Is Vermeil Real Gold?

Is Vermeil Real Gold?

This is one of the questions I get asked most, usually by someone who has just bought a piece described as gold and isn't sure what they actually have. The short answer is that vermeil is real gold, but only a thin layer of it over silver. Whether that matters depends entirely on what you were told you were buying and what you paid.

What vermeil actually is

Vermeil is sterling silver with a layer of gold bonded to the surface. For something to be sold as vermeil in most markets, the base has to be sterling silver and the gold layer has to meet a minimum thickness, usually around 2.5 microns. So it is more substantial than ordinary gold plating, and the base metal is a precious metal rather than brass or copper.

That makes vermeil a genuine step up from cheap plating. The problem is that the word gets stretched. Plenty of pieces sold as gold are not vermeil at all. They are base metal with a flash of gold a fraction of a micron thick, which wears through in months.

What solid gold is

Solid gold is gold all the way through. A 9ct or 18ct piece is gold alloyed with other metals for strength, but there is no base metal underneath and no surface layer to wear off. The colour is the metal. You can scratch it, knock it, wear it every day for thirty years, and it is still gold.

This is the part people can often miss. With vermeil and plating, the gold you can see is the only gold there is, and it sits on the outside where everything happens to it. With solid gold, there is nothing to wear through because it is not a coating.

How they wear over time

Vermeil wears better than plating but it still wears. The gold layer thins with contact, friction, sweat, perfume, and washing up. Rings go first because hands take the most punishment. Once the layer goes, the silver shows through, and the piece can be re-plated, but that is a cost and a trip to a jeweller every few years.

Solid gold does not have this problem. It develops a patina, it can be polished, but it does not reveal a different metal underneath because there isn't one. This is why solid gold jewellery gets handed down and plated jewellery usually doesn't.

How to tell what you've got

Look for a hallmark. In the UK, solid gold over 1 gram has to be hallmarked by an Assay Office by law, and the stamp tells you the purity: 375 for 9ct, 750 for 18ct. Vermeil and plated pieces cannot carry these marks because they are not solid precious metal throughout. Some vermeil is stamped 925, which refers to the sterling silver base, not the gold. If a piece described as gold has no hallmark and no clear thickness stated, treat the description with caution.

Is vermeil worth it?

For some things, yes. If you want the look of gold on a small budget, vermeil over sterling silver is a reasonable choice and far better than base metal plating. There is nothing wrong with buying it as long as you know that is what you are buying and you are paying a vermeil price, not a solid gold price.

What I object to is the blurring. People are sold vermeil and plated pieces at prices that edge towards solid gold, on descriptions that imply more than they deliver. That is the thing to watch.

I don't make vermeil or plated work. Everything I make is solid 9ct gold, 18ct gold, or sterling silver, hallmarked at the London Assay Office. That is a deliberate choice, not a marketing line. But you should know what the alternatives are so you can decide what you actually want, and not pay solid gold money for a coating.