Let's get the science out of the way first!
Gold vermeil uses Sterling Silver as a base metal, this means your jewelry is
made from only precious metals. Sterling Silver consists of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other materials
like brass or copper. A thick layer of gold is then electroplated over the sterling silver base. An
electric current is used to bind the gold and silver together. When making vermeil jewelry, the gold
layer is required to be at least 2.5 microns thick. The gold must also carry a karat weight of 10 or
above, but what does that even mean?
In jewelry, karats (k) are used to measure the solid gold
content which can be 10k, 14k, 18k, or 24k. (Not to be confused with carats (c), which are used to
measure physical diamond weight.) 10k is the lowest solid gold alloy that can be used. At Oak and Luna,
we use 18k gold in our vermeil jewelry.18k gold contains 75% gold and 25% other metal, usually copper or
silver.
Herringbone Chain Necklace >
