An Executor’s Guide to Valuing and Selling Jewellery from an Estate

What the job involves

If this is your first estate, you may be sitting at a kitchen table with a jewellery box and little idea what any of it is. The work splits into four parts: find out what is there, establish what it was worth on the date of death, agree with the beneficiaries what happens to it, then sell whatever is being sold with a clean paper trail. None of it has to happen quickly, and having figures before the family conversation makes that conversation easier.

The estate needs two numbers, not one

• The estate value. What each item would have fetched if sold on the date of death (GOV.UK). Where full estate details are needed, jewellery goes on schedule IHT407 with form IHT400.
• The sale figure. What the items fetch when they are sold, at the market on the day of sale.

The two rarely match. Metal prices move, and a piece that still sells as jewellery can be worth more than its metal, so recording a wearable 18ct ring or a good watch at scrap value can understate the estate. HMRC does not require a professional valuation for ordinary household goods where public information gives you a value, but its IHT400 Notes advise one if any item may be worth more than £1,500, or you are not sure. For those pieces, or an estate near the Inheritance Tax threshold, use an independent valuer. Our page on estate jewellery for probate compares a buyer’s free figure, a paid report and a registered valuer.

Working out what is precious metal

• Gold: 375 (9ct), 585 (14ct), 750 (18ct), 916 (22ct), 999 (24ct). Older British pieces may read 9CT or 18CT.
• Silver: 925 sterling, 958 Britannia, and 800 on much Continental silver.
• Platinum: 950, 900 or PLAT. Heavier than it looks, and easily mistaken for white gold.
• Plated giveaways: EPNS, EP, A1, copper showing at worn edges, and marks such as 1/20 12K GF, GP or RGP, meaning gold-filled, plated or rolled gold rather than solid.
• No mark at all: an absent hallmark says nothing about whether a piece is solid.

Do not scratch, file or acid-test anything. Damage can cost the estate money on an item worth more intact. XRF reads the metal without marking the surface, which is why every item GoldPaid assesses is XRF-tested. The gold hallmark guide covers the marks in detail, and the hallmark lookup explains a single stamp.

What affects the value

• The weight of the precious metal, not of the item. Hollow chains, watch cases with base-metal backs and stone-set rings all weigh more than their gold.
• Purity after testing, which can differ from the stamp. Solder, repairs and replacement parts change what is really in a piece.
• Stones. Metal value is worked out net of stones, and a stone with value of its own is considered separately.
• The rate on the day of assessment. Gold and silver prices move continuously.
• Whether a piece is worth more intact than as metal. Signed pieces, Georgian and Victorian jewellery, sovereigns and good mechanical watches can be, and belong with a specialist.

Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market. Nobody can responsibly give an estate a firm figure from a description alone.

Tax when the estate sells jewellery

For Capital Gains Tax, the estate is treated as acquiring each item at its market value on the date of death, so a sale at or below that value produces no gain (HMRC HS282).

If the estate sells for more, the personal representatives deal with any tax on the gain. A personal possession sold for less than £6,000 is outside Capital Gains Tax (GOV.UK), and selling all or part of a set to the same person counts as one sale (GOV.UK). Personal representatives get the annual exempt amount, £3,000 for 2026 to 2027 (GOV.UK), for the rest of the tax year of death and the 2 tax years after it, and above it they pay 24% (HS282). UK legal tender coins, such as sovereigns, are not chargeable assets (HMRC CG76881). Ask the estate’s accountant if a sale may produce a gain.

Before anything is melted

Where a will leaves jewellery to be shared, the hard part can be which piece goes to whom rather than money. An itemised figure per piece lets a family square the split in cash rather than in objects. Dividing inherited jewellery between beneficiaries compares the approaches. Pieces someone wants to keep are set aside before the rest is posted.

Paperwork, identity checks and provenance

Keep four things on the estate file: a schedule of the items, photographs of them as found, the written offer, and the bank record of the sale. On estate parcels GoldPaid asks for proof of identity and address before payment and asks how the items came to you. Payment can go to a personal or an estate account. GoldPaid cannot buy items where ownership is not clear, and for church and chapel silver, service medals, memorial and mourning jewellery we ask before proceeding and may decline.

