---
title: "Guides to identifying gold, silver and plate"
description: "Plain-English guides for executors, heirs and anyone clearing a house: reading hallmarks, spotting plate, sovereigns, tax, and what to keep back."
canonical: "https://assaypost.co.uk/guides"
modified: "2026-10-01"
language: "en-GB"
publisher: "Assaypost"
---

# Guides to identifying gold, silver and plate

Updated 1 October 2026.

For the person holding a box they cannot identify. Each guide starts with a short answer, says what the marks and the tests actually settle, and says plainly when this is the wrong route for a piece. Nothing here prices anything: send photographs and a person will give you a rough idea of what your pieces appear to be. The [glossary](https://assaypost.co.uk/glossary) covers the words, and [selling gold by post](https://assaypost.co.uk/sell-gold) covers the sale itself.

**In short:** These guides help an executor, someone who has inherited a few pieces, someone clearing a house or a first-time seller work out what is in a box of gold, silver or jewellery, what is worth more than its metal, and what to do next. Pick the path below that sounds like you and read its guides in order.

## Where to start

### You are the executor

A parent or relative has died and the jewellery, silver and coins are part of an estate you are responsible for.

1. [What you can and cannot do before probate is granted](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/selling-jewellery-before-probate-is-granted)
2. [A printable sheet for listing what the estate holds](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/estate-jewellery-and-silver-inventory)
3. [The valuation HMRC asks for, and who provides it](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/probate-valuation-of-jewellery-and-silver)
4. [Sharing the jewellery out fairly between beneficiaries](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/dividing-jewellery-between-beneficiaries)
5. [The tax position when an estate sells gold and coins](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/tax-when-you-sell-inherited-gold-and-coins)

Then: [How an estate sale is handled here](https://assaypost.co.uk/probate-and-estate-jewellery).

### You have inherited a few pieces

The estate is settled or there never was one, and a ring, a watch or a tin of coins is now yours to keep or sell.

1. [The pieces worth having looked at before you sell](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/what-to-have-looked-at-before-you-sell)
2. [Reading the hallmarks on what you have](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/uk-hallmarks-and-fineness-guide)
3. [Selling sovereigns for more than their gold](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/selling-sovereigns-without-losing-premium)
4. [Auction, dealer, jeweller, marketplace or metal buyer](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/where-to-sell-inherited-jewellery-and-silver)
5. [Whether you owe tax on selling what you inherited](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/tax-when-you-sell-inherited-gold-and-coins)

Then: [Selling inherited jewellery by post](https://assaypost.co.uk/inherited-jewellery).

### You are clearing a house

There is a drawer, a bag or a biscuit tin of mixed metal, and nobody knows what any of it is. If you are selling for somebody else, read [identity and provenance checks](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/identity-and-provenance-checks) first.

1. [Where the gold and silver usually is in a family home](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/clearing-a-parents-house-gold-and-silver)
2. [Sorting a box of jewellery you cannot identify](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/a-box-of-jewellery-you-cannot-identify)
3. [Cases, pens, thimbles and chains: solid or plated](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/small-gold-and-silver-objects)
4. [Whether EPNS and silver plate are worth anything](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/silver-plate-epns-a1-and-sheffield-plate)
5. [Why medals should come out of the box first](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/war-medals-badges-and-regimental-silver)

Then: [What to pull out of a house clearance](https://assaypost.co.uk/house-clearance-gold-and-silver).

### You have never sold gold before

You want to know how selling by post works, and what protects you, before anything leaves the house.

1. [How to check any postal buyer before you send anything](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/how-to-check-a-postal-gold-buyer)
2. [Packing and posting gold and silver safely](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/posting-gold-and-silver-safely)
3. [What happens if a parcel goes astray](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/if-your-parcel-is-lost-or-damaged-in-the-post)
4. [Saying no to an offer and getting everything back](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/declined-offers-and-returns)

Then: [The four steps from photographs to payment](https://assaypost.co.uk/how-it-works).

## Start with the box

You do not need to sort a box before asking about it. Photograph it first, then find the pieces that should not be in the parcel at all: medals, ivory, and anything that may be worth more whole.

