What is vermeil, and what's it worth?

What makes it vermeil

Under the FTC's Jewelry Guides, an item can be called vermeil only if it's sterling silver coated with gold of at least 10 karat, at least 2.5 microns thick. It's usually stamped 925, sometimes with "vermeil".

What it's worth

Silver is at $49.46 per troy ounce (the Kitco bid). Vermeil is worth roughly what the same weight of sterling is worth: we pay 80% of the silver content for sterling, which is $117.67 per 100 grams today. Vermeil is accepted as part of a larger lot; our minimum for scrap sterling is 1 kilo.

Scrap prices are per gram of metal after melting, not per gram of what you send. Stones are removed, and dirt, glue, springs, and anything else that isn't gold or silver burn off or separate out, so the weight paid is usually less than your scale shows.

Vermeil, gold-plated, or solid gold?

• 925 on a gold-colored piece: vermeil, or gold-plated silver. Valued as silver.
• GP, GE, GEP, or HGE: gold-plated base metal. No real value.
• 10K, 14K, 18K, or 417, 585, 750: solid gold. See gold stamps.

Gold stamps: 417 · 585 · 750 · 916 · 925 · 10K vs 14K · 14K vs 18K · All gold stamps

Silver guides: Sterling silver jewelry · Sterling flatware · Sterling hollowware · Scrap silver · Silver bars · Silver rounds · Troy ounces, grams, and pennyweight

We pay more for silver than pawn shops and jewelers, at a published percentage of the Kitco bid. The best place to sell silver