Metal terms

Every precious-metal word in a United States listing carries a condition

The words are short and interchangeable in a text field. The conditions attached to them are not: one is about sentence order, one is a fineness floor, one is a coating measured in microns, and one is a disclosure with no figure at all. This page reports what one United States source states, word by word.

The condition is on the metal, not on the wording

The United States Federal Trade Commission's Jewelry Guides, 16 CFR Part 23, set out term by term what a precious-metal word states about the object it is applied to. Each of the terms below arrives with a condition on the metal itself: a composition, a fineness floor, a karat and a coating thickness, or a disclosure.

That is the reason to read them together rather than one at a time. A catalog that mixes solid gold, plated silver and a rhodium-finished white metal draws on several of these words at once, and the conditions behind them are not variations of a single rule — they are written differently from each other, and two of them are about where a figure stands in a sentence.

The figures below are reproduced as the source states them. They are not converted between systems, not rounded, and not applied to a metal the source does not name in the same sentence. This record is a reading of the source dated 19 August 2026.

The condition each word carries

Section numbers are given so the wording can be checked at its origin. The Guides state of themselves that they "do not confer any rights on any person and do not operate to bind the FTC or the public", so nothing in this table is a statement about consequences.

Word or phrase	What the Jewelry Guides attach to it
"Gold" (§23.3(c)(1))	A product composed throughout of an alloy of gold may be marked and described as "Gold" when that word, wherever it appears, is immediately preceded by a correct karat designation of equal conspicuousness: "14 Karat Gold", "14 K. Gold", "9 Kt. Gold". The karat designation may also be used without the word — "14 Karat", "14Kt."
"solid silver", "Sterling Silver", "Sterling", "Ster." (§23.5(b)(2)-(3))	Using any of these to mark or describe all or part of a product is stated to be unfair or deceptive unless the product is at least 925/1,000 pure silver.
"coin silver" (§23.5(b)(2)-(3))	The floor written for this term is not less than 900/1,000 pure silver.
Unqualified "silver" (§23.5(b)(2)-(3))	The bare word is written with a correct statement of fineness in parts per thousand immediately preceding it. The example the source gives is "750 silver".
"Platinum" without qualification (§23.6)	Applying the word, or any abbreviation of it, without qualification to a product — including the surface layer of a coated product — that is not composed throughout of at least 950/1,000 pure platinum is stated to be unfair or deceptive.
"Platinum" at any level (§23.6)	The source states that no product containing less than 500/1,000 pure platinum may be marked with the word or an abbreviation of it.
"vermeil" (§23.4(b))	A product may be described or marked as "vermeil" if it consists of a base of sterling silver coated or plated on all significant surfaces with gold, or gold alloy of not less than 10 karat fineness, of at least 2.5 microns of fine gold equivalent thickness throughout.
A rhodium surface layer (§23.7)	"It is unfair or deceptive to fail to disclose a surface-layer application of rhodium on products marked or described as precious metal." No figure of any kind appears in the provision.

Where each condition actually sits

Two of these provisions are about position in a sentence, and a correct figure in the wrong place is a different arrangement from the one described. The other two are about what the object is and what has to be said about it.

The karat designation is described as immediately preceding the word.: The gold provision repeats the phrase "wherever appearing": the condition follows the word into the title, the description and any other place the word is used. It also names conspicuousness — the designation is of equal conspicuousness with the word it precedes, which is a statement about how the two are set, not only about what they say.
The unqualified word "silver" has its own preceding figure.: Where the sterling terms are not in use, the source describes the word "silver" carrying a correct fineness statement in parts per thousand immediately before it, and illustrates the form with "750 silver". The figure is part of the phrase, not a separate attribute elsewhere on the page.
"Vermeil" is a construction described in one sentence.: Base, coating and thickness are stated together: sterling silver base; coating or plating on all significant surfaces with gold, or gold alloy of not less than 10 karat fineness; at least 2.5 microns of fine gold equivalent thickness throughout. The source does not describe a version of the term with one of the three missing.
Rhodium is handled as a disclosure rather than as a threshold.: There is no fineness figure and no thickness in §23.7. What it addresses is the absence of the information: failing to disclose a surface-layer application of rhodium on products marked or described as precious metal is stated to be unfair or deceptive.

