Guide · 8 minute read
Clearing a parent's house: where the gold and silver usually is
The short answer
Take it slowly. Nothing in the house has to go this week. First, check who the executor is, because the things in the house are theirs to deal with until the estate is settled. Then go room by room. The gold and silver is rarely all in the jewellery box. It turns up in drawers, tins, coat pockets and sewing boxes. Photograph each find where it lies. Put aside anything with a name, a story or a maker's mark. Only then let a clearance firm in, and agree in writing what they may take.
Before you open a drawer: whose decision is it?
In 2025 the ONS recorded 570,988 deaths in England and Wales. Each one leaves a home that somebody has to go through, and very often it is a son or a daughter doing it at weekends, around work, while still grieving. This guide is for that person.
The first thing to settle is not practical at all. GOV.UK says the personal representative, meaning the executor named in the will or an administrator where there is no will, answers in law for everything the person owned: their money, their property and their possessions. So the contents of the house are theirs to deal with until they are passed on. If that person is you, the decisions are yours. If it is a brother, an aunt or a solicitor, agree with them before anything leaves the house, including things you are sure were meant for you.
Looking, sorting, photographing and keeping things safe can start straight away. Selling, giving away and sharing out are different: they wait until the estate is ready for them, which usually means the grant of probate is in hand. Selling jewellery as an executor before probate is granted explains the reasons, and what is useful to do while you wait.
If the house will stand empty
Small valuable things are safer out of an empty house than in it. If you take them away for safe keeping, write down what you took, from which room and on which day, and tell the executor. That note is the difference between looking after something and being asked, a year later, where it went.
Where the gold and silver usually is
People of a certain generation kept small valuable things close, and seldom in one place. A ring came off for the washing up and went into an egg cup. A watch was put away when the strap broke and never mended. Work through each room in the same order, and open everything that closes.
The places families most often find precious metal when clearing a home
| Where to look | What tends to be there | What to do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Dressing table and bedside drawers | Rings in their boxes, a watch without a strap, earrings in a saucer, a locket | Keep each box with what was in it; a jeweller's name inside the lid helps later |
| Coat pockets, handbags and suit jackets | A wedding ring taken off in hospital, cufflinks, a tie pin, a coin purse | Check every pocket before any clothes leave the house |
| Sewing box and button tin | Thimbles, a bodkin case, broken chain and odd earrings kept "for mending" | Tip the tin onto a tray rather than sorting it in the tin |
| Biscuit, tobacco and toffee tins | Old coins, medals, a sovereign wrapped in paper, a christening bracelet | Do not clean coins or medals, and keep medals on their ribbons |
| Watch and cufflink boxes | Wrist and pocket watches, chains, collar studs, a signet ring | Note whether a watch runs; do not open the case back |
| The desk or bureau | Envelopes with a ring or a coin inside, old insurance schedules, receipts | Keep any paperwork with the piece it describes |
| The good cutlery drawer and the sideboard | A canteen, napkin rings, a cake slice, a sugar sifter | Keep a set together, including its box and its key |
| Loft, spare room and top of the wardrobe | Christening mugs and spoons, a tea set in newspaper, presentation pieces | Look for engraving and marks before anything is wrapped again |
| Bathroom cabinet and kitchen windowsill | A ring left beside the sink, spectacles in a gold-coloured frame | Photograph it where it lies; frames are often rolled gold |
| An envelope marked teeth, or a small box | Dental crowns, sometimes kept for years | Handle it as any other find; dental gold is tested like the rest |
A few quick checks help you sort as you go. Look for a small row of marks inside a ring or on the back of a spoon: a number such as 375, 750 or 925 and a tiny symbol beside it. Reading UK hallmarks explains each part, and if a mark reads EPNS or A1 the piece is plate, which the guide to silver plate and EPNS explains. A single letter in the row is usually a date: dating silver and gold by its hallmark explains how a christening mug or a teapot can tell you the year it was made. Anything you cannot place goes in the 'ask' pile, not the bin.
What to set aside before anything is sold
Some things should not be sold for their metal, and some should not be sold at all until the family has spoken. Give them a box of their own, labelled, and keep it apart from the rest.
- What someone has asked for. A granddaughter who wants the charm bracelet, a brother who remembers a particular watch. Write the request down with the name and the date.
- What the will mentions. A specific gift in a will goes to the person named. The executor deals with it; nobody else should.
- Wedding and engagement rings, lockets, and anything engraved with a name or a date. Their worth to a family is not their weight. Decide about them last.
- Mourning jewellery, and anything holding hair or a photograph. It often matters more than it looks, and some of it has a collector's market.
- Watches that run, or that carry a maker's name on the dial. A watch is judged on its maker and movement, not only its case. What to have looked at before you sell covers watches, signed jewellery and coins.
- Medals, badges and anything military. A named group is family history and has its own buyers. The guide to war medals and regimental silver explains why it should stay together.
- Silver with a full row of marks, and christening sets in their boxes. Old silver can be worth more whole. Antique silverware or scrap explains how to tell.
