A gold plating means that a layer of 22K gold is deposited on top of another metal, in our case silver. The silver will therefore become visible, if the plating wears off. Maria Black plate with a 22-23.5K gold alloy and have adjusted the colour to resemble a 14-18K colour. It is difficult to accurately predict how long a gold plating will last. It greatly depends on how often you wear it, where on the body it’s placed and how active you are. Maria Black strive to provide a high quality of plating so they use a vermeil plating thickness on all rings and bracelets and a 2 micron plating on earrings and necklaces