What is gold filled?

Gold-filled is also known as rolled gold or gold bonded and is created by mechanically bonding a layer of gold to a layer of base metal. Gold-filled has a distinct layer of gold and the core is usually brass. The gold is then bonded to the surface of that brass using heat and pressure. This is a permanent bond and the gold won’t flake, peel or fall off. By law, the total weight of a gold-filled item must contain 5% (or 1/20) of gold. If it contains less than 5%, it cannot legally be called gold-filled. For comparison, the total amount of gold a gold-plated item usually has is under 0.05% of the overall weight of the product.

There are three different possible ways to layer the gold alloy:

• Single clad – Gold is layered only one side of the brass, the whole 5% is on one side

• Double clad - Splits the gold alloy and layers it on both sides of the brass, 2.5% each side meaning a thinner layer

• Wire clad - the 5% gold alloy content is layered around the entire wire