Partial Plate, Partial Plating. A two-color finish made by plating only a portion of a medallic item, as a goldplating of a portrait on a silver medal. Partial plating is accomplished by masking – with a metal jig or liquid stop-off lacquer –and is done for the artistic effect of the contrast of the two metallic colors. While such partial plating is not bimetallic (which requires two separate metal components) it is also done for the same artistic reason of the contrasting metal colors. The term is also call parcel-plate or parcel-plating (note hyphenation). See mask, masking.