Clearing a family home

Clearing a Parent’s House: What to Do With the Jewellery, Silver and Coins

Clearing a parent’s home is not a job anyone is ready for. This is a plain guide to the jewellery, silver and coins: what is worth keeping, what is worth checking, and how to take your time over the rest.

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What should I do with my parents’ jewellery after they die?Set aside anything anyone wants to keep before value comes into it, photograph the rest laid out so every family member sees the same thing, and agree who is deciding. Only then look at what is genuinely gold or silver. Nothing has to be sold quickly, and sending a photo to a buyer costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

There is no deadline on this

There is usually less hurry than it feels like. Even when a tenancy has to end or a sale is going through, the jewellery, silver and coins are the smallest and most portable part of a house. They fit in one shoebox. If the furniture has to be gone by the end of the month, put the small things in that box, take it home, and come back to it when you are ready. Metal does not spoil while you think.

Keep whatever you want to keep. Nothing on this page is asking you to sell anything. The pieces people most often regret parting with are the ones added at the last minute because it seemed simpler to send everything together. A wedding ring, a watch that was worn every day, the brooch in the photographs: set those aside first, before value comes into it at all.

Photograph everything before anything moves

Before a single item leaves the house, lay it out and photograph it. Ten minutes with a phone camera is the most useful thing you can do, for three reasons: every sibling sees the same picture of what was there, later questions about a particular piece can be answered, and it is enough for a buyer to give an indicative figure without anything being posted.

One overview shot per drawer, box or tray, laid out on a plain towel in daylight.
Close-ups of any small stamps: inside ring shanks, on chain clasps, on the underside of silver.
Both faces of any coins and medals, and the back of every watch case.
A separate photo of anything a family member has already asked for, so it is clearly recorded as spoken for.

Photographs also let you ask questions while everything is still in the house. Sent on WhatsApp, they are enough for an honest steer on what is real, what is plated and what is not worth posting, at no charge and with nothing committed.

Disagreement between brothers and sisters is normal

Almost every family meets this. One person has done the practical work and feels entitled to decide. Another lives further away and feels shut out. A piece that meant nothing to one sibling turns out to be the thing another remembers most clearly. None of that is a sign anything has gone wrong, and it is far easier to settle before items are moved than afterwards.

A method that works: everyone writes down the few pieces they would like. Anything named by only one person goes to that person. Anything named by more than one goes into a round of turn-taking, with the order drawn at random. Anything nobody names goes into the pile to be valued, and nothing still on someone’s list is sold. Where a will names an executor the final say is theirs, but a written list and a set of photographs makes that job much less lonely. There is more on this in dividing inherited jewellery between beneficiaries.

You stay in control

Posting valuables should never feel like a leap of faith, so here it does not start as one. Ask your questions first and send photos of your jewellery, silver and coins from a parent’s house on WhatsApp for a no-charge quick indicative figure. Only when you are comfortable do you request a label.

This is a UK-wide postal service with no branches anywhere. Wherever you live, it works the same way: a free insured label in, a written offer back, and a free return if you decline.

What is actually worth checking

Once the sentimental pieces are set aside, the question is what in the rest of the pile is genuinely precious metal. Most of it will not be, and that is normal. These are the marks worth looking for, with a magnifier or a phone camera zoomed in.

Gold. 375, 585, 750, 916 or 999, or the older 9ct, 14ct, 18ct and 22ct stamps. The mark is often under half a millimetre, inside a ring shank or on a clasp. Unmarked does not mean base metal: gold bought abroad is frequently unmarked, or marked 14k, 21k or 22k.
Silver. 925, the word sterling, or a full UK hallmark including the lion passant. Silver tarnishes and darkens with age, which is a good sign rather than a bad one.
Plate, which is not silver. EPNS, EP, A1, or the words silver plated. Plated tea services, trays and canteens are common in houses of this generation and hold no metal value however heavy they feel.
Coins. British silver coins dated 1946 or earlier contain silver, 92.5 per cent before 1920 and 50 per cent from 1920 to 1946. Sovereigns and half sovereigns are 22ct gold. Holiday coins from the back of a drawer are worth photographing.
The small things. A snapped chain at the bottom of a drawer, single earrings, cufflink backs, spectacle frames, propelling pencils, vesta cases, sovereign mounts, masonic jewels, dental gold in a folded envelope. These are the items most often tipped out with the rest of the drawer.

What changes the value, honestly

For metal value the figure comes from three things and nothing else: the weight, the confirmed purity, and the market rate on the day the items are assessed. Condition barely matters. A snapped chain is worth the same per gram as an intact one, so there is no point paying for a repair first. What does reduce the metal weight is everything in a piece that is not precious metal: watch movements, brooch pins, spring clasps, stone settings, the steel blades in silver-handled knives.

Some things are worth more whole than melted, and an honest buyer says so. A signed piece, a good Georgian or Victorian item, a complete hallmarked canteen, a running mechanical watch, a scarce coin or a named group of medals can all mean more to a collector than the metal in them. If something in your parcel falls into that category you should be told before it is bought, not after. See selling silverware and watches, coins, medals and stamps.

A small estate, no probate, no solicitor

A great many estates never need a grant of probate. Where the money sat in one modest account and the home was jointly owned or rented, families commonly deal with everything themselves, and ordinary household jewellery is treated as chattels rather than as something needing a court document before it can be moved. That is the position most people clearing a parent’s house are in.

Two things are still worth doing. Tell the other beneficiaries what you intend to sell before you sell it, and keep the written valuation and the bank record afterwards so there is a paper trail if anyone asks in a year. Where there is a will, the executor named in it decides. Where there is no will, authority sits with the person entitled to administer the estate. If the estate is anywhere near the Inheritance Tax threshold, or anyone disagrees, take advice before selling. This is general information and not legal advice. Probate and inheritance and do you need probate to sell inherited jewellery cover the detail.

