# Does Vermeil Jewelry Tarnish? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-vermeil-jewelry-tarnish/523638 "2010-01-04T17:30:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-vermeil-jewelry-tarnish/523638/1 "2010-01-04T17:30:53Z")
Vermiule jewelry is made by plating sterling silver with 14 or 18Kt gold. I’m told that in time, the silver migrtes to the surface of the gold plated layer, and since silver is active, the piece will tarnish. Is this so? Or does the gold layer wear off, thus exposing the silver? ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-vermeil-jewelry-tarnish/523638/2 "2010-01-04T18:53:46Z")
Just a quick spelling note to aid any searching: it’s **vermeil**. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-vermeil-jewelry-tarnish/523638/3 "2010-01-05T00:19:13Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Just a quick spelling note to aid any searching: it’s **vermeil**. Thx. I changed it for Ralph. samclem ---
**Author:** ![onion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/46a35a/32.png) [@onion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/onion)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-vermeil-jewelry-tarnish/523638/4 "2010-01-05T05:36:27Z")
Yes,it will tarnish.and the gold layer will also wear off.