What's the difference between gold plated jewelry and 14K gold filled jewelry?
Actually a lot. 100X difference to be precise.
Plated jewelry has 0.05% gold plating or gold dipped on the outside of a base metal. 14K gold filled jewelry has 5% gold pressure bonded on the outside of a base metal (usually jeweler's brass).
14K gold filled jewelry can last years to decades with proper care, whereas plated jewelry wears away in about 1 year (or less if exposed to water or abrasives).
Bottom line, gold plated jewelry is less expensive, because it's made of cheap materials and will not last as long. Gold filled jewelry wears similar to solid gold for a long time, and is overall made of better materials for your skin, especially sensitive skin.
The visual:
Gold plated jewelry is like a chocolate covered donut. The donut is the inside of your jewelry, and the chocolate is the gold that was dipped on top. It has a very thin layer of gold, that comes off very easily.
14K gold filled jewelry is like a chocolate Hostess Cupcake, with cream filling. The layer of chocolate is thicker (5% solid gold), and squished (AKA pressure bonded) around the cream filling (which is jeweler's brass). This is a solid bond that cannot be broken, unlike the chocolate donut that was dipped, where you could just lick it off. Making sense?
Good luck out there.
Love,
Hoops By Hand
Shop 14K gold filled jewelry (no plated jewelry here):
P.S. I recommend doing your due diligence. 14K gold filled jewelry is only EVER manufactured in wire, tube, and sheet. Gold filled refers not only to being 5% weight in gold, it also refers to the manufacturing process—being pressure bonded, NEVER plated. If someone says their jewelry is "gold filled" and it was plated with 5% gold, cool that's fine, but it's NOT 14K gold filled jewelry AT ALL. "14K Gold Filled" is simply a protected phrase of the Federal Trade Commission.