---
title: "Identity and provenance checks when you sell gold or silver"
description: "Why a gold buyer asks who you are, what is asked and when, how inherited items and estates are handled, and what happens if provenance is in doubt."
canonical: "https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/identity-and-provenance-checks"
published: "2026-09-07"
modified: "2026-09-24"
language: "en-GB"
publisher: "Assaypost"
---

# Identity and provenance checks when you sell gold or silver

Written at the Assaypost bench, checked before publication. Published 7 September 2026. Updated 24 September 2026.

**The short answer:** A gold buyer asks who you are and where an item came from for two reasons: to avoid buying stolen goods, and to avoid handling the proceeds of crime. Before the first payment to any seller, Assaypost asks for a photograph of one government-issued photo ID and checks the name on it against your bank account. An inherited item needs something showing you are entitled to sell it, such as a grant of probate, letters of administration or a letter from the executor. Payment is by bank transfer to a UK account in your own name and never in cash, so the HMRC high value dealer threshold of €10,000 in cash is never reached. The full procedure is on the responsible sourcing page, and the privacy notice says how your documents are kept.

## Why a precious-metals buyer asks who you are

Gold and silver are small, anonymous once melted and easy to turn into money. That makes a buyer of them a target for two kinds of misuse: selling stolen property, and turning the proceeds of crime into a clean bank balance. The checks below keep both out. They protect ordinary sellers too, because a payment made after proper checks is not one that gets questioned later.

- A buyer who has identified the seller and recorded the item can help the police and, if the item turns out to be stolen, see it returned to its owner.
- Acquiring or possessing criminal property is an offence under section 329 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. That applies to every business, whether or not it is supervised for money laundering.
- UK financial sanctions forbid making funds available to a person on the sanctions list, and knowing who is being paid is how that is avoided.
- Paying only into an account in the seller's own name means a stolen parcel or a hijacked email account cannot turn into a payment to someone else.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 leaves gold, silver and any alloy with 2 per cent or more of either by weight out of its definition of scrap metal. The identity rules for scrap-metal yards therefore do not govern a gold buyer. The checks here come from proceeds-of-crime law, stolen-property practice and the published sourcing procedure.

## What is asked, and at which point

The [responsible sourcing page](https://assaypost.co.uk/responsible-sourcing-and-aml) is the procedure Assaypost is bound by, and it says so. This guide describes its shape, so that you know what to expect before you post.

1. **Contact details when you ask for a label**: Your name, postal address, email and a telephone number, so that the parcel can be matched to a person and the offer sent to the right place.
2. **One photo ID before the first payment**: A photograph of one government-issued photo identity document, checked against the name on your bank account and on your label request (clause 4.1 of the responsible sourcing page). It is asked for once, before the first payment to you.
3. **Proof of entitlement for inherited or borrowed items**: An inherited or estate item needs something showing you are entitled to sell it: a grant of probate, letters of administration or a letter from the executor. Selling for somebody else needs the owner's written authority and the owner's identity as well as yours (clause 4.2).
4. **Sometimes, a question about where things came from**: An unusually large parcel, or a run of parcels from the same seller, prompts a short conversation about where the items came from. It is not an accusation, and there is no right answer to find (clause 4.3).
5. **Payment into your own account**: Payment goes by bank transfer to a UK account in your own name. Assaypost does not pay cash and does not pay somebody else on your behalf (clauses 7.1 and 9.1 of the [terms](https://assaypost.co.uk/terms)).

## How your identity document is protected

An identity document, your address, your bank details and photographs of your belongings are all sensitive. The [privacy notice](https://assaypost.co.uk/privacy) sets out the legal basis for each, how long each is kept, who can see it and how to use your rights. For the identity document in particular:

- Only the document and the date it was checked are kept. No copy is kept in an email thread or on a telephone, and it is not passed to a third party to verify.
- It is held apart from the case file, and every opening of it is logged with who opened it and when.
- It is deleted on the schedule in the privacy notice, not kept indefinitely.
- Do not put an identity document in the parcel, and do not send one before you are asked. The request says how to send it.

## Inherited items, estates and selling on someone else's behalf

Many sales follow a death. The person selling is not the person who owned the items, and the right to sell comes from the estate, not from having them in a drawer. That is ordinary. It still needs documenting, so that the estate is protected from a later dispute.

