Guide · 7 minute read
A box of jewellery you cannot identify: where to start
The short answer
Start by sorting, not by valuing. A drawer of tangled chains, odd earrings, a ring that never fitted, a stopped watch, a few coins and pieces nobody can name is the ordinary case. You do not need to become an expert to deal with it. Divide it into six piles, run four checks that need nothing but a magnet and daylight, and photograph the marks. That turns a heap into a description, and a description is something anyone can usefully answer. Send the photographs and Assaypost will tell you what the pieces appear to be, and whether anything in the box looks as if it should go elsewhere, before you post anything.
No obligation. Decline and it all comes back free; ask for part of it back and a fresh offer is made for the rest.
Sort it before you try to value it
The usual mistake is to look at the whole box at once and feel defeated by it. A heap of mixed metal is unreadable even to someone who handles it every day, because the interesting pieces are hidden by the dull ones, and the dull ones outnumber them.
Tip it out on a pale towel on a table, under a window if you can. Give it half an hour rather than five minutes: the sorting is the part that repays attention, and everything afterwards is easier for it.
You are not deciding what anything is worth. You are deciding which pile each thing belongs in. The piles are chosen so that everything awkward ends up somewhere it can be dealt with properly, instead of being swept along with the rest.
Six piles, and what goes in each
Sorting a mixed box into six groups
| Pile | What goes in it | Why it is separate |
|---|---|---|
| Marked | Anything with a hallmark or a stamp you can see: 375, 585, 750, 916, 925, a lion, an anchor, a leopard's head | The mark can be read, so these are the easiest things to describe |
| Unmarked but heavy for its size | Chains, bangles and rings with no mark that feel dense in the hand | Small items are legitimately unmarked; these need testing rather than reading |
| Stone-set | Anything with a stone, a pearl, enamel or glass in it | The decision about a stone is separate from the decision about the metal round it, as the stones guide explains |
| Watches and coins | Anything that tells the time or has a monarch's head on it | Both can be worth far more than their metal, and both need a specialist eye first |
| Definitely costume | Anything obviously plated, lightweight, base metal or clearly made as costume jewellery | Leaving it out saves a wasted journey for everyone |
| Cannot tell | Everything else | This is the pile that gets photographed and asked about, and it is often the biggest |
The last pile is not a failure. It is where the useful questions come from, and there is no shame in it being the largest of the six. Few people sorting a relative's drawer for the first time get further than this without help, and nobody should have to.
Do not untangle a knot of chains by force
Take your time, or leave the knot alone and photograph it as it is. Fine chain is thin, and pulling on a knot breaks links. A broken chain can still be sold, but a piece that might have been worth keeping becomes unwearable, and that decision should be yours rather than the knot's.
Four checks you can do at your own table
None of these needs a tool you do not already own, and between them they settle a good part of the last pile.
- The magnetA fridge magnet is enough, though a stronger one is better. Gold and silver alloys are not drawn to a magnet at all. If a whole chain or a whole bangle pulls, it is not precious metal. If only the clasp pulls, that is the steel spring inside it and the rest of the chain may be perfectly good. If you want to go further than this, the guide to testing gold at home sets out which checks mean something and which will mark the piece.
- Weight against sizePick two things up, one in each hand. Solid gold is startlingly dense and surprises people who have never held any. A chain that feels lighter than it looks is usually hollow or plated. This is a comparison, not a measurement, and it works best between two pieces rather than on one alone.
- The wear pointsLook at link tips, the underside of a clasp, the edge of a ring shank and the high points of any decoration. That is where a coating goes first. A different colour showing through at a worn edge means a different metal underneath.
- The colour of the marks on youCostume pieces that have been worn often leave green or grey marks on skin. Solid gold and silver do not. It is a crude test and it is not proof of anything, but a ring that always turned a finger green is rarely solid.
Two things those checks will not tell you. Whether a heavy unmarked piece is gold is for a test to settle. And whether something is worth more than its metal depends on who made it and when, which is a different question altogether.
Where the marks hide, and how to photograph them
Most marks are somewhere you would not look, because a maker puts them where they will not spoil the piece. A few minutes with a phone camera finds nearly all of them.
- Rings. Inside the shank, usually at the bottom, sometimes hidden under a repair or worn nearly flat by years of wear.
- Chains and bracelets. On the clasp itself, on the small flat tag soldered beside it, or on the jump ring at either end.
- Pendants and lockets. On the bail, the small loop the chain passes through, or on the back edge.
- Earrings. On the post, on the butterfly back, or on the inside of a hoop. Both halves of a pair should match.
- Cutlery. On the back of the stem, near the bowl on older spoons and near the end on later ones.
- Hollowware and candlesticks. On the underside, on a rim, or on a detachable lid, which should carry marks of its own.
- Watches. Inside the case back, which needs a jeweller to open safely. Do not force it.
