The Truth About Gold-Filled Beads
I am committed to using the best materials available for my jewelry at Beaded Royalty. Last year when a customer requested I add gold to a bracelet, I started to do some research. What I found was that solid 14K gold beads are not only very expensive, but they are very soft and prone to being scratched or crushed. The same customer who wanted gold beads on the bracelet she was ordering, had a bracelet made with solid 14K gold beads and it wasn’t pretty. It looked like it had been through a war. The beads were crushed and completely misshapen.
The best alternative turned out to be something called gold-filled beads. Gold-filled beads are much more economical and practical than solid 14K gold beads. They are not filled with gold as the name suggests, but rather a thick layer of gold is permanently bonded to a base metal. They should not be mistaken for gold-plated since they have 100 times more gold than plate - in fact, they are 5% 14K gold by weight. Under normal wear, gold-filled beads will never peel, flake, or wear off and can be treasured for generations.