- [A box of jewellery you cannot identify: where to start](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/a-box-of-jewellery-you-cannot-identify): Tangled chains, odd earrings and pieces nobody can name: how to sort them, what to check and which marks to photograph.
- [What to keep back: the pieces worth having looked at properly first](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/what-to-have-looked-at-before-you-sell): Four kinds of thing often beat their metal, and most can be picked out of a box before anything is posted.
- [Small gold and silver objects: cases, pens, thimbles and chains](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/small-gold-and-silver-objects): The drawer of small things that are not jewellery. Many are plate or base metal, and the solid ones are easy to miss.
- [War medals, badges and regimental silver: why a medal group is not scrap](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/war-medals-badges-and-regimental-silver): A named medal group is a record of one person's service, and its right home is with a medal specialist.
- [Ivory handles, insulators and inlay: the pieces you cannot simply sell](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/ivory-and-the-pieces-you-cannot-sell): What the Ivory Act allows for silver with ivory handles, insulators or finials, and why we send such a piece back whole.
- [Should you clean or polish gold and silver before you sell it?](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/cleaning-and-polishing-before-you-sell): Tarnished silver and dull coins are best sent as they are. What polishing removes, and the few things worth doing instead.

## Reading what you have

What the marks mean, what is solid and what is a coating, what in a piece is not metal and is left out of the weight, and what [the tests](https://assaypost.co.uk/testing-and-xrf) can and cannot settle.

- [Reading UK hallmarks on gold, silver, platinum and palladium](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/uk-hallmarks-and-fineness-guide): A hallmark records an independent test. You can read it with a magnifying glass once you know what each mark means and how far to trust it.
- [How to test gold at home: which checks mean something, and which will damage it](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/how-to-test-gold-at-home): Which kitchen-table checks tell you something about a piece of gold, and which folk tests tell you nothing or mark it.
- [Gold plated, rolled gold, gold-filled and vermeil compared](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/plated-rolled-gold-filled-and-vermeil): How plated, rolled gold, gold-filled and vermeil pieces are made, how to tell them apart, and which of them we buy.
- [Stones, clasps and the parts of a piece that are not metal](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/stones-clasps-and-what-is-not-metal): Almost nothing arrives as plain metal. Stones, springs and fillings are left out of the weight, and a stone is never removed without your written agreement.
- [XRF testing: what it can and cannot tell you about gold and silver](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/xrf-testing-capabilities-and-limits): XRF reads only the surface of a piece, so a reading is never relied on without the mark, the weight and other checks.

## Hallmarks, metal by metal

The hallmarks guide above covers the whole system. These three go further on the questions people bring most often: what the number on a gold ring means, whether a piece is sterling or plate, and how to read the year from a date letter.

- [Gold hallmarks: what 375, 585, 750 and 916 mean on your jewellery](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/gold-hallmarks-375-585-750-and-916): The number on a gold ring is the share of gold in a thousand parts, and it is easy to tell from a plating stamp once you know how.
- [Silver hallmarks: telling sterling from Britannia, continental silver and plate](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/silver-hallmarks-sterling-britannia-and-plate): Plenty of the silver-looking things in a house are plate. The marks usually tell you which are not, if you know where to look.
- [Hallmark date letters: how to date a piece of silver or gold from its marks](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/hallmark-date-letters-how-to-date-silver-and-gold): How to read the single letter in a row of hallmarks, and the other marks that narrow down when a piece was made.

## Silver, coins and dental work

The parts of a household box that are not ordinary jewellery. What is different about silver, about coins and about dental work, and how each of them is judged.