To photograph a mark, rest the piece on something plain and pale and bring the light in from the side rather than straight on. Move the camera as close as it will focus, which on most phones is about ten centimetres. Take three or four and keep the sharpest. You do not need a macro lens or a loupe; you need light across the mark rather than onto it.
The hallmarks guide explains what the marks mean once you have found them, and the glossary covers the words that come up. Items below the exemption weights, 1 g for gold and 7.78 g for silver, need not be hallmarked at all, so a stud earring or a fine chain with nothing on it is entirely normal.
What a photograph settles, and what has to wait
Sending pictures before you post is free, commits you to nothing, and answers more than people expect. It helps to know which questions a photograph can answer and which it cannot, so that a cautious reply does not disappoint you.
What can be told from photographs of a mixed box
| Question | From photographs? |
|---|---|
| Is this hallmarked, and what does the mark say? | Yes, if the mark is legible in the picture |
| Is this obviously plated or costume? | Usually yes, from the wear points and the construction |
| Is this a sovereign, and what date? | Yes, from clear pictures of both faces |
| Does this look like it should be seen by a specialist? | Usually yes, and this is the most useful answer you will get |
| Is this unmarked heavy piece gold? | No. That needs testing |
| How much silver is inside these candlesticks? | No. That needs the piece on a bench |
| What will you offer me? | Not exactly. A rough idea, yes; the offer comes after the lot has been gone through |
The fourth row is the one worth sending pictures for. Being told that the brooch in the corner has a maker's name on it, or that one of the coins is not an ordinary date, is the most useful thing in the exchange. It is worth far more before the box has been posted than after.
Seller risks and exceptions
- Throwing out the costume pile without looking. Plenty of good costume jewellery is signed, and a few names in that world are collected seriously. If a piece is marked with a name rather than a number, photograph it before you decide it is nothing.
- Assuming an unmarked piece is worthless. Small items are legitimately unmarked, foreign pieces often carry a bare number instead of a hallmark, and an old piece may have been marked in a place that has since worn away.
- Cleaning everything first. Polishing takes metal off, and on anything old or collectable it takes value with it. Dust it if you like, but keep silver dip and polishing cloths away, as the cleaning guide explains.
- Splitting a set to sell part of it. A canteen, a matched pair of candlesticks, a tea set or a suite of jewellery is usually worth more together than the same pieces apart. Decide about the whole of it at once.
- Opening a watch case to look for marks. Case backs are a precision fit and they mark easily. A jeweller opens one in seconds; a screwdriver scars it for good.
- Posting the box before you have asked. Photographs cost nothing, and a parcel sent for nothing wastes a trip to the counter and a return journey. Ask first, particularly if the box came from someone who has died.
When not to send the box at all
Three situations where the answer is not this route
If the box belongs to an estate and you are not yet able to show you are entitled to sell it, stop and read the executor guide. If it contains a signed piece, a running watch, an unusual coin or antique silver with a full set of marks, get those looked at properly first. And if anyone is hurrying you, including yourself, wait. None of this is perishable.
The guide to what is worth having looked at first goes through the kinds of piece that can be worth more than their metal, with what to look for on each. If nothing in your box falls into them, one parcel, an itemised list and one written offer is a sensible way to be done with the whole thing. The inherited jewellery page and the house clearance page explain what that looks like from your side.
Questions sellers ask
I have no idea what any of it is. Is that a problem?
No. It is the ordinary case, not the exception. Sort it into piles, photograph the marks you can find, and ask. Working out what things are is the job you are asking someone else to do.
Should I weigh everything before I send it?
Weighing the main pieces on kitchen scales and writing the figures down is a useful record of what left your house. Do not expect the numbers to match a calibrated balance to the hundredth of a gram, and do not try to work anything out from them.
How do I tell gold from gold plate at home?
Look for a mark, hold a magnet to it, compare its weight with something you know, and look hard at the worn edges for a different colour showing through. Together those four usually settle it. None of them is proof, and a heavy unmarked piece needs a proper test either way.
What do I do with the single earrings?
Include them. A single earring is one of the most common things in any drawer, and perfectly ordinary in a mixed lot. Check the backs as well as the fronts, because the butterfly is sometimes a different metal from the earring it belongs to.
There is a watch in the box. Does it go in the parcel?
Not until somebody has looked at it. A watch that runs, or carries a name on the dial, can be worth a great deal more than the metal of its case. Once a case has been sold for its gold, it cannot be got back. Photograph the dial, the case back and the movement if it is already open, and ask first.
Ready to ask about yours?
Send photographs and a person will tell you what the marks suggest, what looks plated, and whether anything ought to be seen by a specialist first. Free, in writing, no obligation.
Nothing is sold until you say yes. Decline and it all comes back by tracked post, free; ask for part of it back and a fresh offer is made for the rest.
If a piece is worth more than its metal
A signed brooch, a date-run sovereign, a watch that still runs, a piece of early silver: anything that looks worth more whole is flagged to you before it is treated as metal, and you can take it back at that point.