Almost as good as gold

By Sirinya Mongkolwaj

08 August 2006

Can’t afford the real thing? Gold-plating experts explain the tricks of their trade.

In Thai society, all that glitters really is gold. People view this precious metal as an indicator of the financial status of the wearer, with many even adhering to the mantra that “having gold is much better than having money.”

But because of the exorbitant cost of gold, people looking to elevate their social status who don’t have deep pockets turn to the next best thing – gold-plated jewelry. Obviously, though, it needs to look as similar to the real thing as possible if you want to fool people. This is where things can get tricky.

“Quality gold-plating doesn’t look so different from real gold. If you look from afar and do not touch it or take a really close look, you will not be able to distinguish which one is fake and which is real. But when you wear both for a long time, it is obviously easier to differentiate between the two,” says Nid, owner of a six-year-old plated accessories stall at Nonthaburi Pier.

The quality of gold-plating varies, as do the designs and sizes of jewelry available. Most men usually buy big chains, with costs ranging from a hundred baht to over a thousand, says Nid. The price depends on the thickness of the gold-plating and the length of each chain. The thicker the plating, the more durable it is.

But as the price of gold climbs, so too does gold-plated jewelry given that it is partially made of the real thing. Some of the gold-plating dealers on city streets had mistakenly assumed that during this financially tight period, when gas prices are rising, people would be buying more gold-plated jewelry than the pure stuff. However Nid says that sales have actually dropped in recent months.

“I have regular customers but not an overwhelming number of new ones. Before, a lot of people bought plated accessories to wear instead of the real thing. Many passerby would spend their money freely if they saw something that caught their eye. These days, though, it is more difficult to sell items because people are more thrifty. If it is unnecessary, they won’t buy it. Their thinking has changed. They think that these days making money is harder, so every time you spend a baht, you have to think much more carefully than before,” says Nid.

Detch Kongchit, the 43-year-old owner of a gold-plating stall in the Tao Poon area, recounts his 20 years of experience as a gilder.

“When I started out I was just a worker in a gold shop. In front of that gold shop there was a gold-plating shop. Each day I saw that so many people came to that gold-plating shop. I estimated they could earn between 700 and 1,000 baht a day while I got just 70 baht. The income interested me a lot. I asked them to teach me how to plate jewelry but they wouldn’t. One day I found an ad in a newspaper recruiting people interested in gold-plating. So I immediately applied to learn how to make the chemical solution used to do it,” says Detch.

Two days after he started to learn, the chemical solution was made available on the market. So he decided to concentrate on learning how to gild properly instead.

The quality of the gold-plating depends on several things, he says. If you give a small piece of plated work too much heat, the item will burn. But if you don’t use enough heat for a large piece, it will turn black. It is a learning process that requires more than a year of practice before one is skilled enough to do it well.

There are two kinds of solutions used to plate – chemical and self-mixed. The red chemical gold solution is cheap – a few hundred baht a liter – but the color it produces is not of good quality. The self-mixed solution includes four grams of real gold, costing about a thousand baht, and saltpeter and salt acid. The solution is boiled with cyanide and you will get about two liters of white self-mixed gold. If you don’t want to waste your time compounding the ingredients, you can buy it for 1,300 baht a liter, says Detch.

“It is cheaper when you make the solution yourself. Four grams of real gold can make gold-plated ornaments worth about 5,000 to 6,000 baht. But these days the price of gold is rising. To earn 4,000 to 5,000 baht from plated ornaments we used to buy the real gold for only 500 to 600 baht but nowadays we have to buy real gold for 1,600 to 1,700 baht to earn the same amount of money. Luckily, I can still survive with this rate.”

Nearly any piece of jewelry can be gilded and even re-gilded if the plating starts to peel off. Besides plating things with gold, silver and copper alloy solutions are also available but they’re not in as high demand, says Detch.

To do the actual gold-plating, the metal object must be burnished and then immersed in cyanide so the surface of the object will be totally clean before it is dipped in an alkaline copper solution. After that, it requires another scrub before it is immersed in the same alkaline copper solution, then in a nickel solution which will help make the object shine. If the object is not sleek enough, once it is gilded in the gold solution the surface of it will still look rough, explains Detch. Flakes of real gold are also used to add a final authentic-looking touch.

“Gold is an anode while the metal object is a cathode. Anodes – or positive electrodes – will automatically be attracted to cathodes – or negative electrodes. When you use the gold flakes, linked to a 220-volt battery to impel the metal, the gold will adhere to it,” says Detch.

He gives a demonstration, saying the secret is to know when to stop swaying the object in the gold solution. If you let it sit too long, the object will turn red, which looks fake.

To tell the difference between real and fake gold is really difficult by sight alone, he says. Instead, you must touch it and weigh it, as gold-plated items are lighter than genuine ones.

As for durability, Detch says the lifespan of the plating depends on how often an item is used.

“If you wear it from time to time and spend most of your time in air-conditioned rooms, your plated ornaments will stay pretty for a long time. On the other hand, if you wear it without care, constantly, in about 10 days the gold-plating will peel away. Plated items will deteriorate when exposed to salt. So be careful not to wear it when you know you’re going to sweat a lot. Perfume is another item that will harm your plated objects. It will cause the color to turn black.”

The heat also affects them, and it is better not to wear it when you take a bath or shower, Detch adds. The best way to maintain it is to only wear it occasionally.

Detch says some adults are too shy to bring ornaments to him themselves and ask their children to go in their place.

“Before, when my shop was in the market, so many customers came but when I moved the location to a sidewalk shop the numbers of customers dropped because most people feel ashamed to buy gold-plated jewelry. Most of my regular customers are middle-aged women around 30 to 40 years. Even rich and hi-so people use my services a lot. Younger people hardly ever come.”

What’s particularly remarkable is that during the holidays, gold-plated items sell very well because when many country people return to their home towns, they are afraid they’ll be looked down upon if they aren’t wearing any gold.

From the end of Buddhist Lent onward, gold-plated jewelry dealers are at their busiest, especially during Songkran. In May, the numbers of buyers decreases. The lowest income earned is about 200 to 300 baht a day but on a busy day, they can earn 4,000 to 5,000 baht.

The cost of getting ornaments plated varies. It depends on the size of the metal items you bring in, says Detch. And, as would be expected, gold-plating a necklace is more expensive than gilding it with silver.

Detch says that plating shops get busier when people have more money. Some of them used to have real gold but lost it while gambling. They do not want to buy a new piece of gold so gold-plating is their next choice as they don’t want their close friends or family members to know they lost their real gold.

Nid has another perspective on the allure of gold-plated jewelry. She says that people are taught to respect and admire rich people, and objects are indicative of their financial status. So they wear gold-plated jewelry to make people think they are financially well-off. “If you have money, you will be admired. If you do not have it, no one sees you.”

Thai Day