Gold filled jewelry

Gold filled jewelry provides a high quality, affordable alternative to solid gold. 

14/20 Gold Filled Jewelry

14/20 gold filled jewelry is created with a process that affixes a layer of 14 karat gold over another metal. The gold layer must equal 1/20, or 5% of the weight of the item to be sold as 'gold filled,' according to the standards established by the Federal Trade Commission. 

Advantages of gold filled jewelry

Gold filled jewelry is a high quality, affordable option. The price is much lower than a similar item in solid 14k gold, and the appearance is the same.

Gold filled jewelry is very durable. You can expect to get decades of use from gold filled jewelry, especially when well cared for.

Because the outer layer is gold, people who are sensitive to metal on skin generally tolerate gold filled jewelry well. 

Drawbacks of gold filled jewelry

Unlike a solid gold item, the gold layer on a gold filled item can eventually wear away, exposing the base metal core. Over long periods of time, friction, moisture exposure, cosmetics, hairsprays and other chemicals can eventually affect the gold layer, resulting in changes in appearance. 

The gold in gold-filled jewelry is difficult to extract, so there is no value to the metal as scrap in the event that an item is broken beyond repair. 

Gold filled versus gold plated 

Gold filled jewelry is much more durable than gold-plated items. Gold plated jewelry uses a chemical process to deposit a very, very thin layer of gold (measured in microns - or one one-thousandth of a millimeter) over a metal base. While giving the appearance of gold, the plating is extremely thin, and will wear out much more quickly than the gold layer on a gold filled piece, which is much thicker. You can expect to get months to years of use from gold plated jewelry, rather than the decades provided by gold filled items. 

24carat, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons