Why I Won't Buy Gold Plated or Gold Filled Jewellery Anymore

A little story on buying gold filled rings, my thoughts on gold plated and gold filled jewellery in general and reasons why I will only buy solid gold jewellery from now on. Follow me on IG @sallyinwanderland

[MacTX]

It was probably gold plated instead of gold filled. From the sounds of it, the gold plating was probably one of the lowest quality plating I've heard of. I have gold plated headphone jacks that take years of physical use (handling and rubbing during use) before the layer rubs off. That seller either lied to you about the product or they just didn't know and were lied to by whoever supplies to them. Cost should be the biggest clue, gold filled jewelry should not be as cheap as what you'd expect to pay for gold plated jewelry.

Gold filled takes much more to tarnish/rub to the base metal than gold plate. It's enough of a real gold layer that if you took acids for testing gold and put a drop on the gold filled item, the acid won't react at all and will just roll off the surface but if you were to do the same test with a gold plated item, the acid would eat away at the gold plating right in front of you. There's enough gold in the gold filled layer that just scratching it should not show base metal.

Here in the US at least, gold filled is marked, it's an actual legal standard. If it has the mark, it's legally required to have at least 5% of the item weight be real gold of whatever karat that mark specifies. "1/20 14k GF" for example would denote a gold filled item with 1/20th (5%) of the total weight of that jewelry piece being a (real) gold layer cladding in 14k gold.

[Jagaban]

I wear only 18k solid gold jewelry even though it pricey but I would rather have few pieces of jewelry that I know will last forever and I can pass down. I can also sell it if I want to.

[MacTX]

Cleaning tarnish off of sterling silver really is pretty easy, simple, and quick. The interesting thing about sterling silver is wearing it more helps to slow down the tarnishing. Sterling silver tarnishes the quickest if you just set it down and don't wear it on a regular basis. Sterling silver can also be plated with rhodium, the same metal that gets plated onto white gold, if you want to give it a protective layer from tarnish. I have a few pieces that don't get regular use that's rhodium plated. You would just get it re-plated when the protection wears down (years), same thing that is done with white gold jewelry.

[AjniraBloom]

Hi Sally, of course costume jewelry is made of cheaper materials and not designed to last, BUT you can remedy that for pieces that you are buying in those materials. You can get a can of enamel gloss that you spray on and that hardens to a permanent sealed finish. Don't make the mistake of getting the matte finish. This is what I use: Rustoleum Clear Crystal Enamel. It's better than the Krylon spray laquers, other sealants are Protect a Clear Coating by Everbright, Renaissance Micro Crystalling Wax polish, Jewelry Allergy Shield, Diamond glaze and Swellegant Clear Sealant. Protect your costume pieces and have them last for years.

[devincristopher]

I wish all of my handbags had silver hardware 🤩 I know everyone prefers gold but I love the look of silver!! It’s more youthful to me!🎀

[PatriciaKLM]

I hear you, darling! This is also something that I try to live by and have done well with over the last couple of years except for when I caved and tried some Ana Luisa earrings early this year. (They still look great, thankfully). What I'm now trying to resist is buying an Hermes Clic H because I've decreed that fashion jewelry is a big NO for me. But omg, it is hard to resist! Let's see how long I can hold on. Great video! Love me a chic but sensible lady! x

[CatXSeason]

Goldfilled rings are (most of the time) made of gold-filled wire. So it could also be possible that the seller bought the wire from someone who said that it was gold filled even if it was just plated and that the seller did not intend to fool you on purpose.

Anyway, I assume that the problem with your quickly tarnished rings is, that through the process of shaping the ring and hammering the wire, so making the wire flat, the coating became thinner and was damaged at some spots (where it's now tarnishing). So I guess you were just unlucky and got some bad manufactured pieces there. Anyway, this does not mean that gold-filled equals bad quality jewelry all the time.

[AdrienneShianne]

Gold comes in 9k, 10k, 14k, 16k, 18k, 22k and 24k
22k is expensive and nearly as pure as the 24k. 16 and 22k are actually present in third world countries and uk. 10k, 14k and 18k are commonly used in the US because it’s more durable and easy to mold.

[georgecalderon]

Any chance this happened so quick because of the thinness of the stack rings?

[devincristopher]

I love silver! my wedding ring is white gold! It matches all my silver perfectly 🎀❤️🎀