Gold Fill

Gold Fill or Rolled Gold, Vermeil and Gold Electroplate

Gold Fill, Gold filled or Rolled Gold is often confused with Gold Electroplate.

Gold Electroplate or plating is a chemical based process where the article is immersed in a gold containing solution and an electric current is passed through the solution. This causes the gold in the solution to deposit in a thin layer on the article.The actual thickness of gold is controlled by the amount of current and time. In many instances the thickness of gold deposited is minimal and in this case it can be easily worn away.

Vermeil is used to refer to silver that has been gold plated.

Gold Fill is a layer of gold physically bonded by heat and pressure to another layer of metal normally brass. The layer of gold is much thicker than a normal electroplated coating. Gold fill is usually referred to by numbers ie 14/20 or 12/20. The first number is the carat of the gold layer, the second refers to the amount by weight of the gold in relation to the base layer. In these examples the gold layer is  1/20th or 5% by weight. Because of the manufacturing process of Gold Fill it limits the type of components that can be made. For instance the material cannot be cast since melting it would destroy the layers, therefore the range of findings is more limited than carat gold. However, where the same components are available Gold Fill can represent an economical alternative to carat gold.