--- title: "Send photographs, and ask before you post anything" description: "Send photos on WhatsApp and a person reads the marks and gives you a rough idea: what looks plated and what seems worth posting. Free, no obligation." canonical: "https://assaypost.co.uk/photo-estimate" modified: "2026-10-01" language: "en-GB" publisher: "Assaypost" --- # Send photographs, and ask before you post anything Updated 1 October 2026. Photograph what you have and send it. A person reads the marks and writes back, free, with a rough idea of what looks plated and whether it seems worth posting. You do not need to know what any of it is first. ## The quickest way: WhatsApp WhatsApp opens with a short hello already written: attach your pictures, send, and a person writes back. There is nothing to fill in. No WhatsApp? Ring [07369 296063](tel:+447369296063) (6am to 10pm, seven days a week), or email the pictures to [messinabenni@gmail.com](mailto:messinabenni@gmail.com?subject=Photographs%20for%20a%20look%20before%20I%20post%20anything&body=Hello%2C%0D%0A%0D%0AI've%20attached%20some%20photographs%20of%20things%20I'd%20like%20you%20to%20look%20at.%0D%0A%0D%0AOne%20photograph%20of%20everything%20together%20%28attached%29%0D%0AClose-ups%20of%20any%20marks%20or%20names%20%28attached%29%0D%0AWhat%20I%20think%20it%20is%2C%20if%20I%20know%3A%20%0D%0AHow%20I'd%20like%20you%20to%20reply%20%28email%2C%20or%20a%20phone%20number%29%3A%20%0D%0A%0D%0AThank%20you). The same person answers. ## What to photograph They do not have to be good photographs, and there is no wrong way to do this. 1. **Everything together, in one picture**: Tip the box out and photograph the lot. Do not sort it, untangle it or clean it first. Keep letters, bank cards, anything with an address on it, and people's faces out of the picture. 2. **Anything with a mark or a name on it, close up**: Inside a ring, on a clasp, under a spoon. If the camera will not focus, send it anyway. 3. **That is enough**: If something is unclear we will ask for one more picture of that piece. Nothing else is needed from you. ## What a photograph can settle, and what it cannot A picture is evidence, not proof, so here is what a reply from photographs can and cannot tell you. - **It can**: Usually read the marks, often spot what looks plated, filled or weighted, sometimes identify a maker, and flag anything that may be worth keeping whole rather than melting. - **It cannot**: Prove what a piece is made of or what it weighs. A mark in a photograph cannot be checked for authenticity or tied to the whole piece, and plate photographs exactly like solid metal. - **So it is**: A rough idea, not a valuation and not an offer ([the terms, clause 2.1](https://assaypost.co.uk/terms#clause-2-1)). It is not something to use for an estate, a probate figure or sharing things out. The offer comes after the parcel arrives and everything is weighed and checked; [how it works](https://assaypost.co.uk/how-it-works) sets out the four steps. ## What happens after the reply If it looks worth posting and you want to go on, tell us: we arrange the postage with you and confirm the service and its cover in writing before anything is sent ([posting your items](https://assaypost.co.uk/postal-pack)). If not, that is the end of it: there is nothing to cancel and nobody follows up. Either way, nothing is ever sold until you accept a written offer. ## What comes back - What each piece appears to be, as far as a picture can show it. - Whether it looks worth posting. - Anything that may be worth keeping whole rather than melting, such as a coin, a maker's piece or a watch by a known maker, running or not, and whether it is worth showing a specialist first. - Anything plated, filled or weighted, so it is not a surprise later. ### What this is not It is not an offer and it is not binding on either of us. Nothing is started, no parcel is expected, and nobody asks for bank details or identity documents at this stage. If the answer is that it is not worth posting, we will say so. ### Where your photographs go Photographs you send on WhatsApp or by email are kept with your case file, seen only by the person handling it, never published or used to advertise anything, and deleted on the periods set out in the [privacy notice](https://assaypost.co.uk/privacy). ## Start with photographs - [Send your photos on WhatsApp](https://wa.me/447369296063?text=Hello.%20I've%20got%20some%20things%20I'd%20like%20you%20to%20look%20at.%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