# Are gold plated taps/showers etc. worth buying?



## hilld2000 (Jun 29, 2007)

I notice some auctions have old gold plated or damaged taps etc for sale for less than £5 GBP... Would there be enough gold on these kind of large items to make it worthwhile?


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## goldsilverpro (Jun 29, 2007)

Figure the gold value at about $.06 per square inch. Not much.


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## hilld2000 (Jun 29, 2007)

goldsilverpro said:


> Figure the gold value at about $.06 per square inch. Not much.



Wow.. Thanks for that... I won't bother then unless I can get them for free!

I think I may have lready made my first mistakes by buying material and paying too much for it lol.

At least I will have something to experiment with even though I will probably lose out financially! :roll:


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## aflacglobal (Jun 29, 2007)

Chris,

Glad to see you are back. Nobody knows these plating numbers better than you.

Figure the gold value at about $.06 per square inch :idea: 

So if i wanted to plate the entire car it would cost About $ 300 :shock: :roll: 



Did i read some where that this is about the average amount in a cell phone $.06 ?


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## Buzz (Jan 25, 2009)

Hi,

I've just been offered a joblot of Gold coloured taps.

They look old but the boxes are failry modern so i have to assume they are reproduction Edwardian taps.

I assumed them to be plated but on the boxes there is a label that says
R/Gold.
Rolled Gold taps?
Why would they use Rolled Gold?

Kind regards
Buzz


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## qst42know (Jan 25, 2009)

You call them taps, we call them faucets. 

You call it rolled gold, we call it gold filled.

I have read the term "rolled gold" is more common in Europe to distinguish plate from solid gold.

I doubt any base metal is still rolled to apply a layer of gold the way it used to be. Electroplating is cheaper to accomplish and not limited to shapes that can be rolled.


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## goldsilverpro (Jan 25, 2009)

I can't understand how a faucet could be gold filled. The faucets are most likely cast. How would they laminate a substantial layer of karat gold on a cast object? R/Gold may mean something else.


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## qst42know (Jan 25, 2009)

I'm going out on a limb here but I would guess the item is electroplated and then run through a machine something like this.

http://www.belairfinishing.com/Burnisher_FM_Bruni_1_001.htm

Just a guess but a heavy plate then burnished would meet any rules (if there are any?) for filled or rolled gold.


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## qst42know (Feb 3, 2009)

I found the rules for US gold filled in Hokes Testing precious metals.

"Thin sheets of karat gold are welded to one or more surfaces of a thick
billet of less expensive metal—usually brass or a nickel alloy, sometimes
sterling silver—and the whole is then rolled very thin. The resulting thin
sheet is used in making gold filled or rolled gold plate jewelry. In order to
meet U. S. standards the gold layer must be of at least 10-k quality. If the
weight of the karat gold is more than 1/20 of the total weight, the jewelry
may be stamped "gold filled" The term "rolled gold plate" is used when
the gold layer is thinner."

By Hokes definition filled is a higher standard than rolled. Modern methods may allow burnished electroplate to be called rolled. This I don't know for certain.


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## butcher (Feb 4, 2009)

I wonder if the plumbing industry would have to follow the same rules as the jewery industry to advertize there faucet as gold filled?
$300 to gold plate a car I wonder how much my 1960 chevy truck would cost me? I would have a very pretty rattle trap wood hauler.


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