What is ip gold plated jewelry?

Answer 1

Ip does not mean "iron plated", it means ion plated. This is a vapor process process where the gold is vaporized and the metal, usually stainless steel, is then coated with the vapor. And it is definitely not "fully gold."

jewelry that is fully gold

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Gold IP really means

Gold, 'Iron Plated'

Answer 2

IP Jewelry is an acronym for two things. Ion Plating or Immitation Plating and the two can and often do confuse the consumer.

ION PLATING (applied with ION Vacuum)

• Five to eight times more durable than traditional methods.

• Less material is required for coating, lowering prices.

• Available in many attractive colors such as black rose gold, and yellow gold.

• The finish can be highly polished or matte, and options in-between.

• Stainless steel and even Tungsten Carbide can easily be plated with this method which will hold it's color longer than traditional electrolysis methods.

• Is utilized to apply immitation and real gold.

ELECTROLYSIS PLATING (Pen Plating or Full Submersion Bath)

• Thicker Gold Plating

• Only involves plating with Real Gold and Real Precious Metals, not immitation!

• Requires a special wet out process like woods nickel strike if you want to plate to certain metals like stainless steel but doesn't hold nearly as well especially on Tungsten Carbide compared to an Ion application.

• Suitable for even a hobbyist to apply gold or other precious metals unlike the ION Vacuum which typically runs well over $40,000 USD to purchase one thus typically only owned by manufacturers.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

Many unscrupulous jewelers will sell jewelry claiming it to be IP plated and lead the consumer to believe it is "real gold" when in fact it is "Immitation Plating" and legal when stamped or sold using IP in it's name (ie. 24k IP Gold). This could mean immitation or real so you either need to trust your dealer, or ask for proof of application process that includes a written statement guaranteeing it to be real gold.

It's kind of like how White Gold is often sold as more valuable than yellow gold which was done for many years and at some shops still is but white gold is really a very low content of gold purity with a very high content of either silver or palladium and the darker yellow you go, the higher purity of gold you are recieving. Hope this helps!

Michael Baker, Jeweler

Patriot Coin Rings