Checklist: jewellery and precious metal in an estate

A printable copy: executor’s jewellery checklist (PDF). It applies whichever buyer or valuer you use, including us. General information, not legal or tax advice; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own probate procedures.

Before anything is moved

• Photograph each item where it was found.
• Keep everything together and secure, and note who has access.
• Do not clean, polish, cut, acid-test or remove stones.
• Read the will for specific gifts of jewellery.
• Find insurance schedules, receipts and old valuations. IHT407 asks whether items were individually listed on the household insurance policy.
• List gifts of jewellery made in the 7 years before death. GOV.UK includes them when you estimate the estate.
• Note anything jointly owned: jointly owned goods go on IHT404, not IHT407.

Sort what you have

• Worn, broken or plain pieces whose value is mainly the metal.
• Signed, branded, antique or stone-set pieces and watches that may be worth more than the metal.
• Coins and medals, which IHT407 lists with antiques, works of art and collections.

Value for the estate

• Use what each item would have fetched if sold on the date of death, not an insurance or replacement figure.
• On IHT407, list each item of jewellery valued at £1,500 or more, with the date of sale and gross proceeds if it has been sold, and enclose any professional valuation.
• For signed, branded or antique pieces, or an estate near the Inheritance Tax threshold, use an independent valuer.
• A buyer’s figure, ours included, is not an independent valuation. Note how and when each figure was reached.

If the estate sells

• Check you have authority to sell. If you are not sure, ask the estate’s solicitor.
• Agree with the beneficiaries before selling anything someone may want.
• Get itemised written offers showing weight, purity, the rate applied and date, and compare more than one buyer.
• Ask each buyer how purity is tested, how long the offer holds, whether declined items come back free, and what postal cover applies.
• Keep the sale date and gross proceeds for the estate accounts.

What GoldPaid can and cannot do for an estate

• Can: answer questions on WhatsApp before anything is posted, send a free prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label, XRF-test every piece at our Bristol office, list each one in writing with purity, weight, rate and date, add the metal value at the date-of-death rate on request, flag anything worth more to a specialist, and return declined items free of charge.
• Cannot: give legal or tax advice, give an independent or formal valuation, quote a firm figure before the items are inspected, or buy anything whose ownership is unclear.

Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. GoldPaid can confirm the appropriate postal option before you post. If you accept the written offer, we aim to release payment by Faster Payments within one working hour of your acceptance. Probate and inheritance covers selling estate jewellery by post, and house clearance jewellery buyer covers mixed lots from a property.

Other guides for estates and inherited jewellery

Each of these answers a different part of the same job. Pick the one that matches where you are.

• Sell inherited and probate jewellery by post: the overview, for a family or an executor ready to sell some or all of it.
• Sell inherited jewellery in your own time: for a beneficiary who already holds the pieces.
• A free metal figure for estate jewellery: what a buyer’s free written figure covers, what a paid report adds, and when to use a registered valuer.
• Clearing a parent’s house: what to keep, what to check, and agreeing it as a family.
• House clearance jewellery buyer: mixed lots from a clearance, sent exactly as found.
• For probate solicitors and will writers: a written, itemised metal record for the client file.
• Do you need probate or a death certificate to sell inherited jewellery?: the paperwork question, answered.
• Can you sell inherited gold before probate is granted?: the answer for executors, administrators and beneficiaries in England and Wales.
• How to value jewellery for probate: the two figures an executor needs, and when to use a qualified valuer.
• How to sell inherited gold jewellery safely: a step-by-step guide for families.

When you are ready, there is one step to take: request a free prepaid Royal Mail label, or send photos on WhatsApp first if you would rather ask before posting. Every piece is XRF-tested and you receive a written, itemised valuation. Nothing is sold unless you accept it, and anything declined comes back free by Royal Mail Special Delivery. For everyday gold that is not part of an estate, the general route is selling gold by post.

Sources

1. GOV.UK: Applying for probate, checked 11 September 2026
2. GOV.UK: Estimate the estate’s value, checked 11 September 2026
3. HMRC: IHT400 Notes and schedule IHT407, checked 11 September 2026
4. HMRC: HS282 Death, personal representatives and legatees (2026), checked 11 September 2026
5. GOV.UK: Capital Gains Tax rates and allowances, checked 11 September 2026
6. GOV.UK: Capital Gains Tax on personal possessions, checked 11 September 2026

Common questions