A red rose is a universal symbol for expressing your love and a rose that lasts forever is certainly enticing!
Find out how to identify real gold-dipped roses. Learn about the different types of gold-dipped roses and what price you should be paying for them. We will be exploring these and more in this article.
You might have seen them being sold online or in retail stores especially when Valentine’s Day is around the corner. So what are gold-dipped roses exactly?
Gold-trimmed or gold-dipped roses are real roses that have been preserved and then plated with 24 karat gold. They are also commonly known as 24K gold rose, roses dipped in gold or gold-plated roses among other names.
A popular question is whether gold-dipped roses last forever? If the roses have been preserved properly, then yes, they do last forever! Though do note that the petals of gold-dipped roses that retain its original colors might fade and deteriorate over time.
Instead of gold, preserved roses can also be plated with silver and these are known as silver-trimmed or silver-dipped roses.
Identifying Real Gold-Dipped Roses
Now you might be curious, are gold-dipped roses really made from real natural roses? And how does one tell the difference anyway? An easy way to tell is actually the price. Really!
When it’s too cheap to be true, it usually isn’t true. Especially when something is handcrafted and takes a long time to be made.
Products claiming to be gold-dipped roses go for as low as $10 (USD) or as high as many hundreds of dollars. And we can honestly tell you, any product that is below $70 is likely an imitation or fake rose.
Properly preserving a real rose and turning it into a true gold-dipped rose isn’t that simple. Each rose has to be individually handcrafted and the skill of the artisan will affect the level of workmanship. A good quality preserved rose is definitely not cheap.
There are a few types of gold-dipped roses to choose from and we will take a look at each of them.
Real Gold-Dipped Roses From Sara Verdier
Open Bloom Gold-Dipped Roses
This type of gold-dipped roses are supposed to look like roses in bloom. Gold-dipped open bloom roses may look pretty but all of such roses are actually fake or imitation roses. They don’t actually look like real blooming roses too. Check out some examples right below.
You will notice that all the open bloom roses sold by the same seller will look almost exactly the same which is a clear sign they are not real roses.
The rose head and petals will look very neat, usually symmetrical and are all the same size and shape. And that’s certainly unnatural. Compare them to real blooming roses in the photo above.
Also note how there are only 3 or 4 petals (depending on the seller) per layer in each rose.
If you see such gold-dipped “roses” selling at $20, then they aren’t roses at all. Look at the petals more closely, the veins on the petals are actually painted or printed on!
However, there are some open bloom gold-dipped roses that do use real rose petals and parts. The sellers will also claim they are real roses. To be accurate, these are actually imitation roses.
These roses are created by taking individual rose petals from numerous roses and assembling them into a shape of a rose. So you are not actually getting a single preserved rose but rather preserved rose petals in the shape of a rose. Such roses usually go for around $50 to $70.
You might wonder why don’t companies preserve a single real blooming rose in its entirety? That is because it’s extremely difficult. The petals are very delicate and lack support when a rose is blooming. Look at the real blooming red roses above.
Can you imagine coating each individual petal with a transparent resin hard shell and making sure the petals aren’t deformed in any way during the whole process. The effort and workmanship would be tremendous.
Our recommendation. If you are looking for an authentic gold-dipped rose, then these open-bloom ones are not what you are looking for. However, if you like the look of these roses and don’t mind the fact that they are fake or imitation roses, then by all means, purchase the open-bloom gold-dipped rose.
In the end, what matters most is whether you or the person receiving the rose like and appreciate it. And it’s easier on the wallet too!
Gold-foil Roses
These are the cheapest ones out there going for around $10. The “rose” petals and leaves are made from gold foil, gold-colored tin and/or plastic. These fake roses look very flimsy and delicate. And they don’t even look like roses ?
Our recommendation. We frankly don’t recommend getting these gold-foil roses. They actually aren’t gold-dipped roses at all but some unscrupulous sellers do try and pass them off as one.
Please do not pay more than $15 for this. Gold-foil roses are completely artificial and in our opinion, look its price as well. We do see its appeal to some people as certain gold-foil roses can look attractive in photos.
So if you are looking for something cheap and simple, the gold-foil rose could be an option.
Budding Gold-Dipped Roses
Budding roses refer to roses that have not bloomed or are beginning to bloom. Authentic budding gold-dipped roses involve preserving the entire rose head of a budding rose.
How can you tell they are real roses? Every single budding gold-dipped rose looks different from the other. Like real roses, each of these gold-dipped roses is one-of-a-kind and truly unique.
There are a mix of real and fake versions of this type of roses. Fake gold-dipped budding roses, like the open-bloom ones, should all look almost the same if sold by the same seller. A fake fully gold-plated budding rose actually has a plastic inside.
On average, real fully gold-plated budding roses are sold for around $130 to $150. Higher quality budding roses that are completely gold-plated should go for above $200.
Why so expensive? Properly crafting an authentic gold-dipped rose is like crafting an expensive piece of jewelry, good workmanship is hard to find and requires years of experience.
Budding roses with transparent resin shells that allow you to see the actual rose petals and leaves like those from Sara Verdier go for around $90 to $130.
The price of the gold-dipped rose is generally a good indicator of the workmanship though beware of unscrupulous sellers! Poor quality ones might be sold at a high price but good quality gold-dipped roses will never be sold at a low price.
You might be able to get real budding gold-dipped roses for less than $80 but we would actually be doubtful of the quality.
It’s actually difficult to ensure the quality of each and every single rose since each rose is unique. And to be frank, if you buy a budding rose that is less than $80, the quality of the rose you receive will depend on your luck.
Our recommendation. A budding gold-dipped rose is honestly the most authentic gold-dipped rose you can get at the moment.
Compare the photos of the gold-dipped budding rose and an actual real budding rose above. They do look very similar, especially considering the fact that the gold-dipped version has gone through the preservation and gold-plating process.
The truth is that to preserve a single budding rose head in its entirety and then turn it into a gold-dipped rose takes considerable effort and time. Especially when you want to do it well. Not to mention the whole process is done by an actual human being.
So do take time to think if the price you are paying makes sense for a good quality gold-dipped rose. Remember that well-crafted watches and jewelry cost hundreds of dollars!
