What is the difference between filled and plated?

You will see products across our site referred to as gold filled or gold plated. It can often be confusing as to what this means - so we've asked our experts to make it simple! For the purposes of this example, we've used gold as the metal in the description - but you could also have other precious metals used in these processes.

Filled

• Features an actual layer of gold, pressure bonded to another metal.

• This outer layer must be at least 5% of the total weight metal content

• This makes it thicker and more durable than gold plating

• Filled items are more valuable and are more resistant to tarnishing

Plated

• Plated products have a very thin layer of gold applied over what is generally a base metal (copper or brass)

• This results in a cheaper product but plated products can change colour or the plating can flake over time