Highly polished steel pins, free from grease and oil, may be gilded in an electro-gilding solution of gold cyanide. When a quantity of pins is required, they may be gilded in dozens at a time if suspended in the solution in a basket of platinum gauze, which must be shaken whilst the gilding process is going on. Any gold deposited on the platinum may be afterwards dissolved off in the gilding solution without doing it any injury. The pins are scratch-brushed and polished in the usual manner. This method is applic able to all small steel articles.