Vermeil is a standard before it is a look. Here is what the word means, what the words around it mean, and exactly where Amaurine uses each one.
Three words for gold that is not solid gold
Almost all fine jewellery under a few hundred dollars is gold over another metal. The question is how much gold, and what is underneath. Three terms cover it.
Gold vermeil is the only one of the three with a real definition behind it. Under the United States standard that the industry borrows worldwide, a piece may be called vermeil when it has a base of sterling silver, coated on all significant surfaces with gold of at least 10 karat, to a minimum thickness of 2.5 microns. Three conditions, all required: sterling underneath, real karat gold on top, and enough of it to measure. Australia has no legal definition of its own, so that is the one to hold a brand to.
Gold-plated means a layer of gold electroplated onto a base metal. The base can be brass, copper, steel or sterling silver, and the thickness is rarely stated. The karat on a plated piece tells you the colour of the gold; the thickness tells you how long it will last, and a plated layer is thinner than vermeil by definition, or it would be called vermeil.
Gold-filled is a sheet of gold mechanically bonded to a brass core, with gold making up at least five per cent of the piece by weight. It is common in American jewellery and rare in Australian brands.
The practical difference shows at the points that rub. Gold on any of these is a surface layer, and a ring shank or the inside of a hoop will wear before a pendant does. On vermeil the layer is thick enough to last years with reasonable care, and the metal beneath it is sterling silver, so even a worn patch reads as silver rather than brown brass. That is what you are paying for.
How Amaurine uses each word
Amaurine has five collections, each named for the metal it is made in, and every piece names its karat and its metal before you buy it. The word vermeil appears on one of them.
Souveraine is gold vermeil: a heavy layer of 18K gold over solid 925 sterling silver, and 24K on the pieces that ask for it. It is the collection for a piece that will be worn most days, which is why the Voûte Bar Necklace lives there, the piece I wear most. Sterling all the way through, gold where it shows.
Lumière is 18K and 14K gold over sterling silver. The core is the same solid 925 sterling; the gold layer is plated and thinner than vermeil, which is why these pieces are described as gold over sterling rather than vermeil. It is the collection for the hoops and fine chains you wear two and three at a time.
Éternelle is gold over steel, 18K on the cuffs and bangles and 14K on the rings. Steel is the hardest base metal at Amaurine, so a cuff keeps its round and a slim band holds its circle, and the piece costs less because the metal does.
Étoilée sets certified VVS1 moissanite in solid sterling silver, polished, or finished in platinum over the sterling where the page says so. Opaline is pearl, baroque and freshwater, on vermeil and on sterling; each page says which.
Reading a material line
Every Amaurine product page carries a material line in the same words used here: "18K gold vermeil over 925 sterling silver", "14K gold over 925 sterling silver", "18K gold over stainless steel", "925 sterling silver". The word vermeil is used only where the maker specifies the piece as vermeil. Wherever you shop, three things decide how a gold piece will wear: the base metal, the karat, and the thickness of the gold. A material line that names the first two, from a brand that uses the third word carefully, is what to look for.
The longer comparison, with Australian brands set side by side on their own wording, is in Plated, vermeil or solid gold? Amaurine's published material standards are on Our Standards.
Emily, founder of Amaurine · About Emily