Reading a metal line you have already written

These are reading steps for your own text. Whether a particular description satisfies a condition in the source is not something this page settles.

Find every occurrence of the word "Gold" — title, description, variant names, any text placed on an image — and note what stands immediately before each one.
Compare how the karat designation is set against how the word it precedes is set; the provision names equal conspicuousness.
For a silver piece, note which term you actually used out of "solid silver", "Sterling Silver", "Sterling" and "Ster.", and which figure you hold for the piece.
If the bare word "silver" appears anywhere, check whether a fineness figure in parts per thousand stands immediately before it.
For "vermeil", write the base metal, the karat of the coating and the coating thickness as three separate entries; the term is written around all three.
If any surface of the piece is rhodium, check whether that appears somewhere the buyer reads, not only in your production notes.
Record where each figure came from — a supplier statement, an assay result, your own measurement — since the figure in the description is itself the claim.

Limit

What this page is scoped to

One United States federal source, read on 19 August 2026. The text does not write its own geographical limit into the provisions; its authority is the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45-46, which makes it a United States federal instrument. Nothing above can be carried to another market.

The Guides also state that they do not confer any rights on any person and do not operate to bind the FTC or the public. No conclusion about penalties follows from a description, and none is drawn here. This page is a report of what the source states; it is not legal advice and it does not judge any particular listing.

The United Kingdom's hallmarking regime states its own figures, its own compulsory marks and its own obligations, and none of that appears in this source. It is covered on its own pages here.

What this page does not do

It does not identify the metal in your piece. Nothing here states that the app reads metal, karat or plating from a photograph, and no generated image reports a fineness.
It does not extend a figure to a metal the source does not name in the same sentence. The passages recorded here name gold, silver, platinum and a rhodium surface layer, and nothing else.
It does not cover stone or pearl naming, which carry their own conditions and are answered on other pages.
It does not cover photographing a stamp or a hallmark; that is a separate published guide and its method is not repeated here.
It does not cover any hallmarking regime, the obligation to submit items for assay, or the marks struck by an assay office.
It does not tell you what to write. It reports the condition each word carries in one source, as that source states it.

Questions

What am I allowed to call the metal in my piece?

This page reports the condition the FTC Jewelry Guides attach to each word: a correct karat designation immediately before "Gold" and of equal conspicuousness with it; at least 925/1,000 pure silver for "solid silver", "Sterling Silver", "Sterling" and "Ster."; not less than 900/1,000 for "coin silver"; a fineness statement in parts per thousand immediately before the bare word "silver"; at least 950/1,000 throughout for unqualified "Platinum", with no use of the word below 500/1,000; a sterling base with a coating of not less than 10 karat and at least 2.5 microns of fine gold equivalent thickness for "vermeil"; and disclosure of a rhodium surface layer. Matching a particular piece to one of those conditions is not done here.

Does 925 mean the same thing as "Sterling"?

In this source the relation runs one way: the terms "solid silver", "Sterling Silver", "Sterling" and "Ster." are tied to a product that is at least 925/1,000 pure silver. The same figure is used as a struck fineness mark in the United Kingdom, a separate regime this source does not address and one that has its own page here.

Can I write "14K" without the word "Gold"?

The provision states that the karat designation may be used without the word, and gives "14 Karat" and "14Kt." as forms. Where the word "Gold" does appear, the same provision describes the designation as immediately preceding it, wherever it appears, and of equal conspicuousness with it.

Does a rhodium finish have a minimum thickness the way vermeil does?

Not in this source. Section 23.7 is a disclosure provision and states no thickness and no fineness. The 2.5 micron figure recorded on this page belongs to the vermeil provision, where it describes a gold coating over a sterling silver base, and it is not transferable to another coating.