The short answer
Gold plated is a thin layer of gold over another metal. Solid gold is gold all the way through, and in this catalog it appears only as small accent beads. Lab-created means a stone grown in a laboratory, and it is written before the stone's name every time. Cubic zirconia is not a diamond, and we never call it one. If a word on a product page is unfamiliar, this is the glossary.
925 sterling silver
Sterling silver is 92.5% silver, alloyed with other metal for strength. We use it for chains, settings, earring posts and woven mesh. Silver tarnishes; that is the metal reacting with the air, not a fault. A silver polishing cloth brings it back, and a closed pouch or bag slows it down.
Our records give the material as 925 sterling silver for those pieces. Whether each item carries a 925 stamp is not confirmed in our records, so we do not claim it.
Gold plated
Gold plated means a layer of gold over a base metal. It is never written as a bare 18K gold. Where we hold the figure, the page states it: 18K gold plating, single-layer electroplating, 2.5 μm. That is 2.5 micrometres, the thickness of the gold layer, a real stated figure rather than a flash coating. Some pieces combine metals, for example white gold-plated brass with an enamel glaze and a 925 sterling silver post; the page names each part.
Plating wears with friction and skin chemistry. Rings and bracelets wear fastest. Taking a piece off before washing and sport makes the biggest difference. Never polish a plated piece with a silver cloth or a dip: polishing removes plating. A soft dry cloth is the only cleaning a plated piece needs.
Gold vermeil
Gold vermeil is gold plating over sterling silver rather than over brass or another base metal. Where a piece is vermeil, we write it as 18K gold vermeil over sterling silver, never as 18K gold on its own. The care is the same as for any plated piece: a soft dry cloth, nothing abrasive.
Solid gold
Solid 18K gold appears in this catalog only as small accent beads on some Hetian jade pieces: about 0.03 g on the plaque and disc pendants and about 0.06 g on the Fortune Guardian bracelet. The page gives the weight. The jade itself has no plating.
Enamel
Enamel is glass fired onto metal at high temperature. It is not paint. Judge it by an even glassy surface with no pitting and a clean edge where it meets the metal. It is hard, but it can chip against a hard edge, so it is cleaned with a soft dry cloth and kept away from knocks.
Lab-created
A lab-created stone is grown in a laboratory, with the same or similar composition and appearance as its natural counterpart. Every one is labelled lab-created on its page, in its title or in its specification table. The catalog uses lab-created cubic zirconia in clear, white and emerald green, lab-created ruby, a lab-created royal blue pear-cut stone, lab-created yellow jade and lab-created pearl beads.
Lab-created ruby is red corundum, the same mineral as natural ruby, grown in a laboratory; we write it as lab-created ruby (red corundum). Lab-created yellow jade is a manufactured material sold under that name; the words lab-created keep it from being confused with the natural jade in the Jade collection.
Why use lab-created stones at all
They give a consistent colour and clarity at a price that keeps the design affordable, and their origin is not in question.
How they are judged
By cut and by setting, since the material itself is consistent: sharp facet junctions, even matching between stones, a secure setting and a clean polish. A well-cut cubic zirconia returns light evenly rather than looking glassy in the centre.
Cubic zirconia is not a diamond
Cubic zirconia is a lab-created stone with a brilliance of its own. It is not a diamond, and no page on this site calls it one. The stone is named cubic zirconia in the title and in the material field, so you know what it is before you buy.
Care for these pieces
Clean lab-created stones with warm water, a drop of mild soap and a soft brush, then dry. Avoid knocks; cubic zirconia is hard but its facet edges chip. Keep plated settings out of ultrasonic cleaners. Cubic zirconia can dull if a film of soap and lotion builds up; washing as described restores it. Put any jewelry on after perfume and lotion, and take it off before swimming.
Why the words matter
A page that says 18K gold when it means gold plated, or diamond when it means cubic zirconia, sells a different thing from the one in the box. Materials on GrainMoon are named literally. Where we do not hold a fact, the field is left empty rather than filled with a guess, and an empty field means we do not know, not that the answer is zero.
