Silver gilt is silver with a layer of gold over its surface. It looks like gold and is silver underneath. In the UK the term has a settled place in how such pieces are described, and the four UK assay offices’ Hallmarking Guidance Notes (November 2022) say exactly how a gold-plated silver article may be hallmarked and described. This page sets that out, and compares it with the US definition of vermeil, which covers similar pieces under different rules. It puts no value on any piece.
Hallmarked as silver
The guidance is direct: gold-plated silver articles are hallmarked as silver. The gold layer does not make them a mixed-metal article. The notes state that gold-plated articles are not covered by the 2007 “mixed metals” amendment to the Hallmarking Act, which deals with pieces built from separate parts of different precious metals. The mixed-metal hallmarks guide covers that case.
So a silver-gilt ring above the silver exemption weight carries an ordinary silver hallmark: the sponsor’s mark, a silver fineness such as 925 in the silver-shaped shield, and the assay office mark. The notes add that, other than the silver hallmark (or a 925 stamp on an article under the exemption weight), no standalone gold fineness mark is permitted on a gold-plated silver article, because such marks are potentially confusing and misleading to consumers. A gilt piece stamped 750 with nothing else would suggest 18 carat gold, which it is not.
The words a seller may use
The guidance on describing precious metals at the point of sale sets out the rules for gold-plated silver:
- If the word gold, or a gold fineness, is used, the article must be described as silver, and “gold” must be directly followed by “plated”. The notes’ example is “18ct gold plated silver ring”. Elsewhere they give “925 & 18ct gold plated” for a hallmarked piece.
- Vermeil and similar terms may be used in addition, but “gold plated” and “silver” must both still appear, as in “18ct gold plated vermeil silver ring”.
- Silver gilt may be used to describe a gold-plated silver article, provided no gold fineness is part of the description, as in “silver gilt ring”.
The notes give two examples of descriptions that are not allowed for gold-plated silver: “22ct gold clad ring” and “22ct gold vermeil ring”. Both put a gold fineness forward without saying the piece is silver and plated.
The gold layer itself
The same guidance sets two conditions on the plating: the gold layer must be of a fineness of at least 375 parts per thousand (9 carat), and it should not exceed 2 microns in thickness. The second figure is an upper limit, not a minimum. The UK guidance treats the gold on silver gilt as a surface finish, and the description rules above keep it from being sold as a gold article.
Gold plating on base metal is a different case. The notes say gold-plated base-metal items cannot be hallmarked at all, including “bonded gold”, “rolled gold” and “plated gold” on base metal. The terms bonded gold, rolled gold and gold plated may be used for either gold-plated silver or gold-plated base metal; for bonded gold, the layer must be at least 375 and of a fineness recognised in the UK, which is why the notes say 10k bonded gold can only be described as 9 carat in the UK.
Silver gilt and US vermeil
The US has no rule for the phrase “silver gilt”, but it does define vermeil. Under the FTC Jewelry Guides, 16 CFR § 23.4, vermeil is sterling silver coated or plated with gold of at least 10 karat fineness and a minimum thickness equivalent to 2.5 microns of fine gold.
Set the two side by side and they pull in opposite directions. The US sets a minimum of 2.5 microns for a piece to be called vermeil; the UK guidance says the gold layer on a gold-plated silver article should not exceed 2 microns. The UK also allows any silver standard underneath, where US vermeil requires sterling. A piece sold as vermeil in one country is not automatically described the same way in the other, and in the UK the word vermeil is never enough on its own.
Reading a gilt piece
On a UK piece, the hallmark tells you about the silver, not the gold. A 925 or 958 in a silver shield says the base metal met that standard when the assay office tested it; nothing in the hallmark states the carat or the thickness of the gilding. If a description gives a carat for the gold, it should also say “plated” and “silver”, in that form.
For the metal content, the silver is the part that can be weighed and measured: weight times fineness, which the silver value calculator works out at the live price. The gold on a gilt surface is thin by definition, and this site does not put a figure on it. The gold plating thickness tool shows why plating holds so little gold, using the US minimum thicknesses. Any melt figure is melt value only, which is a separate question from what a piece is worth as an object.
Sources
- UK Assay Offices, Hallmarking Guidance Notes (November 2022, published on GOV.UK): “Hallmarking gold plated silver articles” and “Guidance on describing precious metals”.
- 16 CFR § 23.4, FTC Jewelry Guides, vermeil (Cornell LII).