Know the Material: Plating

A few weeks ago we looked at gold-filled jewelry, a regulated process where a layer of gold surrounds its core base material. This is different than gold-plated, which is a thinner layer of gold applied to the top of a base metal, either brass or silver. Here at Dana Reed much of our material is plated over a base of sterling silver using a process called Electroplating.

Plated materials are much more delicate than gold-filled due to the thinner layer, base metal (silver) atoms diffuse into the layer of gold which causes the gold to gradually fade in color, eventually tarnishing. However, with proper care, the color should last a long time.

Not all of our materials are available in gold-filled so we do a fair amount of plating in-house to allow for the best creative outcome possible. We would hate to be limited by our supplies! Feel free to ask us about specific pieces to know what materials were used to create it.