05-21-2015 02:35 PM
i picked up this nifty Boucher 6748 bracelet today, gold tone with some of the raised areas looking silvery. I found one at a non-ebay site and they say it is gold plated but show no mark.
The silvery areas really do look like loss to the gold plate so I can believe it is plated, just wanted to make sure before I list it.
05-21-2015 02:51 PM
I have been seeing this a lot lately instead of gold tone they say gold plated which is totally different. To answer your question I would think it would be marked
05-21-2015 04:33 PM
I think you'd be a lot safer describing it as goldtone. Although electroplating has been around a long time, I think they only starting using plating marks on jewelry around the 70's. Those marks would be GP (gold plate), EP (electro plate) and GEP (gold electro plate). Marks that show up on earlier jewelry are RG (rolled gold), RGP (rolled gold plate) and 1/2014k, meaning gold filled (there are other gold filled combinations such as 1/20 12k or 10k, etc.). They do contain actual gold but not much. Goldtone is a gold colored substance over base metal. I don't think Boucher ever used quality marks on their goldtone jewelry but I could be wrong. The irony is that when filling out item specifics in the vintage costume jewelry category on ebay, the only two options on the menu are gold plated and gold filled when most vintage costume jewelry is goldtone. Ebay needs to add goldtone, otherwise, people will choose one of the previous two and that would be incorrect. If the piece is neither gold plated nor gold filled I write goldtone in the box instead of choosing one of those two.
05-22-2015 04:04 AM
05-22-2015 04:44 AM - edited 05-22-2015 04:49 AM
There are lots of pieces of costume jewelry that is gold plated that are not marked as such. Just take a look at some of the old ads where it states a piece is generally 14kt or 18kt gold plated but the piece is not marked as such. Just off the top of my head Krementz is a prime example. You would find a small paper tag at times in the original presentation box that would read 14kt gold plated but the jewelry wasn't marked except with the name Krementz.
05-22-2015 10:20 AM
Thanks, everyone, for the great responses!
05-22-2015 11:42 AM
One more question. I know nobody likes to give a value for items posted here but: the identical bracelet to mine that I found on another site is listed at $225 - is that a ridiculous price or fairly realistic?
05-22-2015 02:29 PM
@pheasantvillecollectables519 wrote:One more question. I know nobody likes to give a value for items posted here but: the identical bracelet to mine that I found on another site is listed at $225 - is that a ridiculous price or fairly realistic?
Only time I give credence to prices shown on other items is when I see a sold price. A person can ask anything, but what someone is willing to pay is totally another thing.