- [Antique silver or scrap silver, and how to tell the difference](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/silverware-antique-or-scrap): Most old silver is worth its metal. A few pieces are worth much more, and five signals help you spot them.
- [Silver plate: EPNS, A1, EPBM and Sheffield plate, and what each is worth](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/silver-plate-epns-a1-and-sheffield-plate): EPNS, A1 and EPBM hold no silver worth recovering. Old Sheffield Plate and some named electroplate are what collectors look for.
- [Weighted and loaded silver: why candlesticks, trophies and knife handles weigh more than their silver](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/weighted-and-loaded-silver): Many heavy candlesticks are mostly filling and a steel rod, with the silver only in a thin outer shell.
- [Selling sovereigns without losing the premium](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/selling-sovereigns-without-losing-premium): How to read a sovereign's date, portrait, reverse and mint mark, and when to ask a coin dealer before selling it.
- [Dental gold: how crowns, bridges and inlays are tested](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/dental-gold-testing): Two crowns that look alike can be very different alloys. What can be established about each one, and what cannot.

## Estates, posting and deciding

Everything around the sale itself: what an executor may do and when, how a family shares a box out fairly, which valuation and which tax rules apply, when a sale may need reporting, and what happens to a parcel from posting to a free return.

- [How to check a postal gold buyer before you send anything](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/how-to-check-a-postal-gold-buyer): A few public registers and one set of terms tell you most of what you need before jewellery goes in the post to strangers.
- [Clearing a parent's house: where the gold and silver usually is](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/clearing-a-parents-house-gold-and-silver): Where small gold and silver turns up in a family home, what to set aside, and what to agree before a clearance firm comes in.
- [Selling jewellery as an executor: what to do before probate is granted](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/selling-jewellery-before-probate-is-granted): The grant can take weeks or months and the house often cannot wait. What is safe to do in the meantime, and what is not.
- [Estate inventory sheet for jewellery, silver, watches and coins](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/estate-jewellery-and-silver-inventory): A free sheet to print: one row for each piece of jewellery, silver, watch or coin, and what to write in each column.
- [Dividing jewellery between beneficiaries: what to keep, give and sell](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/dividing-jewellery-between-beneficiaries): A written list, a fair order of work and agreed values settle most questions about who gets what before they start.
- [Valuation, appraisal or offer: which one you actually need](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/valuation-appraisal-or-offer): An insurer, an estate, a saleroom and a buyer all produce a number, each for a different purpose.
- [Where to sell inherited jewellery and silver: auction, dealer, jeweller, marketplace or metal buyer](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/where-to-sell-inherited-jewellery-and-silver): Most inherited boxes are best split between two or three routes, each suited to different pieces.
- [Probate valuation of jewellery and silver: what the estate needs, and who provides it](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/probate-valuation-of-jewellery-and-silver): The estate needs a figure as at the date of death, and no buyer's offer can stand in for it.
- [Selling inherited gold, silver and coins: the tax position in plain terms](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/tax-when-you-sell-inherited-gold-and-coins): For someone who has inherited a tin of sovereigns or a parent's jewellery, rather than an investor who bought bullion last year.
- [Selling gold in the UK: what gets reported, and who reports it](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/how-much-gold-can-you-sell-without-it-being-reported): No buyer has to report your sale because of its size. What you may have to tell HMRC yourself, and the rules that apply to buyers and platforms.
- [Identity and provenance checks when you sell gold or silver](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/identity-and-provenance-checks): What a gold buyer asks for before paying you, when it asks, how inherited items are handled, and what happens if one is held.
- [Posting gold and silver safely](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/posting-gold-and-silver-safely): How to list, pack and post gold and silver so it arrives intact, and who carries the risk while it travels.
- [If your parcel is lost or damaged in the post](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/if-your-parcel-is-lost-or-damaged-in-the-post): What happens, and who deals with it, if a parcel of gold or silver goes missing or arrives damaged.
- [Declining an offer and getting your items back](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/declined-offers-and-returns): Posting the parcel does not commit you. Say no and it all comes back free, or keep some pieces back and get a fresh offer for the rest.

## Start with photographs

- [Send your photos on WhatsApp](https://wa.me/447369296063?text=Hello.%20I've%20got%20some%20gold%20and%20silver%20I%20can't%20identify.%20Sending%20photos%20now.)
- [How it works](https://assaypost.co.uk/how-it-works)
- Telephone [07369 296063](tel:+447369296063), 6am to 10pm, seven days a week