- **Grant of probate**: The court document confirming that the executors named in a will have authority to deal with the estate.
- **Letters of administration**: The equivalent where there is no will, naming the administrator who deals with the estate.
- **A letter from the executor**: Where the estate has been shared out and a piece has passed to you, a letter from the executor saying so is one of the documents the procedure accepts.
- **Selling for someone who is alive**: You need the owner's written authority, and both identities are checked. Payment goes to the owner's own account (clause 9.3 of the terms).

If the grant has not been issued yet, say so. The sale can wait for it, and photographs can be looked at in the meantime so that the estate knows roughly what it holds. An estate's money is not paid to anyone who cannot show authority, however plausible the circumstances, because another beneficiary could challenge that payment later. The guide to [selling jewellery before probate is granted](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/selling-jewellery-before-probate-is-granted) sets out what is worth doing while you wait.

## What happens if an item may be stolen

Occasionally an item raises a question that cannot be settled on the spot. What follows is not a judgement made on the day. It is the procedure in section 5 of the [responsible sourcing page](https://assaypost.co.uk/responsible-sourcing-and-aml), which Assaypost is bound by.

1. **What starts a hold.** Reasonable grounds to suspect an item is stolen, and nothing less. That means an unexplained engraving that does not match the seller, an entry on a stolen-goods register, an account of a piece that does not fit it, or a report from the police or an owner.
2. **What happens to the item.** It is set aside whole, photographed and logged. It is not priced, not tested further, not melted and not sent anywhere.
3. **When you are told.** Promptly and in writing: what is held, why, and what happens next. The only exception is where telling you would be unlawful or the police have asked for silence, and then you are told as soon as that ends.
4. **What ends a hold.** Something that explains the piece, such as a receipt, an insurance schedule, a probate inventory or a photograph of a relative wearing it. Or a register entry turns out not to match, the police say they have no interest, or the suspicion is not made out. You then choose whether to sell or to have it back, posted at Assaypost's cost.
5. **How long it lasts.** A hold is reviewed at least every 28 days, and you are written to at each review. Where the police have taken over the question, the timing is theirs, and you are told who to ask.
6. **The rest of your lot.** It is never held because of one piece. Anything not affected is offered on or returned as usual.

A hold is not an accusation. Missing paperwork, a surname that changed on marriage, or not knowing where a grandparent bought a ring sixty years ago are the kind of things one conversation can clear. If it is not cleared, the hold can be challenged through the [complaints process](https://assaypost.co.uk/complaints), with no form and no fee.

## An estate sale, from the grant to the transfer

Checks read as bureaucracy until you see one inside an ordinary sale, so here is an estate sale with the paperwork left in.

1. **The executor asks first**: Photographs of a jewellery box, a canteen of cutlery and a tin of odds, sent before anything is packed. A rough idea comes back, free, with a note of the pieces that ought to be looked at properly before the estate parts with them.
2. **The grant arrives**: A grant of probate names the executors and confirms their authority; where there is no will, it is letters of administration. GOV.UK's advice is not to make financial plans or put property on the market until you have got probate, and that advice is followed here.
3. **Identity and authority are checked together**: The executor's own identity is checked in the ordinary way, and the grant shows the authority to sell. Neither is enough alone: a checked person without authority cannot be paid an estate's money, and a document with nobody checked behind it proves nothing.
4. **The lot is listed and offered**: Everything that arrived is listed, weighed and tested, and anything that looks worth more than its metal is noted with the reason. One written offer for the lot follows.
5. **Payment goes where the estate can account for it**: By bank transfer, never in cash. If the money should go to an executorship account rather than your own, say so before you post. The transfer leaves a record the executor can put in the estate accounts.

The awkward part is the middle, because the grant can take weeks and the house often has to be emptied sooner. The two do not have to happen in the same month. Photographs can be looked at now, and nothing needs posting until the grant is in your hand. If a lot has already been posted, ask for longer and it waits, unsold (clause 10.2 of the terms), or it comes back at Assaypost's cost while you sort things out (clause 10.3).

> **What an executor should keep**
>
> The itemised offer, the photographs and the bank transfer record. Together they show any beneficiary who asks that the estate's jewellery was described, offered for and sold at arm's length.

## Seller risks and exceptions

- Buyers who ask nothing. A buyer who pays without identifying you is exposed to stolen goods, and you are left with a payment that may later be questioned. Treat the absence of checks as a warning.
- Cash. It leaves no record. A bank transfer to your own account shows who paid you, how much and when.
- Name mismatches. An account in a maiden name, a joint account or an ID with an old address can hold up payment. Say so before you post and you will be told what settles it.
- Selling without authority. Selling a relative's things without written authority, or an estate's before the grant, can lead to a hold and a family dispute. Get the authority first.
- Sending documents the wrong way. Never put identity documents in the parcel. Wait to be asked, and use the route the request gives you.
- A hold takes time. The rest of your lot is not held with it, but the held piece cannot be paid for or returned until the question is settled, and the timing can depend on the police. Photographs sent first can bring a question up before the item leaves your hands.

