By Rocco Clayfield, trading as GoldPaid; the business incorporated as GOLDPAID LTD (company 17382540) on 5 August 2026 · Published · updated
Not sure if it is solid gold? Send us a photo
Photograph any stamp close up, then the whole piece, and send both on WhatsApp. We will tell you whether it looks solid or plated, and roughly what we would pay if it is gold. No obligation, and nothing needs posting.
No WhatsApp? Call 07944 014111, 8am to 9pm.
Not sure what the mark says? Use the hallmark lookup. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
What gold-filled actually is
Gold-filled is the American label for what British trade catalogues used to call rolled gold. A sheet of carat gold is heat and pressure-bonded to a base-metal core, then rolled to working thickness. The American FTC threshold is 1/20 by weight at 10 carat or higher to be sold as gold-filled. That is 5% of the item, in real carat gold, bonded so well it does not flake.
You will see this stamped "GF", "1/20 14k GF", "12k GF" on US-made chains, mid-century costume jewellery and a lot of vintage watch cases. British equivalents carry rolled-gold marks.
Gold-plated: the thinnest of the three
Gold-plated means electroplated. A finished base-metal item is dipped in a bath, current is applied, and a microscopic layer of gold is deposited on the surface. Standard fashion plating sits at about 0.175 to 0.5 microns. Heavy plating, sometimes marked "HGE" for heavy gold electroplate, goes a bit thicker. Even at the upper end, a plated chain has a tiny fraction of the gold by weight that a gold-filled chain has.
You can identify plating from wear patterns. Plated rings and chains develop a frosted base-metal patch at the clasp, the inside of the shank, or the high points first. Once that patch is visible the plating is failing.
Vermeil: a regulated category
Vermeil is a US-regulated term and increasingly used in UK luxury retail. To be marketed as vermeil, the piece must be sterling silver (925), electroplated with a gold layer of at least 2.5 microns thickness, of at least 10 carat purity. Many luxury labels go to 18ct and 3 to 5 microns.
That matters when you sell. The body is sterling silver, which has metal value of its own, so GoldPaid values a vermeil piece on its silver content against the live silver market. The gold layer is too thin a share of the weight to add a separate line.
How to tell them apart at home
- Find every mark, including ones on the inside of clasps and pin backs. Use a 10x loupe.
- Check a worn spot under the loupe. Silver showing through the gold suggests vermeil. Yellow brass or pink copper suggests gold-filled or plated. Do not file or scratch the piece to find out.
- Check the wear. Plating wears off in patches in months to a couple of years on a worn ring. Gold-filled wears uniformly over decades. Vermeil sits between the two.
- Check the weight. Sterling-silver bodies are heavier than brass for the same volume. A surprising heft on a 925-marked piece points to vermeil rather than plated brass.
- Post anything you still cannot place. XRF reads the surface alloy and, under thin plating, often picks up the silver body as well.
What each one pays at scrap
Of the three, gold-filled carries the most gold, because the bonded layer is a twentieth or a tenth of the weight. Even so, GoldPaid does not buy gold-filled, rolled or gold-plated pieces as precious metal: the gold is too thin a share of the item to refine economically, so they are listed at nil and returned free. Vermeil is different because its core is sterling silver, so a vermeil piece is valued on its measured sterling silver content against the live silver market.
Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Why we still test plated items you send
You do not need to sort plated pieces out before posting. Every piece is weighed and XRF-tested, so anything solid hiding in a mixed lot is found and paid on its own line, and the plated pieces are listed at nil and come back to you free. If you only want to know what a piece is, without selling it, a paid XRF test by post gives a written answer.
For a full walk-through of how the parcel and the report work, see how to sell gold by post.
Which of the three is worth posting
If you are selling, only vermeil. Gold-filled and gold-plated pieces are not bought as precious metal, so post them only when they are mixed in with solid gold or silver or you want them tested; they are listed at nil and returned free. Vermeil is valued on its sterling silver body against the live silver market. The written offer puts each item on its own line, so you can decide piece by piece.