Real gold: solid gold earrings or gold plated, and how to tell
Everything sold here as gold is karat gold. Of the 493 pieces, 481 list 10K, 14K or 18K by the metal field or the title, and no title calls one plated, gold filled or vermeil. Of the other 12, five are sterling silver pairs set with lab-grown diamonds, and their titles say silver; the last seven give no karat in the title or the metal line, so ask the desk about those. Plating is a thin coat of gold over brass, copper or silver, and it wears off where the piece rubs.
To check a pair at home, read the stamp with a loupe: 14K or 585, 18K or 750, 10K or 417. Weigh the pair next, since 476 of our listings print its grams. A magnet should not pull karat gold, and yellow worn down to grey or red at an edge means plated or filled gold. Gold pairs shipped to a US address include our appraisal of their gram and carat weights. More in solid gold, plated, filled or vermeil.
Karat: 10K, 14K or 18K gold earrings for every day
14K is what most people choose here: 403 listings, and 73 percent of the pieces bought in the year. At 58.3 percent gold it has a warm color and stands up to daily wear. 10K, at 41.7 percent, is paler and the hardest of the three. Only 12 listings are 10K, yet one of them, the Floral Radiance diamond flower pair, sold 499 in the year, more than any other piece on the page; its listing calls 10K a good karat for a pair worn every day.
At 75 percent gold, 18K holds the most gold of the three and is the softest, so it marks sooner. Here 66 listings are 18K, nearly all set with diamonds. The metal mixed into the gold sets its color: 469 listings offer yellow, 444 white and 352 rose, and 350 offer all three. The three side by side are in the karat guide; shop 14K gold earrings and 18K gold earrings.
Stud size: diamond stud earrings by carat and millimeters
A Ctw in a stud's title counts both ears, so 2 Ctw splits into one carat per ear. What shows on the lobe is the stone's width, and the table below sets each carat size beside it. Of the 877 single-stone stud pairs sold in the year, more than a third were over 1 carat and up to 2 for the pair; the 2 Ctw round pair sold 174, the most of any single-stone pair.
Of those 64 stud pairs, 38 are lab-grown, and they sold 841 of the 877. The rest are natural. Flowers and clusters set many small diamonds side by side, so they spread wider than one stone of the same weight, and together they were half the pieces sold. The full size chart is in diamond studs: carat per ear; shop stud earrings or lab-grown diamond earrings.
Sensitive ears: gold earrings for sensitive ears, the post and the back
For ears that react, start with the metal. Our listings rarely say what the post is made of, so ask the desk before you order. Some white gold alloys use nickel, so if nickel bothers you, ask which alloy a pair uses. A green mark on the skin is usually the copper in the alloy meeting sweat or lotion, not fake gold, and it washes off; does gold tarnish, or is it fake explains each mark. Red, itchy or swollen skin is a question for a doctor.
Four listings name screw backs and two hoop listings a hinged closure. Most listings leave the back unnamed; ask on the live chat which one a pair comes with, or phone the desk at 212-872-9692 from 10 AM ET.
Stacking and care: how to stack gold earrings and clean them
Most pairs here are light: of the pieces sold that print their grams, 70 percent weigh under 2 grams, and light pairs stack well. Wear your main pair on the lobe, a stud or a flower. Add a hoop or a huggie of 13 to 15 mm, the sizes that sold 101 hoops here, and a tiny stud higher up, such as the 3 mm mini diamond flower, which sold 131. Shop hoops and huggies, flower earrings or drop and chandelier earrings.
To clean a pair, soak it ten minutes in warm water with a few drops of plain dish soap. Brush behind the stones and along the post with a soft toothbrush, rinse over a strainer and let it dry an hour. Check now and then that the backs still grip the post. Skip toothpaste, baking soda and bleach, and take earrings out for the pool, where chlorine attacks the alloy. For a pearl or opal pair, ask the desk first. More in how to clean gold jewelry.