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All You Need to Know About Gold Vermeil Jewellery

Updated: Sep 21, 2021

Gold vermeil is a buzzword in the jewellery industry and it is getting popular day by day. Vermeil is a great alternative to pure or real gold as it is quite affordable. Vermeil, which is a French word for silver refers to a type of gold-coated metal. Vermeil is also known as Gilded Silver or Silver-gilt and it requires the following criteria to be met.

  • The purity of gold has to be a minimum of 10 karats.

  • The base metal must be fine silver or sterling silver which are 99.99% and 92.5% pure respectively.

  • The gold coating must be at least 2.5 microns thick.

Gold vermeil is extremely popular and since it is an extremely versatile material that can also be seen used in trophies and Olympics gold medals apart from gold vermeil jewellery.


Gold Vermeil Manufacturing Process

The process used to create gold vermeil is known as electrolysis. This process involves using sterling silver or pure silver which are later coated with gold. Long ago gold vermeil was made using fire-gilding which wasn’t a safe process to begin with. This process would require using mercury that could cause blindness too. On the other hand, electrolysis is a safe and proven process that ensures consistent thickness and superlative quality.

How is Gold Vermeil Different from Gold-Filled or Gold-Plated?

As the name suggests, gold-plated jewellery consists of gold coating. Unlike gold vermeil, there is no minimum coating thickness criteria to be met as this gold type is available in different thickness varieties. Also, the base metal could alloys or other metal types. Gold-plated jewellery is prone to wear as it is pretty thin. You need to be extremely cautious while using, storing and cleaning gold-plated jewellery.

Gold-filled contains more gold as compared to gold-plate and the base metal is gold alloy. It is popular owing to its hypoallergenic qualities. Besides, unlike gold-plate, it is not prone to tarnishing. Gold-filled is quite expensive and that’s why gold vermeil is considered the best option. It is more or less as affordable as gold-plate, however, it has strict standards to adhere to.


Unlike other metals, gold vermeil doesn’t cause allergies and maintains its sparkle and sheen for many years to come, provided that it is maintained properly.


Tips to Maintain Gold Vermeil

  • Store the gold-vermeil jewellery in a safe storage box. The box must be fabric lined and shouldn’t contain dirt and dust. An airtight box is ideal to store gold vermeil.

  • Wipe your gold vermeil jewellery after every use. It might fade or lose its shine due to body oils, cosmetics and grime.

  • Do not clean the jewellery using harsh chemicals. If you aren’t sure which chemicals to use, take it to a professional jeweller.

Hope you found the post informative. For more information related to rose gold beads, feel free to get in touch with us. The product information mentioned in this article is both accurate and up-to-date, some information may be subject to change.

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