Inherited jewellery: know what you have before deciding

Keeping it and selling it are both open to you

Some people keep everything, some sell everything, and many do a little of each, sometimes years apart. What you do with the box is your decision, made in your own time, and nothing on this page assumes an answer.

Whatever you decide, it can help to know what is there. If the box may one day be cleared by someone else, a set of photographs and a written note of what is in it can help the family later. Neither commits you to anything.

Working out what you actually have

Start with the marks. British silver, and much British gold, has been tested and hallmarked for centuries, so many pieces will say what they are if you can get light on them. Plenty of older jewellery was never marked, so a missing mark is common. Hold a phone camera close, with a lamp to one side rather than behind you; it often reads a hallmark better than the eye does.

• Gold, marked375, 585, 750, 916, 990, 999; older pieces 9, 12, 14, 15, 18, 22
• Silver, marked800, 925, 958, 999; or a lion, thistle or crowned harp
• Not silverEPNS, A1, plated
• Not solid goldGF, RG, rolled

A three-figure number is a fineness: how many parts in a thousand are the precious metal, so 375 is 9ct and 750 is 18ct. Beside it there is usually a small punched symbol for the assay office that tested it, and often a letter for the year. Reading UK hallmarks takes each mark in turn, and two closer guides cover gold numbers such as 375 and 750 and telling sterling from plate.

EPNS, A1, GF, RG and the words rolled gold all mean a thin layer of precious metal over a base metal, and so do fractions such as 1/20 12ct. We do not buy silver plate, gold plate, rolled gold or gold-filled pieces (clause 11.1). Plated, rolled, filled and vermeil shows how to tell them from solid metal.

An unmarked piece may still be gold or silver. Small items can legally be sold unhallmarked, foreign pieces carry marks from other systems, and decades of wear can take a mark off a wedding ring. A missing mark does not make a piece fake: it may never have been marked, or the mark may have worn away. If you cannot get a legible picture, send the photograph anyway and say which piece it came from.

If you want to try a few simple checks yourself, a box of jewellery you cannot identify has some that need only a magnet and daylight. You do not have to.

The pieces that are worth more whole than melted

A few kinds of piece are worth more as objects than as metal, and they are easy to miss in a mixed box. These six signals are worth checking, and each can be checked at home without cleaning, winding or opening anything.

• A name on itInside a band, on the pin of a brooch, on the clasp of a necklace, under the foot of a candlestick. A maker whose work is collected changes what a piece is: it stops being an amount of gold and becomes a thing with a market of its own. Photograph the mark even if you cannot read it.
• A date on a coinSovereigns have been struck for more than two centuries, at the Royal Mint and at branch mints around the world. The year, the small mint letter and the condition decide whether a coin is ordinary or worth more than its gold. Do not clean it. See what to check on a sovereign.
• A watch by a known maker, running or notLook for a name on the dial. A watch by a known maker may be worth more as a watch than as gold, whether or not it runs, and so may an antique pocket watch. Do not wind it, set it or open the case back. See gold and pocket watches.
• A set that is still completeSix of something is worth a look; twelve in a fitted box with the serving pieces is a different proposition again. Do not split a canteen to make it easier to post, and do not polish it. See antique silver or scrap.
• Stones you cannot judgeA stone in an old setting may be glass, a garnet, or something for a gemmologist to judge. We do not pay for stones, and no stone is taken out of its setting before you accept an offer (clause 4.4). A good stone is easy to overlook, so if you are unsure, have the piece seen by a jeweller first.
• Something that is simply oddA medal on a ribbon, an enamelled badge, a mourning brooch with hair in it, a signet with a crest nobody recognises. A named medal group should never be sold as scrap, and the medals guide explains why. Anything that might be ivory, such as a carved brooch or a knife handle, should be photographed and not posted: the ivory guide sets out the law.

If any of those apply, get a second opinion on that piece before anyone treats it as metal. An auction house, a specialist dealer or a valuer will judge a signed brooch differently from a metal buyer. If we think a piece may be worth more to one of them, we tell you before any offer, so you can take it there; we may still miss something a specialist would see. What to have looked at before you sell goes through each kind of object.

The everyday pieces

Much of a jewellery box is everyday: a snapped 9ct curb chain, a single earring, a bent bangle, a wedding ring worn thin. As jewellery they have little resale market, but they are still gold. The same goes for dented napkin rings and cutlery in a pattern nobody collects.

Two things are easy to throw away by mistake. Broken clasps, and the small rings that join a chain to its clasp, are often gold. Dental gold is precious metal too, though dental alloys vary far more than jewellery does. See scrap and broken gold jewellery and dental gold.

What to keep

What to keep is yours to decide, and nobody else can decide it for you. A few practical points may help while you do.

• If you are unsure about a piece, you can keep it for now. A piece you still have can be sold later; a sale cannot be undone.
• Photograph everything before any of it leaves the house, including what you sell, so the family has a record. If you are still clearing the house, clearing a parent's house lists the places small pieces are usually found.
• Ask the rest of the family before anything is posted, in case someone would like a particular piece. Dividing jewellery between beneficiaries covers what to do when two people want the same thing.
• Do not clean, polish or untangle anything first. Polish takes value off old silver and a forced knot breaks a chain; see cleaning before you sell.

What we undertake, in the order it happens

If you do decide to send some of it, these are the commitments that apply, with the clause of the terms that holds us to each where there is one.

1. Ask before you postPhotographs first, from your own table. A person reads the marks and replies in writing with a rough idea of what the pieces appear to be, free and with no obligation.
2. Everything is itemisedWhen the parcel is opened, every piece is listed and described, including anything we will not buy (clauses 4.4 and 5.1). The list comes with your offer, so you can check it against what you sent before you decide anything.
3. One written offer for the lotThe offer comes in writing with the item list on it, to read in your own time and show to anyone you want to (clause 5.1). It is an offer to buy, not a valuation.
4. Nothing is sold until you say yesYou accept by pressing the accept button on your offer or by telling us in writing (clause 6.1). Opening the offer or its link never accepts it. Silence is never acceptance (clause 6.2), and your items stay as they arrived while you think (clause 6.1).
5. Free tracked returnDecline everything and it comes back by tracked, signed-for post at our cost. If you want one piece back, say which, and a new written offer comes for the rest; you can still take the first instead (clause 6.3).
6. Worth more whole? We say soIf a piece may be worth more to a specialist, an auction house or a dealer, we tell you before any offer, so you can take it there. For an inherited lot we will post the whole box back at our cost while you get another opinion, with no obligation to send it again (clause 10.3).
7. A person handles itThe same person opens the parcel, writes the list and the offer, and answers when you ask why a piece was described as it was.

If you decide to sell part of it

Selling to a metal buyer is one option among several. An auction house suits a collectable piece, a specialist dealer suits a named watch, and a jeweller can reset a stone you want to keep. We are suited to the rest of the box: the mixed, broken and unidentified pieces, dealt with as one lot. Selling gold by post and selling silver by post explain how each metal is checked.

Send photographs and get a rough idea back. If you want to go further, we arrange the postage with you and confirm the service and its cover in writing before anything is sent. When the pieces arrive, every piece is listed, weighed and checked for its metal before one written offer is made for everything you sent. How it works follows a parcel all the way through.

Before you post anything to anyone, how to check a postal gold buyer lists what to look up about any buyer, this one included. If there are coins or a quantity of gold, selling inherited gold and coins: the tax position explains when tax can arise.