that can cover a 10ft
x 10ft(100sq. ft.) area. Also, it takes nearly 3 tons of
gold or to extract a single ounce of pure gold. Well if
you didn't now you know!
Gold Basics
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.
Vermeil (ver-may), a special type of gold plated
product, consists of a base of sterling silver that is
coated or plated with gold. |
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