Charity shops in London: donated gold and silver bought by post.

Thames finds, old hoards and London donation bags

Greater London has its own Portable Antiquities Scheme finds officer, working from London Museum, which also runs monthly Finds Days where people bring objects in to be identified and recorded. The scheme mainly records objects over 300 years old, plus more recent pieces of local or regional interest. Mudlarks who find something historical on the Thames foreshore are expected to take it to that officer, and searching the foreshore needs a permit from the Port of London Authority.

The Cheapside Hoard shows how quickly a find can be broken up. Workmen dug it out of a cellar in 1912 and sold items to a pawnshop owner who often paid labourers cash for finds from building sites. Most of it is now in the Museum of London.

So when a bag holds muddy, corroded or clearly excavated pieces, keep them together, leave them uncleaned and write down anything the donor said about where they came from. The Treasure Act code says a person other than the finder who holds a possible piece of unreported treasure must report it as well, so contact the finds officer before anything is priced.

How it works for a charity shop in London

GoldPaid is a UK-wide postal gold and silver buying service. The charity service is open to London charity shops, head offices in Greater London, and charity-retail teams across London postcodes, and it runs entirely by post. There is no London shopfront to travel to, and no cash changes hands at the shop. Donated gold, silver, watches, coins, mixed jewellery, costume jewellery in bulk and hallmarked silverware are all valued in writing before anything is sold, and the charity’s registered bank account receives a Faster Payment once the offer is accepted. (Named-maker pottery, porcelain and vintage cameras are out of GoldPaid’s scope; the referral to auction routes is in the named-maker pottery guide and the vintage cameras guide.)

Posting from London

London’s charity shops sit across the 32 boroughs and the City of London. Royal Mail Special Delivery is next working day across all London postcodes (EC, WC, E, N, NW, SE, SW, W).

None of this commits the shop. A London shop can ask a question, send photos, or even post a parcel and still decline the written offer, with no fee and a free tracked return.

The process every charity shop runs

1. Ask before you post. WhatsApp a photo of any donated item the shop is uncertain about to 07944 014111. Rocco Clayfield (GoldPaid founder) answers, gives a rough estimate, and tells the shop whether the parcel is worth posting.
2. Free prepaid Royal Mail label. If the shop wants to proceed, we send a free Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed label, digital on WhatsApp, printable PDF by email, or a paper label by post if the shop doesn’t have a printer.
3. Box it, drop at any Post Office. Pack the items securely. Hand the parcel over at any Post Office counter, keep the Special Delivery receipt, and the shop gets a tracking link by WhatsApp.
4. Written XRF valuation. Every parcel is itemised on arrival. Precious metals are XRF-tested and priced against the live precious-metal market on the day. Watches and antiques are assessed individually, and each one is listed with its own figure on the written offer. Send a photo of any coins on WhatsApp first and we will tell you how we would value them before the shop posts anything.
5. Accept or decline. Accept and the charity’s registered bank account is paid by Faster Payments; we aim to pay within one working hour of acceptance. Decline and the items come back free of charge by tracked, signed-for post. There is no restocking fee, and nobody rings to push for a yes.

What GoldPaid buys from London charity shops

We take the donation pile as it arrives at the shop. Gold of any carat (including broken chains, single earrings, dental gold, sovereigns and Krugerrands). Silver (sterling 925, hallmarked solid silverware, tea sets, cutlery canteens, candelabra, salvers, bullion). Platinum and palladium (jewellery and bullion). Costume jewellery in bulk by the kilo, no sorting required. Watches of every kind, vintage, designer, modern, broken, pocket, movement-only, parts. Coins (sovereigns, Krugerrands, Britannias, pre-1947 UK silver). Medals and militaria. (Named-maker pottery, porcelain and vintage cameras are out of GoldPaid’s scope; send a photo and we will identify them free and point you at the auction route.) The full list is on what we buy, but if a piece is not on the list, the shop should send a photo on WhatsApp and we will tell you straight.

How the process supports your reporting

Every payment goes to the charity’s registered bank account by Faster Payments. Never to a personal account, a shop till, a suspense account, or a volunteer. English and Welsh charities are verified at onboarding through the Charity Commission for England and Wales register. The account of record cannot be changed without a written request from the head-office contact, using the registered charity email domain. Every parcel produces a unique reference, an itemised valuation, the offer made, the offer acceptance confirmation, and the Faster Payment transaction reference. That is a clean audit trail for the finance team.

The valuation method is designed to be auditable by someone with no specialist knowledge. Precious metals are XRF-tested and priced against the live precious-metal market on the day of valuation, with both the reading and the market price shown on the report. Watches and antiques are assessed individually, and each one is listed with its own figure on the written offer. How we value gold and XRF testing explained set the method out in full. The trustee briefing is written for trustees and retail directors.

Multi-shop charities with shops in London

If a charity runs more than one shop in London or across the wider Greater London estate, we suggest a pilot: five shops, thirty days. Pick five shops across different postcode profiles, give each manager the WhatsApp number, and run for a month. At the end of thirty days the retail director and finance director review the monthly roll-up report and decide on rollout. No contract, no setup fee, no minimum volume, no exclusivity. For multi-shop charities walks through the pathway.

Free jewellery training for London charity shops

GoldPaid runs a free monthly online training session for charity retail teams, and it is open to every shop and volunteer in London. The session covers how to spot donated gold, silver, watches and hallmarks before they are underpriced. It is part of the Charity Jewellery Recovery Programme, which brings the free training and this online-and-postal valuation route together. See the free training page to register your team.

Charity shops in other cities and towns

Because it all happens by post, the same service is open to a charity shop anywhere in the UK. There are pages for Reading, Brighton and Oxford. Other England charity-shop pages on the identical postal-first process: Manchester, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich and Nottingham. The full list is on charity gold buying across the UK, the directory of every town GoldPaid covers.

If the charity decides not to sell

There is never any obligation to accept. If the offer is not right for the charity, decline and everything is returned free of charge by tracked, signed-for post, along with payment for anything the charity did accept from the same parcel. No restocking fee, no follow-up pressure calls. What happens if I decline the offer spells the return process out.

Indicative figures vs the firm offer

Reading a town mark on London donations

London has its own assay office, one of the four still striking UK hallmarks. London’s leopard’s head has been required on silver since the statute of 1300. If a London volunteer cannot place a picture-punch, photograph it close up and send it on WhatsApp: reading it costs nothing. The full set is on UK assay office marks, and how to date a hallmark by its letter explains the year letters.

Who stands behind the offer

• Owner-run, with founder Rocco Clayfield personally accountable for the service
• Every item XRF-assayed, the result shown to you in writing
• Free tracked postage both ways, so a valuation carries no obligation
• Honest about its limits, including when a specialist would suit you better
• No fabricated reviews and no invented numbers, anywhere on the site

Sources

1. London Museum: Collections access and enquiries, checked 24 September 2026
2. London Museum blog: What does a Finds Liaison Officer do?, checked 24 September 2026
3. Wikipedia: Cheapside Hoard, checked 24 September 2026
4. Treasure Act 1996 Code of Practice (3rd revision), DCMS on GOV.UK, checked 24 September 2026

Common questions