Costume Jewellery, What is it?
Also known as fashion jewellery, visually it can sometimes be hard to tell the difference between costume jewellery and fine jewellery. The underlying difference is the base materials it is made from. Brass, copper, bronze, aluminium are common materials used for costume jewellery and then subsequently plated, dipped or filled with precious metals. and set with inexpensive simulated gemstones.
Pieces are also sometimes described as 'gold' or 'silver' colour which means that they are plated with the appropriate colour non precious metal.
In short, the fundamental difference between fine jewellery and costume jewellery is the quality of the metal used in its construction and the quality of the stones set into the pieces.