Gold Filled Jewelry Markings

Standard purity marks used for vintage gold jewelry.

Gold filled jewelry markings.

The most common identifier of gold filled items is the sign gf after the karat number. In that case it s either plated or filled gold or it s costume plain old jewelry not real gold. Some other markings mean a jewelry item is not fine karat gold. In europe purity marks are commonly shown as percentages.

Sometimes the karat value is shown as a ratio such as 18 24 or 14 24 this is most commonly seen with gold filled jewelry as mentioned in the section above. Look for markings like pt or pt followed by a number to indicate platinum metal. Vintage gold jewelry with european purity marks. See my other guide to find out more about the different kinds of gold plated jewelry including their markings.

Look for other hallmarks or stamps that indicate plated gold such as hge gold filled plate rgp ep or 1 10 the fractions indicate the ratio of gold to alloy such as copper. Vermeil pronounced ver may is gold. Gold filled jewelry should also have markings indicating its karat number. A typical marking on gold filled jewelry might read 14k gf meaning it was made of metal coated with a 14 karat gold alloy with the alloy making up 5 percent of the item s total metal weight.