Gold plated jewelry has been available for the last few decades. Gold plating gives less expensive metals a gold layer increasing the jewelry’s value and reducing the gold’s cost. Thus, it brings gold plated rings to the consumer market at a more affordable price.
Gold has it perceived value because of its rarity and its inherent properties. Gold slows down corrosion and it doesn’t oxidize. Of all the metals: silver, copper, bronze, brass, steel, and iron, gold is the least reactive. Gold will not melt when it is exposed to high heat. It will not react to moisture. Plus, gold will easily solder.
Gold is exceedingly rare. That’s why it’s considered very costly. It is one of the rarest metals on earth due to its atom composition or 70 protons and 118 neutrons. Throughout the centuries extreme heat and pressure was garnered to clash and form the magnificent events that forged gold. Those are the rarest of monumental clashes of supernovas. The amount of gold found throughout the centuries throughout the world can be collected and held inside a square box measuring 65 feet from every edge.
This makes gold expensive to earn, so most jewelry is not solid gold, but gold plated. Gold’s quality is measured by karats. There are 24 karats in pure gold, so anything made of 24 karats is the purest form of solid gold or 100% gold. Any smaller numbers are considered to contain a lesser percent of gold. A 14K piece of jewelry has 41.7% of gold or 24/14.
Solid gold jewelry is incredibly soft and easily harmed, so to get gold jewelry that could be worn regularly without fear of damage you need to buy a lesser quality with a higher percentage of a cheaper alloy which is stronger. Gold karats under 24 are more durable: rings that are 10k, 12k and 14k are far more resilient and able to withstand the bumps, knocks, and scrapes a hand might encounter. Gold plated earrings can range from 18k to 24k because they do not experience so much abuse.
Gold plated rings can be gold flashed with a layer of gold only .5 microns thick. Gold plating imparts a gold layer of .5 microns and heavy gold plating/Vermeil leaves a layer of gold 2.5 microns thick. A vermeil piece is 100% precious metals and even if this piece dulls over time, it an easily be restored to its original glory by simply using a sterling silver cleaning cloth.