How much is a silver vesta case worth?As scrap, modest: most vestas weigh 15 to 50g, and sterling is valued on its silver content and the live precious-metal market, with our margin already inside the figure. But vestas are heavily collected, and novelty shapes, enamelled examples and pieces by Sampson Mordan & Co routinely sell for several times melt. We check every vesta against the collector market and tell you in writing which basis the offer uses. Your figure depends on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Vesta cases, snuff boxes & cigarette cases
Sell Antique Silver Smalls: Vesta Cases, Snuff Boxes, Cigarette Cases, Card Cases and Hip Flasks
Free return if you decline. We aim to pay within one working hour of acceptance.
The small silver of the British pocket, most of it Birmingham or Chester hallmarked. Send a photo of the marks first: pieces with collector value are flagged in writing before anything is treated as scrap. GoldPaid buys silver by post across the UK, with a free prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label out and a free tracked return if you decline.
Send a photo on WhatsApp for a rough estimate where possible, or arrange to post your items for assessment. We confirm our purchase offer after inspection, and you decide whether to accept. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Free Special Delivery label, usually within 30 minutesPurity tested in-house by X-ray (XRF)
- GOLDPAID LTD
- Founder Rocco Clayfield
- Bristol office
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Before you post
The questions people ask before they send anything, answered here rather than at the end of the page.
- Can I ask first?
- Yes. WhatsApp a photo to 07944 014111, 8am to 9pm, every day, and we reply with an idea of what it is worth. Nothing is posted until you decide.
- Is it safe to post?
- Your parcel travels by Royal Mail Special Delivery, tracked and signed for. 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.
- How is it tested?
- Your parcel is signed for on arrival and opened at our Bristol office, where each item is weighed and tested with an XRF analyser, an X-ray test that reads the metal without marking it. Your written offer lists each piece with its weight, purity and figure.
- What if I say no?
- We return everything by Royal Mail Special Delivery at our cost. Saying no costs you nothing.
- When am I paid?
- Only if you accept the written offer. We pay by bank transfer (Faster Payments), and we aim to pay within one working hour of your acceptance.
- How long does an offer last?
- Each written offer is dated and holds for a limited time, because metal prices move. If it lapses, we re-run it at that day’s rate.
- Who am I dealing with?
- GOLDPAID LTD, registered in England and Wales, run by founder Rocco Clayfield. Our office is at Unit 217, Bristol Business Centre, 179 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2AG. We are postal only, so there is no counter to visit. Before we pay, we ask every seller for a photo of their passport or driving licence.
Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
No pressure to begin with
Asking commits you to nothing. A WhatsApp message with a couple of photos of your antique silver smalls gets you a quick indicative figure and a straight answer to any question. Whether you post anything is your call, made later.
GoldPaid has no high-street branches. It is postal-only and UK-wide, so you never have to travel.
What counts as antique silver smalls
These are the personal silver objects of roughly 1780 to 1950: things carried in a pocket, on a watch chain or in a handbag rather than kept on a sideboard. They turn up in the same drawers as albert chains and pocket watches, and because most were made in Birmingham and Chester, the marks plug straight into the standard British hallmark system.
| Item | What it is | Usual period | Indicative sterling weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vesta case | A small lidded match safe with a ribbed striker strip, often with a ring to hang from a watch chain | Roughly 1880 to 1920 | Roughly 15 to 50g |
| Snuff box | A hinged box for powdered tobacco, frequently with a gilded interior | Georgian to mid-Victorian | Roughly 30 to 100g |
| Cigarette case | A flat hinged case, usually engine-turned, with an elastic retaining strap inside | Roughly 1900 to the 1950s | Roughly 80 to 200g |
| Card case | A slim rectangular case for visiting cards | Victorian, roughly 1840 to 1900 | Roughly 40 to 90g |
| Hip flask | A pocket spirit flask with a screw or bayonet cap, sometimes with a removable cup over the base | Victorian to inter-war | Roughly 90 to 250g if all silver |
Those weights are indicative, not an offer, and they explain why cigarette cases and hip flasks are often the most valuable pieces in the drawer purely as metal: a full-size sterling cigarette case carries more silver than a handful of teaspoons. One caution on flasks: many have a glass body with silver mounts and cup only, so the scales overstate the silver. The assay and the written breakdown deal with that honestly.