## When not to use the scrap route

> **Do not sell what you may not have the right to sell**
>
> A will is contested, the estate has not been shared out, an item is subject to a claim, or you are unsure whether it is yours to sell. In any of those cases, do not sell it for metal or in any other way until that is settled. Melting cannot be undone.

It is also the wrong route for items the beneficiaries may want to keep, or that the estate still needs valued. A probate valuation and a buyer's offer are different documents for different purposes, and one cannot stand in for the other. [Dividing jewellery between beneficiaries](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/dividing-jewellery-between-beneficiaries) and [valuation, appraisal or offer](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/valuation-appraisal-or-offer) explain which you need. The [probate and estate jewellery page](https://assaypost.co.uk/probate-and-estate-jewellery) explains how Assaypost handles an estate, and the [about page](https://assaypost.co.uk/about) says who you would be dealing with.

## Questions sellers ask

### Why do I need to show ID to sell my own jewellery?

So that the seller is a real, identifiable person, stolen goods can be traced, and the money reaches the owner and nobody else. One government-issued photo ID is asked for once, before the first payment, and checked against the name on your bank account.

### What documents will I be asked for?

One government-issued photo identity document. For an inherited item, something showing you are entitled to sell it: a grant of probate, letters of administration or a letter from the executor. For someone else's items, the owner's written authority and identity. The [responsible sourcing page](https://assaypost.co.uk/responsible-sourcing-and-aml) is the full procedure.

### Can I sell gold that I inherited if probate has not been granted yet?

Usually it is better to wait. Where items are sold as part of dealing with the estate, the grant is what shows you have authority. GOV.UK says you should not make any financial plans or put property on the market until you have got probate. Photographs can be looked at in the meantime.

### Does Assaypost pay cash?

No. Payment is by bank transfer to an account in your own name. HMRC requires a business that makes or accepts cash payments of €10,000 or more for goods to register as a high value dealer first; a business that pays only by bank transfer does not trigger that.

### What happens if my item is held for a provenance check?

It is set aside whole, photographed and logged, and it is not priced, tested further or melted while the question is open. You are told in writing, the hold is reviewed at least every 28 days, and the rest of your lot is not held with it.

### How is my identity document stored?

Apart from the case file, with every opening of it logged, and deleted on the schedule in the [privacy notice](https://assaypost.co.uk/privacy). Only the document and the date it was checked are kept.

## Sources

1. [GOV.UK — Money laundering regulations: high value dealer registration](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/money-laundering-regulations-high-value-dealer-registration) (accessed 21 September 2026)
2. [legislation.gov.uk — Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, section 329](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/29/section/329) (accessed 21 September 2026)
3. [GOV.UK — UK financial sanctions general guidance (Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-general-guidance/uk-financial-sanctions-general-guidance) (accessed 21 September 2026)
4. [legislation.gov.uk — Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, section 21](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/10/section/21) (accessed 21 September 2026)
5. [GOV.UK — Applying for probate](https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate) (accessed 21 September 2026)

## Related

- [Responsible sourcing and AML](https://assaypost.co.uk/responsible-sourcing-and-aml)
- [Privacy](https://assaypost.co.uk/privacy)
- [Probate and estates](https://assaypost.co.uk/probate-and-estate-jewellery)
- [Selling jewellery as an executor: what to do before probate is granted](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/selling-jewellery-before-probate-is-granted)
- [Dividing jewellery between beneficiaries: what to keep, give and sell](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/dividing-jewellery-between-beneficiaries)
- [Offers, returns and payment](https://assaypost.co.uk/offers-returns-and-payment)
- [About](https://assaypost.co.uk/about)
- [Declining an offer and getting your items back](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/declined-offers-and-returns)

## Start with photographs

- [Send a photo on WhatsApp](https://wa.me/447369296063?text=Hello.%20I've%20been%20reading%20your%20guides%20and%20I've%20got%20some%20pieces%20I%20can't%20identify.%20Sending%20photos%20now.)
- [Request a prepaid label](https://assaypost.co.uk/postal-pack)
- Telephone [07369 296063](tel:07369296063), 6am to 10pm, seven days a week