Gold filled chain?

[rollinv4l]

I am just wondering what does gold filled mean I am looking at a chain if it was solid gold it would be a crazy amount of money will gold filled wear off, and do a lot of people buy gold filled jewelry

[Blue]

i think gold filled is mixed with other metals which is a much cheaper alternative than solid gold.

There is also gold plated which is just a thin layer of gold layered on top of some kind of metal..

[rollinv4l]

I was looking online and they say that after time the gold plated will wear off but I cant see anything on gold filled

[ZenOps]

Do you mean white gold? Gold mixed with nickel plated with Rhodium.

Its quite durable, just make sure to get a really thick rhodium plate or it will wear off.

Nickel is often used as a hardening agent for gold in clasping down large gems (like $40 million diamonds) Pure platinum and pure gold is far too soft. In the highest end large gemmed jewellry, yes - its probably using a nickel/gold/platinum with rhodium plate setting.

Rumor has it, the British Imperial crown has a great deal of nickel in it (to keep it lighter, and still be able to hold up all the jewels)

Nickel!

[rollinv4l]

no I mean gold filled it looks just like pure yellow gold

[GTS4tw]

Originally posted by rollinv4l
no I mean gold filled it looks just like pure yellow gold

http://www.ebay.com/gds/THE-DIFFERENCE-IN-GOLD-PLATED-AND-GOLD-FILLED-JEWELRY-/10000000002985755/g.html

[ZenOps]

Gold filled usually does mean 22K or less.

Which means 91.6% gold, and usually 8.3% nickel. It looks mostly whitish even without plating.

The "filled" part gold/nickel is usually plated with rhodium (OT: Rhodium peaking out a $10,000 per ounce a little while ago.)

If you want it to look yellow, 91.6% gold with 8.3% copper, which is the composition of the Krugerrand (very yellow)

Either of those would be considered 22K, but vastly different in colour. Copper/gold is hated by jewellers on the off chance it may cause greening of the skin (and that just causes a whole lot of problems with customers) Silver/gold can cause blackening of the skin depending on conditions and karat. Nickel/gold can be bad for those that are allergic to nickel (or who don't like the whitish colour)

None of the solutions are perfect, but if you aren't allergic to nickel - usually people are happiest with white gold (nickel/gold)

If you want solid 22K gold in "yellow", and still have it be very durable (will not wear down) - there is no such thing to my knowledge.

Just avoid "filled" altogether if you aren't sure. And: There are only a handful of qualified goldsmiths in the city.

[Justing]

Gold fill is a thin layer of gold bonded on top of a base metal.
It's not recommended as you can't repair it nicely since it's base metal underneath.

Gold plate is literally plating. Terrible as it chips off easily.

[ZenOps]

Yeah, plating nowadays just means probably not even a couple dollars of gold electrically deposited on a base metal ring.

Back in my day, plating from a big jeweller meant rhodium plating over solid 22K white gold most of the time. Anything that was plated on base was called "costume jewellry" or very specifically "fake jewellry".

But then again "nickels" used to be 99.9% or 25%, instead of the 2% that circulate nowdays.

*sigh*