This will depend on the material you are interested in plating with. As the price of gold goes up, even plating with gold will become more and more expensive. Plating with silver will be less pricey than plating with gold.
There are various plating services around the world, from what i have seen and found, the top places are: Ashley Jewlers, www.ashleyjewelers.com/services_plating.html and, Artisan Plating, www.artisanplating.com, and lastly Gold Plating Services, www.goldplating.com...
Gold plating depends on the spot price of gold. Gold plating is extremely thin, but gold is expensive too.
alkaline zinc plating is less expensive to prepare and maintain , and it do not cause pollution as cyanide zinc plating.
Gold plating at the jeweler is probably the best way to go.
Try the website www.goldplater.com. They do professional gold and platinum plating.
You can go to business.com and search for "plaing services."
Gatto Industrial Plating Services does a great nickel plating job. I took some stuff to them not too long ago. I used ProPlate for my plating services. They were great, very efficient and extremely affordable. delta electronics beverly, mass 01915
"Basically, plating services will take something you own and cover it with some sort of metal, usually gold or silver. It's a good way to preserve something that you cherish." Plating services are companies that will take something you own and plate it in gold. That's really all it is.
There are many jewelers in Provo, UT that offer gold plating services. A search engine can be used to find the nearest jeweler in your area.
Plating services can charge anywhere from $40 to $200. It will mostly depend on which company you choose and how many shoes you want bronzed. For example, you may want to only bronze one shoe or both shoes or you may want to make these bronzed shoes into something like bookends or a picture frame in which case, the cost would be more expensive.
Many metals can be used in plating, such as copper, nickel, silver, gold and chrome, which is often used on cars.
Metal Finishing Group is located in Sacramento, California. They do gold, silver, zinc and tin plating. http://www.metalfinishinggroup.com/