- Anything that might be ivory. Photograph it and leave it. The ivory guide explains the law.
If a word on a box, a receipt or a mark means nothing to you, look it up in the glossary. Sharing out comes later and has its own order. Dividing jewellery between beneficiaries sets out a way to do it that keeps a record and keeps the peace.
Clearance firms: what to agree before they take the contents
A good clearance firm is a relief. It empties in a day what would take you months. But once a van has gone, you cannot check what was in it, so the time to be careful is before the firm starts, not after.
- Do your own search firstGo through the house yourself, or with the executor, before any firm is inside it. Take out what you want to keep, what you are unsure of and anything small and valuable. The clearance is for what is left.
- Get the arrangement in writingAsk whether they will charge you, pay you for the contents, or set one against the other. Each is common. Whichever it is, have it written down with the address, the date and the rooms included.
- Name what they may not takeA room or a cupboard kept locked, with a note on the door, is clearer than a spoken promise. Ask them to hand back any jewellery, coins, photographs and papers they find, and write that into the agreement too.
- Check they may carry wasteIn England a householder must take reasonable steps to hand waste only to someone authorised to take it, under the household waste duty of care. Ask for the firm's waste carrier registration number and check it on the Environment Agency's public register. Keep a note that you did.
- Be there, or have someone thereIf you can, stay while they work. If you cannot, ask someone you trust to. Photograph each room when they finish.
- Keep the paperwork with the estate'sThe quote, the receipt and any list they give you belong in the estate file. The executor may need to show what went and what the estate received for it.
If you clear houses for a living rather than once, the house-clearance page is written from your side of the van.
What to photograph, and why it helps later
Photographs cost nothing and settle arguments before they start. They also save you from having to remember, which is hard in the weeks after a death.
- Each room before anything is moved, from the doorway.
- Each find where you found it, then on a plain surface in daylight.
- The marks, close up, with the light from the side. A phone held close reads a hallmark better than most eyes.
- The inside of lids and boxes, where a jeweller's or maker's name is printed.
- Groups as well as single pieces, so a set can be seen to be a set.
Then write it down. The printable estate inventory has a column for each thing worth recording: what it is, where it was found, the marks, whether it was photographed, and whether to keep it, sell it or ask. If the estate needs a figure for any of it, probate valuation of jewellery and silver explains which figure and who provides it.
Risks when clearing a parent's home
- Throwing out a tissue, an envelope or a tin without opening it. Small gold is usually wrapped in something that looks like rubbish.
- Relatives taking things home to keep them safe, with no note of what went. Well meant, and the most common start of a family argument over an estate.
- Mixing a parent's jewellery with your own. Once mixed it is hard to separate, and harder to prove which was which.
- Letting a clearance firm in before your own search. Anything missed goes with the van.
- Cleaning or polishing before anyone has looked. Polish takes value off old silver and coins; cleaning and polishing before you sell explains why.
- Selling to the first person who asks, often at the door or in the first week. Nothing in a jewellery box spoils, and nothing needs deciding while the funeral is still being arranged.
When not to send anything yet
Wait if any of these is true
You are not the executor and the executor has not agreed. The estate has not been valued, or the grant is not yet in hand and nobody has confirmed one is unnecessary. A member of the family has asked for a piece, or the will names it. You have not yet been through the house yourself. Any of these is a reason to keep the box where it is.
When the estate is ready, photographs are the gentlest first step. A person can tell you what the marks suggest, what looks plated and what ought to go to a specialist, without anything leaving the house. Send photographs first explains how, and probate and estate jewellery explains how an estate's lot is handled when you do decide to sell.
Questions sellers ask
Can I start clearing Mum's house before probate?
You can look, sort, photograph and keep things safe, as long as the executor agrees. Selling, giving away or sharing things out should wait until the estate is ready for it, which usually means the grant of probate. If you are unsure, ask the solicitor or the executor before anything leaves the house.
Where do people usually find gold in a house?
Drawers, coat pockets, handbags, sewing boxes, button tins, biscuit tins and the top of the wardrobe, far more often than in the jewellery box alone. Dental crowns are often kept in an envelope. Open everything that closes before it leaves the house or goes in a skip.
Should I let the clearance firm take the jewellery as part of the job?
It is better not to. Take out the jewellery, coins, watches and silver yourself first, and put in writing that anything else of that kind they find is handed back to you. The executor can then decide what happens to it, with a record of what there was.
My brother took Dad's watch to keep it safe. Is that a problem?
Not if it is written down. Note what he took, when, and that it is being kept for the estate, and tell the executor. The watch is still part of the estate until the executor passes it on, and a short note now avoids a long conversation later.
Do I have to clean anything before it is looked at?
No, and it is better not to. Tarnish, dust and tangles cost nothing. Polishing old silver or coins can take value off them, and pulling at a knotted chain can snap it.
Is any of this different in Scotland or Northern Ireland?
The practical steps are the same: search, photograph, write it down and set things aside. The legal process is different in each, so check with whoever is dealing with the estate. The waste carrier check described above is the rule in England; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own.
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.