Gold vermeil: real gold, on sterling, held to a legal standard.
The short version. Gold vermeil (say ver-may) is a layer of solid gold, at least 2.5 microns thick and at least 10 karat pure, electroplated onto 925 sterling silver. It is a legal definition in the US and mirrored in UK practice: below the thickness, or over a non-sterling base, and it is not vermeil, it is plated.
The three numbers that matter.
- Thickness: 2.5 microns minimum. A micron is a thousandth of a millimetre. Standard gold plating is 0.5 microns; vermeil is five times thicker and lasts five to eight times longer on skin.
- Karat: 10k minimum. Most demi-fine houses use 14k or 18k for a warmer colour. 14k reads yellow-warm, 18k reads richer and slightly more orange.
- Base: 925 sterling silver, no exceptions. If the base is brass, copper, or steel, the piece is plated, not vermeil. Check the hallmark or the product spec.
Why the base metal matters.
Sterling is 92.5 percent silver, 7.5 percent copper, and it does not turn skin green the way brass does. On a vermeil piece the gold layer will eventually wear thin on high-contact edges (ring shanks, chain terminals); when it does, sterling underneath still reads as jewellery, not corrosion. On plated brass, the same wear reveals a green oxide line that ruins the piece. Full context on the sterling side is in the sterling silver explainer.
Vermeil vs plated vs gold-filled.
Vermeil (2.5 microns, sterling base) sits between gold-filled (5 percent gold by weight, mechanically bonded, longest wear) and plated (0.5 microns, any base, shortest wear). See the head-to-head in gold-filled vs vermeil. For daily-wear at a fair price, vermeil is the honest middle.
How long vermeil lasts on skin.
On chains and pendants: twelve to twenty-four months of daily wear before visible thinning at high-contact points. On rings: nine to eighteen months before the shank edges show the sterling under. On earrings (low friction, low skin contact): three to five years. Sunscreen, chlorine, and perfume applied after the piece all cut the window; apply before, not after.
Brands that hit the vermeil spec.
- Monica Vinader: 18k vermeil at 2.5 microns, sterling base, hallmarked.
- Missoma: 18k vermeil at 2.5 microns, sterling base.
- Ana Luisa: 14k vermeil at declared 2 microns (thinner end of spec), sterling base.
- Mejuri: 14k vermeil at 2.5 microns, sterling base, one of the longer wear windows we have tested.