These terms are bandied about and no one actually knows what they are. Is there really gold or silver in your jewelry, flatware or hollow ware items? Are they worth anything? I can’t tell you how much plated, rolled gold or silver plate passes through my hands.

Gold Filled
A piece of jewelry or other object is layered with gold of the specified fineness and is electroplated over a base metal (copper or brass). You’ll always see a hallmark ( i.e. 1/20th 12kt GF) . The 1/20th stands for the gold total weight in the designated item. The GF stands for gold filled. Sometimes there’s an HGF which stands for heavy gold filled.

Rolled Gold
A sheet of very thin gold is fused to a thin sheet of base metal (usually brass) and formed into a piece. Rolled gold wire for chains has a base metal center with tube of gold around it and then pulled through a draw plate for a specified thickness. The gold plate can be seen from the edge or where there’s severe wear. Often, items will have 10 kt. RGP hallmarks or rolled gold plate.

I look for antique rolled gold jewelry items. My loupe is attached to a Victorian ladies 60” rolled rose gold watch chain. So many people make comments on how beautiful it is.

Gold Leaf
Gold’s extremely malleable and can be pounded extremely thin. One ounce of gold can be hammered into a sheet that measures more than 100 square feet (a football field) and only 5/1,000,000th of an inch thick. Gold leaf is about 1/200,000th to 1/250,000th of an inch thick and is primarily used for gilding things like a mirror.

Gold Electroplating
Electricity is used to produce the plating technique. The item(s) to be plated have an electrical current running through it and are suspended in liquid. An item of the karat gold has the opposite electrical current running through it. The item to be plated will draw particles from the gold, through the liquid, and coat the item with gold. Varying thickness can be achieved. Some watches hallmark 20 microns thick. That’s about the thickness of a strand of human hair.

Do note that if an item’s sterling with a gold electroplating or other plating method then it’s called vermeil or silver gilt. Lots of older costume jewelry’s vermeil. Don’t throw it out. It’s worth the silver that’s in it. If it’s vintage, has a signature, or some other way of being special then it can be worth more. You might have a little treasure that you didn’t know about.

Gold or Silver Plate
Usually a piece of jewelry will have a hallmark of GP which stands for gold plate and sometimes HGP or heavy gold plate will be hallmarked. Silver plate, as in flatware or hollow ware, will say silver plate or EP (extra plate). This process has a base metal (either copper or brass) that has the gold or silver mechanically or electrochemically applied to the item. Usually gold is 1/1,000th to 1/1,000,000th of an inch thick. It’s considerably thinner than the gold electroplating process and does NOT wear as well.

I love the old silver plate and the plating’s heavy, very heavy. Please refer to my previous article for silver plate. The new plate wears off quickly. You can find the old stuff at estate and antique dealers, flea markets or through garage sales. These are truly finds. I just bought a set of 10 bone handled silver plate fish knives. They were black and it took elbow grease to make a spectacular Easter gift to my sister. She loved them!

Value
Valuable or not? Vermeil has silver value, not any gold value. If there’s a signature (i.e. Tiffany, Cartier, etc.), period piece (Victorian, Art Deco, etc.), or something unusual…….well…maybe. It just depends. Send a photo and I’ll tell you. Or, take it to your local antique and estate dealer. They might charge for the valuation. Value’s really what it’s worth to you. As far as refining it goes, that’s up for debate. Some people do refine all the fills and plates and some don’t.

You can search for the information on your own. No one puts it all in a nice neat package for you to see it all in one place. Now you know. Take a look, a close look, at what you have. You might not have a treasure and then again, you might!