Depletion gilding is a decorative process, with no significant industrial applications. It is not widely used in modern times, having been superseded by processes more suited to mass production, such as electroplating. Some individual artisans and small shops continue to practice it.
However, depletion gilding was widely used in antiquity. While it requires skill to execute it well, the process itself is technologically simple, and uses materials that are readily available to most ancient civilizations. Some form of depletion gilding has been used by nearly every culture that developed metalworking. The South American Sican culture in particular developed depletion gilding to a high art. Some ancient alloys, such as tumbaga, may have been developed specifically for use in depletion gilding. The technique was not known to be used by Anglo-Saxons until detailed examination with electron microscopes of treasures such as the Staffordshire Hoard revealed its use in the twenty-first century.
Certain cultures are thought to have attached mythical or spiritual significance to the process. Gold was considered sacred in many early civilizations and was highly valued in nearly all of them, and anything relating to it had the potential to take on cultural importance. Moreover, the ability to turn what appeared to be an object made of copper into what seemed to be pure gold would be very impressive. There is some speculation that depletion gilding may have contributed to the concepts of alchemy, a major goal of which was to physically transform one metal into another.