Silver-gilt

Silver-gilt Techniques

• Silver-gilt objects have been made since ancient times across Eurasia
• Various gilding techniques have been used, including overlaying or folding gold foil or gold leaf
• Fire-gilding with mercury was a common method until the Early Modern period, despite its dangers
• Electroplating is now the most commonly used method, as it is safer and does not involve mercury
• Keum-boo is a special Korean technique of silver-gilding

Vermeil

• Vermeil is an alternative term for silver-gilt, originating from French
• The term is more commonly used in American English than in British English
• Vermeil can also refer to gilt bronze, which is a less costly alternative material than silver
• The US Code of Federal Regulations defines vermeil as sterling silver coated or plated with gold of not less than 10-karat fineness
• Vermeil objects must have a substantial thickness of gold throughout

Considerations in use

• Silver-gilt objects could be regilded at any point, as the gold would wear off over time
• Items regularly handled, such as toilet service sets or tableware, often required regilding after a few years
• Sometimes only the interior of cups was gilded, possibly due to concerns about cleaning tarnish from silver
• Fully silver-gilt items are visually indistinguishable from solid gold
• The gilding of objects was sometimes used to deceive and make them appear more valuable than they actually were

Also

• Category:Silver-gilt objects
• Vermeil Room, where the White House's extensive collection of silver-gilt objects is displayed

Citations

• German Olympic museum website and Beijing 2008 Appendix 8
• Homers Odyssey (Bk vi, 232) mentions overlaying or hammering gold foil or gold leaf
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition (1989)
• US Code of Federal Regulations, 16CFR23.5
• British Museum, mentioning examples of silver-gilt objects

Silver-gilt Data Sources