Gold-Tone

Gold tone means the color without the metal. The piece is made from brass, zinc alloy or steel. A very thin layer of real gold is deposited on the outside at the end of production. Thickness decides everything about how long it lasts, and the trade names the tiers. Flash plating runs under 0.175 microns, standard gold electroplate around 0.5, and heavy gold electroplate around 2.5.

Two better tiers use the same idea. Vermeil, by the US definition, is sterling silver under at least 2.5 microns of gold of at least 10 karat. The base is precious, and the layer is thick enough to survive real wear. Gold filled goes further. A sheet of gold is mechanically bonded to a base core and must make up at least one twentieth of the item's weight. That construction outlasts any plating and takes light polishing.

Wear starts where friction is: the underside of a ring, the back of a clasp, earring posts, the points where chain links rub each other. Sweat, perfume, hand sanitizer and chlorine all speed it up. Once the base shows through on an inexpensive piece there is usually no economic repair, since re-plating costs more than the item did. Buy plated jewelry as a season or two of color, not as something you keep.

The body of the piece is stamped, cast or assembled from brass, zinc alloy or stainless steel and then polished. Polishing matters because plating copies whatever surface lies underneath and will not hide a scratch. It is cleaned, and in most production a barrier layer goes on first, usually nickel or palladium, to stop base metal migrating up into the gold.

The piece hangs on a rack in a bath of gold salts, current runs through the solution, and gold deposits atom by atom onto every exposed surface. Time in the bath sets thickness, which is why the same equipment produces flash plating and heavy plating. The difference is minutes and grams of gold. A clear lacquer is often sprayed over the top on fashion pieces, and that lacquer is frequently the first thing to fail.