| When we look at vintage or contemporary costume | | | | Gold Overlay, is made by using heat and pressure to |
| jewelry, and it looks like gold, is it really? What does | | | | apply a layer of karat gold over a base of metal. The |
| "Karat" mean? What is HGE? What is the difference | | | | surface layer of karat gold can be 10kt, 12kt or 14kt. |
| between gold plate and gold filled? | | | | The fraction shows the thickness of the layer. So, 1 |
| Let's look at the different definitions of gold that | | | | 10 10kt GF means that 1/10 of the total weight of |
| you're likely to find on jewelry: | | | | the piece is 10kt gold, and 1/20 12kt GF means that 1 |
| 14 Karat Gold: Pure gold is 24 Karat, or kt, which | | | | 20 of the total weight of the piece must be 12kt |
| means that 24 out of 24 parts are gold. 24kt is too | | | | gold. Be careful when buffing gold fill items, as the |
| soft to be made into jewelry, so it's alloyed with | | | | gold layer might be removed. This is an important |
| other metals for cost, durability and color. 14kt is 14 | | | | flaw to look for when you examine vintage costume |
| parts gold out of 24, and the remaining 10 parts may | | | | jewelry. |
| be copper, silver, nickel, zinc, tin, palladium and/or | | | | Vintage costume jewelry that is gold colored, we call |
| manganese. The color of the gold - yellow, white or | | | | gold-tone if there is nothing on the piece to indicate |
| rose - depends on the metal that is combined with | | | | that it is gold, gold plated or gold filled. |
| the gold. White gold contains nickel, which may irritate | | | | Since vintage costume jewelry was made for mass |
| the skin of people with an allergy to nickel. | | | | market appeal and low cost, gold plate and gold fill |
| Gold Plate is a very thin layer of gold electroplated or | | | | were often used instead of karat gold to keep costs |
| electrochemically applied to the piece of jewelry. It's | | | | down. |
| about 1/1000 to 1/1,000,000 of an inch thick. Heavy | | | | Always examine gold pieces carefully, and look for a |
| Gold Electroplate, or HGE (there's your answer) can | | | | mark designating what type of gold finish it has. If it's |
| be 2 or 3/1000 of an inch thick. | | | | gold, gold filled or gold plated, it will be marked - if |
| Gold Filled is 50 to 100,000 times thicker than regular | | | | not, be sure you're not paying for gold that isn't |
| gold plating, and about 17 to 25,000 times thicker | | | | there! |
| than heavy gold electropate. Gold Filled, also called | | | | |