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 rolled gold actually is
Rolled gold, sometimes called gold-filled in American catalogues, is a sandwich. A sheet of carat gold is heat-bonded under pressure to a sheet of brass or copper, then rolled out into thinner stock that the manufacturer uses for chains, watch cases, pen barrels and pocket-watch alberts. The bond is mechanical and metallurgical, so the gold layer does not flake off the way electroplating does. That is why Victorian and Edwardian rolled-gold chains still look golden a century later.
The gold layer is real carat gold, but it is thin. British rolled gold from the late 1800s onwards was often marked with a fraction such as "1/5 12ct" or "1/10 14ct". The fraction is the share of the metal’s weight that is the gold layer, the same convention the US Federal Trade Commission rule, 16 CFR 23.3 uses for gold-filled and rolled gold plate marks; the UK has no statutory definition. A 1/10 12ct chain is one tenth 12ct gold by weight, which works out at about 5% fine gold. A 1/20 12ct piece holds about 2.5%, and a 1/5 12ct piece about 10%. The rest is base metal.
Solid gold in the UK system
Solid gold in Britain means a homogeneous gold alloy assayed and hallmarked to one of the legal standards. The four common marks you will see on jewellery are 375 (9ct), 585 (14ct), 750 (18ct) and 916 (22ct). Some bullion bars and a small slice of fine jewellery carry 999. Each number is parts per thousand of pure gold in the alloy. The rest is silver, copper, zinc, palladium or nickel, blended for hardness and colour.
Solid gold is gold the whole way down. You can file the back of a ring and you will still hit the same alloy. The hallmark is struck into that single body of metal, applied by one of the four UK assay offices after testing.
How to tell which one you own
- Find the mark. Check inside the bezel of a watch, on the bolt-ring of a chain, on the inside of a ring shank, or stamped on a pin back.
- Read the format. A bare 375, 585, 750, 916 or 999 with a sponsor and assay office mark is solid. "RG", "Rolled Gold", "Gold Filled", "GF", or a fraction like 1/10 12ct is rolled.
- Inspect the wear points. Use a 10x loupe on the highest-wear edges. Solid gold wears uniformly to the same colour. Rolled gold shows a different metal under the gold once the layer is worn through.
- Weigh it. Rolled-gold chains feel light for their bulk because the core is brass. A solid 9ct curb chain of the same dimensions will feel noticeably heavier in the hand.
- When the marks are gone, post it. XRF alone will not settle rolled gold, because it reads only the top few microns and a bonded gold layer reads as solid. We combine the reading with weight, density and inspection of the wear points and cut edges.
Does GoldPaid buy rolled gold?
No. GoldPaid does not buy rolled gold, gold-filled or gold-plated pieces as precious metal, and pays nothing for them, whatever fraction the mark shows. If a rolled-gold piece arrives in a parcel, it is listed separately in the written offer at nil value and returned to you free with anything else you decline. Solid pieces in the same parcel are valued on their own lines.
Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
When rolled gold is worth more as jewellery than as scrap
Late Victorian rolled-gold alberts, named locket chains, signed mourning jewellery and early 20th-century Elgin or Waltham pocket watches in rolled-gold cases can carry collector value that exceeds the scrap recovery. The same applies to signed Trifari, Monet, or French rolled-gold dress jewellery in clean condition with original boxes. If a piece has provenance, sell it as an object, not as metal.
GoldPaid does not value rolled-gold pieces as objects either, so an auction house or a specialist dealer is the route for those. A clear photograph of the marks and the whole piece is the usual starting point.
Sending rolled and solid pieces together by post
Mixing rolled and solid pieces in one parcel is fine. Each piece is checked on its own. Solid gold is valued on its tested purity and weight, and rolled pieces are listed separately in the written offer at nil value and returned to you free with anything else you decline.
Your parcel travels on Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, tracked and signed for. Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. GoldPaid can confirm the appropriate postal option before you post. If the lot may be worth more than £2,500, tell us first and we can split it across more than one prepaid label at no charge. Read the full method on the sell gold by post page.
Assay first, then decide
Rolled gold is not a knock-off. It is a manufacturing tradition with real metallurgy behind it. The honest way to handle a mixed box is to test each piece, value the solid gold on its measured content, and say plainly which pieces are rolled and not bought. A buyer who quotes one flat rate for a mixed parcel without weighing or testing it is guessing. If you are unsure which pieces are rolled, send a photo of the marks before you post anything.