Materials
Steel or Gold plated
Stainless steel jewelry is strong, durable and rust-resistant. It typically has a silver sheen, but, unlike silver, it will not corrode and it is not susceptible to scratches, dings or dents. Stainless steel can be used to make nearly any type of jewelry, from rings and bracelets to necklaces, watches and earrings.
Gold Plated
Gold-plated jewelry is a very light layer of gold - 0.05% actual gold or less - on top of a base metal (usually brass or copper). The thin layer of gold is plated onto the base metal to create gold-plated jewelry.
Gold Laminate
Base metal such as copper pressed into a layer of gold with a minimum of 5% of the thickness, it's what makes items last longer.
925 Silver
The 925 stamp on silver jewelry is all about the purity of the silver. It means that for every 1000 parts of the material in the jewelry piece, 925 parts must be made of silver and no more than 75 parts should be a different metal.
Gold 10k
Used to define the purity of gold in jewelry, 10k refers to the amount of pure gold in a particular piece. Because gold is such a soft metal, it must often be mixed with an alloy to make it more durable. 10k gold is 41.7% gold and 58.3% alloy. The 10 refers to parts of 24, or karats, and is the minimum legal standard in the U.S. for something to be called gold.
