Gold filled is an amazing alternative to real gold, it will not tarnish so you can wear at the beach, shower, etc. Gold filled jewelry is jewelry composed of a thick layer of real 14-24k gold mechanically bonded to a base metal. To give you an idea of how thick, the highest “quality” of gold plating has at most 0.05% of real gold electroplated on (this is the jewelry that is most commonly sold & turns your skin green after 1 week!) but gold filled legally has to have a minimum of 5% of real solid gold! Which is bonded to the base metal making it last a lifetime!