What is Gold Filled Jewelry?

Let's start with the technical description: Gold Fill is solid layer of gold mechanically bonded to a base of either sterling silver or brass. High quality gold-filled pieces have the same appearance as high carat gold. The layer of gold on gold-filled items is 5 to 10 times thicker that that produced by gold plating. Gold-filled pieces, even with daily wear can last 10 to 30 years through before the gold wearing down and exposing the metal at its core.

So what does this all mean? As a jewelry designer, what this means for me is that using gold-filled materials allows me to design and fabricate using a desirable color or karat gold while still preserving a more affordable price point than if I were to use solid gold.

As someone who not only designs jewelry, but who also wears my own pieces, I stand by the quality of Gold Filled jewelry. There are still important considerations for care in prolonging the sparkle of your pieces and you can certainly read more about that and how to properly care for you jewelry here.