GP and GEP (gold plated)

How to read it

The FTC’s jewelry guides allow gold plate, gold electroplate and their abbreviations (their own example is 12K G.E.P.) for an electroplated layer of gold of at least 10 karat, at least 0.175 microns thick, with the karat of the plating marked first. That is about 7 millionths of an inch, measured as the equivalent thickness of fine gold. The Stamping Act names gold plate and gold electroplate among the plated goods its rules cover, and does not let such goods carry a gold fineness mark unless words plainly say they are plated.

Also searched as: G.E.P., GEP, gold electroplate, gold plated, GP, HGE.

GP, GEP and HGE

Where the electroplating is at least two and a half microns thick, the FTC’s guides allow heavy gold electroplate instead, the term behind the mark HGE. GEP is gold electroplate. GP, gold plate, is the broader term: the guides allow it for a gold alloy layer applied by any process, mechanical or electrolytic, so long as it is thick enough and covers enough of the surface to be of reasonable durability, and its karat is marked first.

How the rules changed in 2018

Before the FTC revised its guides in 2018, gold plate had a stated minimum: a layer equivalent to 0.5 microns of fine gold, about 20 millionths of an inch. The older guides also allowed gold flashed or gold washed for electroplating of at least 10 karat that fell short of the minimum thickness. The FTC’s consumer guide now describes gold flashed and gold washed as a very thin electroplating that wears away faster than gold plate, gold filled or gold electroplate.

Gold plated or gold filled?

Gold filled is a much heavier layer, applied mechanically, making up at least a twentieth of the article’s metal by weight. Rolled gold plate uses the same mechanical process with less gold.

Big GOLD, small electroplate

The FTC’s guides give a plated item marked with the word electroplate in small type and the word gold in larger type as their example of improper marking, because a buyer might only see the word gold. The Hallmarking Act has a similar rule for Britain: on an unhallmarked article, the word plated has to be in lettering at least as large as the rest of the description.

Vermeil

Vermeil is gold plate on silver. The FTC’s guides allow the word for a base of sterling silver plated with gold of at least 10 karat, 2.5 microns thick, and list as deceptive the word vermeil on a piece where an undisclosed base metal such as nickel lies between the silver and the gold. The UK assay offices’ guidance is stricter about the wording: a gold-plated silver article has to be described as silver, with gold directly followed by plated, and vermeil can only be used in addition; 22ct gold vermeil ring is one of their examples of a misleading description. Silver gilt is allowed, as long as no gold fineness is given.

Gold plate in Britain

Gold-plated base metal cannot be hallmarked in the UK. Gold-plated silver is hallmarked as silver, and the guidance notes say the gold layer on it should be at least 375 parts per thousand and not more than 2 microns thick. The Hallmarking Act allows the word gold on an unhallmarked article when it is qualified by plated or rolled.

Plating on hallmarked gold and silver

Plating is also used on solid precious metal, under separate rules. The UK assay offices’ guidance notes say hallmarked gold may be plated with gold, platinum or rhodium, and hallmarked silver with silver, palladium, gold, platinum, ruthenium or rhodium. Plating of the same metal must be at least the article’s own fineness, and base metal may not be used for plating on precious metal articles, either as an interlayer or as a surface treatment.