What Is Vermeil Jewellery? And How It Differs From Gold Plating

"Vermeil" and "gold-plated" get used almost interchangeably in jewellery listings, but they describe two different things — and knowing which is which is genuinely useful before you buy, from us or anyone else.

What vermeil actually means

Under the US FTC's standard (the closest thing the industry has to a formal definition), vermeil is gold — at least 10 karat, at least 2.5 microns thick — electroplated over a base of solid sterling silver. The silver base is the part that matters: it's what separates vermeil from gold plating on a cheaper base metal, and it's why vermeil pieces are usually priced higher.

What standard gold plating means

Gold plating is the same idea — a layer of gold electroplated over a base — but the base can be brass, copper alloy, or another affordable metal instead of sterling silver. It's a more accessible way to get a solid-gold look, though the plating layer is often (not always) thinner, and the base metal underneath can be more reactive if the plating wears through.

Where our own pieces actually sit

Worth being straightforward about this one: our pieces are 18K gold-plated over a copper alloy base — not vermeil, since vermeil specifically requires sterling silver the whole way through. What is solid S925 sterling silver is the earring posts themselves — the part that actually sits in your ear. That's a deliberate choice: it's the one part of the piece where skin contact is constant, so it's the part we didn't plate over.

Does it matter which one you buy?

Less than the marketing around both terms suggests. What actually determines how a piece wears is plating thickness, how much friction and moisture it sees day to day, and how it's stored — covered in more detail in our gold-plated care guide. Vermeil buys you a sterling silver safety net if the gold layer eventually wears thin. Gold plating, done well, buys you the same look for less.

Either way, knowing what's actually in the piece you're buying is worth five minutes — ours included. Browse the Pearl and Vintage collections to see the construction up close.