Gold plated, brass, stainless steel jewelry: what's the difference?

Gold jewelry has been the trend for years, but unfortunately gold jewelry is not affordable for everyone. Fortunately, there are affordable gold jewelry on the market. Well-known alternatives from which gold-colored jewelry is made are gold plating, brass and stainless steel. In this blog we explain the difference between these materials.

What are gold plated and gold plated jewelry?

Gold plated and gold plated means the same thing. Gold plating jewelry is always made of a basic material with a layer of gold over it, which is the gold plating. Sterling silver or brass is often used as base material. A layer of gold plating is applied over it. Gold plated jewelry is cheaper than real gold jewelry because only a layer of gold is used. Different colors of gold plating are available, depending on the number of carats in the plating. For example, a 14 carat gold plating is lighter in color than an 18 carat gold plating. At Josephina Jewelry we only use 14 carat gold plating because we think the color of 14 carat gold jewelry is the most beautiful. The more karat, the darker yellow gold the jewelry becomes. Do you want tips on cleaning gold plated jewelry? Then read our blog here .

What is brass?

Brass is a type of metal made of copper and brass. The big advantage of brass is that this type of metal is golden in itself. Brass is a very suitable material if you want to make gold-colored jewelry. Brass is golden, strong and can be worked well to make jewelry. Brass jewelry becomes slightly darker when worn, the color of vintage gold. You can polish jewelry made of brass so that they become shiny again and lighter in color. Brass is nickel free.

At Josephina Jewelry we use brass to make our gold colored jewelry. We apply an extra layer of 14 carat gold plating over our brass jewelry. This makes the color of our jewelry even more similar to real gold. Make sure that you do not polish jewelry with gold plating, because then you will polish the plating off!

What is stainless steel?

Stainless steel itself is a silver-coloured metal. It is strong material and widely used in China for jewelry making. At the moment you also see a lot of gold-colored stainless steel, which is stainless steel with a layer of gold-colored metal (often Chrome).

What is the difference between brass & stainless steel?

Brass and stainless steel are both strong metals that are widely used for making gold-colored jewelry. The big advantage of brass is that it is golden in itself. In principle, you don't need extra gold plating with brass and it stays beautiful for a long time. In addition, you can easily polish brass with, for example, Brasso so that it becomes shiny and lighter in color again. Stainless steel is in itself a silver-coloured metal that gets a plating. It stays beautiful for a long time. It is true that brass is easier to work with than stainless steel. For example, finer designs of jewelry can be made from brass than stainless steel. Especially in combination with real gemstones, you see that brass is more often chosen as a material to make jewelry. We At Josephina Jewelry love fine rings with precious stones and therefore use brass as the basis for our rings .