Different Types of Gold Jewellery

Fine jewellery may be a thing of the past as small businesses and entrepreneurs (like myself!) break into the market finally offering jewellery at accessible prices to normalise wearing beautiful gold pieces for everyday.  

Fine Jewellery shops can offer pieces at close to the same price points as costume and demi-fine jewellery thanks to the direct-to-consumer model. But to answer the burning question.... what’s the difference between the two? 

 Difference between demi-fine and fine jewellery

Affordable fine jewellery shops are ones that sell multiple pieces for under $500.

Fine jewellery refers to pieces made with precious metals (10 to 18 karat gold, sterling silver, or platinum) and precious/semi-precious stones like diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires, and colourful choices like topaz, agate, turquoise, and opal. 

Demi-fine jewellery most commonly refers to vermeil, plated, and filled pieces. Demi-fine pieces often won’t feature expensive stones like diamonds, but often include price-friendly options like white sapphires, moissanite, or cubic zirconia.

Gold jewellery comes in a few different variations: 

Gold-plated jewellery

Gold-plated jewellery is made out of a thin layer of gold atop a base metal. Because of that, the outer coating can wear off over time. 

Vermeil jewellery

Vermeil (pronounced ver-may) jewellery has a sterling silver base with a thick layer of 10 to 18 karat gold on top. These pieces are often good quality with a lower price tag.

Keep in mind that vermeil means different things to different jewellers, and it’s not standard from country to country either. For example, in Canada, jewellery has to be plated with only one micron of gold to be marketed as vermeil. The United States requires vermeil jewellery to have plating that’s 2.5 microns thick. 

Gold-filled jewellery

Gold-filled jewellery is made of a thick layer of gold bonded to a base metal. At least 5% of the weight of each piece must be solid gold.

Solid-gold jewellery 

Solid-gold jewellers exactly what it sounds like: solid. In order to be considered solid gold, it must be at least 10 karats. 

 Whatever the gold, always try to make sure to take the BEST care of your jewellery.  Any plated or vermeil jewellery shouldn't be worn in the shower or when applying lotions to prolong their longevity.  Solid gold can be worn all the time no matter what, so if you're looking for a piece that you'll never want to take off, it's worth the extra investment!

Hope this answers any questions you've had about types of plated jewellery, and as always, feel free to reach out to me at any time for more in-depth questions!

                                                              Cheers,

                                                                        Kemi

P.S. Incase you were still wondering, they spell jewelry "jewellery" down here in Australia and I just can't have the little red squiggly line saying it's misspelled every time I type it...

*Info from this article sourced from Shopify*