What GoldPaid can and cannot do

GoldPaid is a UK-wide postal buyer of gold, silver and platinum, run from Bristol with no shop and no branches. The metal part of a clearance can be posted, weighed and XRF-assayed, and the written, itemised valuation read at your own kitchen table before anything is decided. Coins, bullion, watches, medals, medallions, stamps and silverware are assessed alongside the jewellery. If the box is simply a mixed drawer, selling a mixed jewellery box describes how those are sorted.

What it is not: a house clearance firm, a valuer of furniture, ceramics or pictures, and not a formal probate valuation for HMRC. The written breakdown is useful supporting documentation for estate records, but a date-of-death valuation for Inheritance Tax should come from a qualified probate valuer. Firms and executors handling whole properties are better served by the house clearance jewellery buyer page.

Provenance. For church or chapel silver, war medals, memorial and mourning jewellery, and anything else that may not have belonged to the household, GoldPaid asks how the item came to be there. Items without clear ownership cannot be bought and are returned rather than purchased.

How it works

Ask first and send photos. Message us on WhatsApp with photos of your jewellery, silver and coins from a parent’s house for a quick indicative figure. Ask anything; there is no charge and no obligation.
Request a prepaid Royal Mail label. We send a free Royal Mail Special Delivery label, tracked and signed for. No printer? We send a QR code for the Post Office counter.
Post it when you are ready. Use any padded envelope. There is no deadline and no pressure.
Receive a no-obligation valuation. Every item is weighed on calibrated scales and tested by XRF spectrometry. You get a written, itemised offer: purity, weight, the rate used and the figure.
Accept or decline. Accept and you are paid by bank transfer via Faster Payments. Decline and everything is returned free of charge by tracked, insured post.

How we value what you send

Every offer is built from three measurable facts: confirmed purity, accurate weight, and the live precious-metal market rate on the day we assess your items. You see each figure in a written breakdown before you decide anything. See how we value gold and XRF testing explained for the full method.

Everything from a clearance is listed separately: what the item is, its confirmed purity, its weight, the rate used and the offer against it. Costume, plated and base-metal pieces are named on the same sheet as returned rather than quietly dropped, so you can see what was in the box as well as what was paid for.

Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-precious-metal components, condition and the live precious-metal market. Any prices shown elsewhere on this site are indicative; your firm offer is set only after an XRF assay confirms the purity and weight of your specific items.

Cover in transit

Your parcel is covered by Royal Mail Special Delivery, with cover available up to £2,500 depending on the cover level used. The prepaid label is Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed: full tracking, a signature on delivery, arranged with that cover per parcel. Higher-value items are no problem, but please message us first so the cover and the packing approach match the value. Postage and insurance explains it fully.

If the offer is not for you

Then nothing happens except a free return. We send your items back by tracked, insured post at our cost, with no fee for declining and no follow-up. A valuation is only worth having if you can turn it down freely, so you can. See what happens if I decline the offer.

Payment, once you accept

When you say yes to the written offer, GoldPaid pays by Faster Payments bank transfer to your nominated account. You give those details only at the point you accept, never as a condition of getting an offer.

Why this is a calmer way to sell

Three things make GoldPaid a steadier route than a counter sale. You see a measured valuation in writing, not a verbal estimate. You decide at home, with nobody waiting. And if you decline, the return is free, tracked and insured, so obtaining the valuation costs you nothing.

Common questions

Mum died last month and the house has to be cleared in three weeks. Do I have to decide about the jewellery now?

No. The jewellery, coins and small silver fit in one box. Take that box home when the house is emptied and deal with it in your own time. Nothing about precious metal deteriorates while you decide, and there is no deadline at this end either.

My brother and I cannot agree on who should have what. What do other families do?

Write separate lists of the few pieces each of you would like. Anything only one person has named goes to that person. Anything both of you named goes into turn-taking with the order drawn at random. Nothing still on either list gets sold. Photograph everything first, so the record exists whatever you decide.

There is no will and the estate is small, so we are not applying for probate. Can we still sell the jewellery?

In many small estates the family deals with ordinary household jewellery itself and no grant is involved. Tell the other beneficiaries first, keep the written valuation and the bank record, and take advice if the estate is close to the Inheritance Tax threshold or anyone disagrees. This is general information, not legal advice.

How do I tell real gold from costume jewellery without paying for a valuation?

Look for 375, 585, 750, 916 or 999 on a clasp or inside a ring, and 925 or the word sterling on silver. Marks such as EPNS, EP, A1 or gold plated mean plated. If there is no mark at all a photo will get you an honest opinion, and an XRF assay settles it for certain once the parcel arrives. Testing is not charged for.

What if I post something and then change my mind?

You can decline the whole offer or any part of it. Anything declined is returned free of charge by tracked, insured post, along with payment for anything you did accept. There is no fee for changing your mind and no follow-up pressure.

We found war medals and what looks like church silver. Will you buy those?

Both are assessed, but we ask first how they came into the house. Named war medals are often worth more as a group to a collector than as metal, and we say so rather than melting them. Church and chapel silver, and anything else that may not have belonged to the household, cannot be bought without clear ownership, and is returned rather than purchased.

A photo, a written offer, your decision

Ask a question before anything is posted

Send a photo on WhatsApp of whatever you have found and ask anything you like. A free prepaid label when you are ready, a written valuation before you decide, and a free tracked return if you decline.

Send a photo on WhatsApp Call 07763 741067

Free prepaid label. Free tracked return if you decline. Faster Payments within one working hour of acceptance.