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The Truth About Gold Jewelry
By Sam and Tami Serio
Morning Light
Jewelry
Without a doubt, Gold is one of the world's most precious metals. It is
also a certainty that gold enjoys an unsurpassed popularity as a medium
for jewelry expression. Both jewelry artisans and consumers alike are "in
love" with gold. There seems to be no end to the range of colors, finishes
and styles available and gold remains a perennial favorite setting for
gemstones.
Gold can last forever, will not corrode or rust and can be found anywhere.
Gold exists in plants, rivers, oceans, mountains, it's nearly everywhere
but it is extremely difficult and costly to extract this amazing metal.
Did you know that a single ounce of gold can be pulled into a thin wire
that stretches nearly five miles long? An artisans hammer can work that
same ounce into a very thin sheet that can cover a 10ft x 10ft(100sq. ft.)
area. Also, it takes nearly 3 tons of gold or to extract a single ounce of
pure gold. Well if you didn't now you know!
Gold Basics
The word Gold, used by itself, means all gold or 24 karat (24K) gold.
Because 24K gold is soft, it's usually mixed with other metals to increase
its hardness and durability. If a piece of jewelry is not 24 karat gold,
the karat quality should accompany any claim that the item is gold.
The karat quality marking tells you what proportion of gold is mixed with
the other metals. Fourteen karat (14K) jewelry contains 14 parts of gold,
mixed in throughout with 10 parts of base metal. The higher the karat
rating, the higher the proportion of gold in the piece of jewelry.
Most jewelry is marked with its karat quality, although marking is not
required by law. Near the karat quality mark, you should see the name of
the U.S. registered trademark of the company that will stand behind the
mark. The trademark may be in the form of a name, symbol or initials. If
you don't see a trademark accompanying a quality mark on a piece of
jewelry, look for another piece.
Solid gold refers to an item made of any karat gold, if the inside of the
item is not hollow. The proportion of gold in the piece of jewelry still
is determined by the karat mark.
Jewelry can be plated with gold in a variety of ways. Gold plate refers to
items that are either mechanically plated, electroplated, or plated by any
other means with gold to a base metal. Eventually, gold plating wears
away, but how soon will depend on how often the item is worn and how thick
the plating is.
Gold-filled, gold overlay and rolled gold plate are terms used to describe
jewelry that has a layer of at least 10 karat gold mechanically bonded to
a base metal. If the jewelry is marked with one of these terms, the term
or abbreviation should follow the karat quality of the gold used (for
example, 14K Gold Overlay or 12K RGP). If the layer of karat gold is less
than 1/20th of the total weight of the item, any marking must state the
actual percentage of karat gold, such as 1/40 14K Gold Overlay.
Gold electroplate describes jewelry that has a layer (at least .175
microns thick) of a minimum of 10 karat gold deposited on a base metal by
an electrolytic process. The terms gold flashed or gold washed describe
products that have an extremely thin electroplating of gold (less than
.175 microns thick). This will wear away more quickly than gold plate,
gold-filled or gold electroplate. Vermeil (ver-may), a special type
of gold plated product, consists of a base of sterling silver that is
coated or plated with gold.
The Authors
of the above Article, Sam and Tami Serio have been passionately involved
with Jewelry and Gemstones for over fifteen-years. You are cordially
invited to visit http://www.morninglightjewelry.com for a wealth of
information about the fascinating world of Jewelry and Gemstones. Together
they also shelter 20 abandoned and abused dogs & cats. A portion of their
profits goes to the care and feeding of the animals.
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