Gold & Silver Plated Idols

Our largest collection and the one most often bought as a gift. It is also the corner of the market with the loosest language, so this page explains exactly what a plated idol is before it tries to sell you one.

What plating actually is

Electroplating deposits a genuine layer of gold or silver, measured in microns, onto a base object. The precious metal is real. The object is not made of it.

Our plated pieces are polyresin, electroplated with gold or silver. We state that plainly because most of this market does not, and it is common to find idols marketed in heavy precious-metal language where the substrate is disclosed only in a spec field, if at all. Resin is not a compromise: it takes finer surface detail than cast metal at this price, it is dimensionally consistent, and it keeps a large idol light enough for a wall shelf. But you should know what you are buying.

Because the plating is a surface layer, these are display pieces, not abhishek pieces. Water, milk, kumkum and turmeric will attack the finish, and no plating survives that treatment. If your idol will be actively bathed and handled, buy brass idols instead. That is a genuine recommendation against our largest collection, and it is the right one.

The words, and what they are worth

Precious-metal vocabulary here is used loosely and sometimes deliberately, so the ladder is worth knowing.

On gold, from most to least: solid gold means the object is gold, and effectively does not exist in idols outside temple treasuries. Vermeil is a defined standard, a minimum thickness of gold over sterling silver, and is rare in Indian idols. Gold plated is real gold, microns thin, over a base, and is what this category actually sells. Gold polished, gold finish and golden have no defined meaning at all and may involve no gold whatsoever. If a listing says "gold finish" rather than "gold plated", assume there is no gold in it until someone tells you otherwise.

On silver: hallmarked sterling or 925, and 999 fine silver, are solid silver and carry a BIS hallmark in India. Silver plated is a real silver layer over a base. The phrase 999 silver plated is the one to watch, because the 999 describes the purity of the plating bath, not how much silver is in the object. Technically accurate, routinely used to imply something it does not mean. And German silver, also sold as nickel silver or alpaca, contains no silver at all. It is roughly 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc, a nineteenth-century misnomer, and a perfectly good material. If anyone in the house has a nickel allergy it is worth avoiding.

On karat claims: 24 karat gold is very soft, and plating baths commonly run below that for hardness and wear resistance. Where a karat figure appears on one of our product pages it comes from our supplier's specification, and we would rather say so than present a number we have not independently assayed.

How long plating lasts

Nobody in this category publishes plating thickness in microns, ourselves included, and thickness is what determines wear life. So here is the honest version.

The durability figures you will find quoted come from the jewellery trade, where the failure mechanisms are abrasion, sweat, perfume and body oil. None of those apply to a displayed idol. A plated murti on a mandir shelf, dusted with a dry cloth, sits in an enormously gentler environment than a plated ring and will hold its finish far longer than jewellery figures suggest.

The genuine risks are different: water and abhishek, milk and ghee, kumkum and turmeric, and household cleaning chemicals. Those attack the protective lacquer first and the plating second. Keep a plated idol dry and it will keep looking the way it looked when it arrived.

Ask any seller in this category for plating thickness and written warranty terms. If they cannot state a micron figure, they do not have one.

Care

The whole routine is a soft dry cloth. That is genuinely it.

No water. No metal polish, brass cleaner, lemon, tamarind or household chemical, all of which are for solid brass and will take the plating off. No abhishek. Keep the piece out of prolonged direct sun and away from the damp of an unventilated bathroom wall or an exterior ledge. Handled that way, a plated idol needs nothing else for years.

For gifting

Plated idols dominate Indian gifting for good reasons. They arrive looking their best with no polishing, they photograph well, they are light enough to ship and carry, and they suit a recipient whose mandir routine you do not know, because a display piece asks nothing of them.

The conventional pairings: Lakshmi Ganesh idols for a new home or Diwali, Kamdhenu for a blessing, Tirupati Balaji idols for South Indian households and weddings, and Radha Krishna idols as a wedding gift. See griha pravesh and housewarming gifts, wedding gifts and wedding return gifts; for volume, corporate gifts or the bulk order enquiry page.

One honest note: if the recipient will perform abhishek, give brass. A plated piece is the better gift in almost every other case.

What we make plated

Most of the pantheon: Ganesha idols, Maa Lakshmi idols, Krishna idols, Hanuman idols, Shiva idols, Jagannath idols, Maa Saraswati idols, Lord Murugan idols and Sikh symbols. Also car dashboard idols and pocket temples. For the wider pantheon in every material, god idols and figurines; for gold work over marble dust, the white and gold premium range.

Before you order

• Plated pieces are for display. If the idol will be bathed, buy brass.
• Keep it dry. Water and abhishek are what actually destroy plating.
• Dry cloth only. Never metal polish, lemon or household cleaner.
• Resin is light, so weight will not tell you the size. Check height and base width.
• "Gold finish" and "gold polished" are not gold plating. Check which you are being sold, here or anywhere.
• German silver contains no silver. That is not an opinion.