The Real Deal: Gold
At Irden Designs, we are dedicated to bring you the highest quality of jewelry at an affordable price. One of the motivations behind our company, was we saw people paying high prices for jewelry that was not a 100%. We noticed people were buying jewelry and paying upwards of $200 for pieces that would fade, tarnish, loose value and in the end, end up in your junk box. We set out to make the real deal more affordable and bring back the value and longevity of your personal collection.
When you buy jewelry there are a lot of options and you may not always know what they are. We are here to help! This blog will focus on what type of gold is out there and if your jewelry has other designations such as filled or plated, what it all means.
Gold- There are three gold qualities that are most common in jewelry. They are 10 karat 14 karat and 18 karat. 22 karat and 24 karat are less commonly used in jewelry. The number is the percent of actual gold in your jewlery the rest is other alloys like nickel, copper, platinum etc. mixed in with your gold to make it stronger because gold is to soft in its pure form (24 karat) to make jewelry from. So 10 karat is 42% gold , 14 Karat is 58% gold and 18 karat is 75%. Most gold jewelry in the US is made from 14 karat gold and it is what we at Irden Designs use the most.
Gold Plated- Is when electromedical or chemical plating is used to hadear a thin layer of gold to another base metal, such as copper, silver or brass. This will fade and tarnish and will lose its gold color over time. Some manufactures will let you know if it is plated with 14, 18 or 22 karat gold. In the end this affects the color mostly and does not give your piece any value.
Gold Fill- Is much like gold plated and it is applied in the same why. The major difference is normally a high quality of gold will be used, like an 18 or 22 karat gold and it is applied in a much thicker layer. While it will still fade and tarnish over time, it will last a little longer than your basic gold plated jewelry.
Vermeil- Is like gold Fill in that you generally use a high quality gold 18 or 22 karat, however your base metal will always be silver or high quality silver. It adds a little more value then plated brass, chopper or nickle. But just like your other two options, it will fade and tarnish over time.
In the end, gold pieces hold their value longer, for resale or even to scrap and put toward a new piece of jewelry. Filled, Plated and Vermeil do not. It might be a little more to get that piece you love in the real deal but in the long run it is totally worth it. Gold is something that will last forever and not only can become a signature piece for you, but it will last long enough to become a piece you can pass down.
At Irden Designs we heart the real deal.