Finding and reading the marks
On a hinged case the hallmark is usually inside, on the body near the hinge, and British assay practice was to mark the lid as well, so expect a part-mark inside the lid too. On a hip flask look near the lip, on the base, and separately on the cup, which was assayed in its own right. A lion passant means solid sterling. The town mark is very often the Birmingham anchor, because Birmingham was the national centre of small-box silver, with Chester’s three wheatsheaves and sword common on vestas and flasks until that office closed in 1962. The date letter alongside fixes the year.
The same warning applies here as to silverware: EPNS vesta cases, cigarette cases and flasks are everywhere, and a plated piece has no meaningful melt value however crisp it looks. EPNS, EP or A1 stamped anywhere means plate. If the marks are worn or you are not sure what you are looking at, photograph them and send the picture on WhatsApp before anything is posted. The UK silver hallmarks guide covers the full mark set, assay office marks identifies the town symbols, and the date letter chart dates the piece.
When a piece is worth more than its silver, and what we do about it
This category needs saying plainly: vesta cases and fine snuff boxes routinely sell to collectors for several times their scrap value, and valuing them by weight alone would short-change you. Novelty vestas shaped as boots, animals, hearts or sentry boxes, enamelled fronts, and anything by Sampson Mordan & Co are collected seriously. Castle-top snuff boxes and card cases by Nathaniel Mills, with a building chased in relief on the lid, are among the most sought-after small silver made in Birmingham. Joseph Willmore and George Unite are other names worth checking.
Our commitment. Every case and box is checked for maker’s marks, novelty form, enamel and castle-top decoration before it is valued. Where a piece looks worth more to a collector than as metal, we say so in your written offer before you decide, and you are free to decline and take it to auction at no cost. We would rather flag a Mordan vesta than melt one.
Engraving cuts both ways. A later monogram usually reduces collector appeal without touching melt value. A period presentation inscription can add interest, particularly with a date and a traceable name, so please do not have engraving polished out before selling. For regimental, club or trophy presentation pieces we ask how the item came to you; anything without clear ownership cannot be bought and is returned rather than purchased.
What is actually silver in a wood-backed photo frame?
How much of a silver photo frame is silver?Only the front sheet, and it is thinner than it looks. A hallmarked frame is a die-formed sterling sheet, commonly well under half a millimetre thick, pinned or crimped over a solid wooden back board with glass, a mount and usually a wooden easel strut behind it. The wood is what gives the frame its weight in the hand. Nothing but the silver is weighed or paid for, and the recovered weight appears as its own line in your written offer.
Frames sit slightly outside the pocket-silver list above, but they are silver-fronted objects weighed and assayed the same way, so they belong on this page. Construction has barely changed since the 1890s: the front is stamped or spun from sheet, the back board is oak, mahogany or, on later frames, plywood or hardboard, and the two are held together by small tabs, pins or a folded-over rim. The easel strut may be plain wood, wood covered in velvet, or occasionally silver-faced, in which case it is weighed as well.
The hallmark is on the silver, never on the wood. Look on the front face, most often on the lower rail or beside the aperture, and on some Edwardian frames along the top edge or on the turned-over back edge of the sheet. Birmingham’s anchor dominates this category, with Chester, London and Sheffield frames also common. The UK silver hallmarks guide and the date letter chart will place the mark and the year. A frame stamped only 925 with no assay mark may still be silver, often an import or a modern piece, and the XRF assay confirms it either way.
| Frame | What is weighed | Indicative sterling sheet weight | What is never weighed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small easel frame, aperture up to roughly 10 x 7 cm | Front sheet, plus a silver-faced strut if fitted | Roughly 20 to 45g | Wooden back, glass, mount, strut, pins |
| Mid-size frame, aperture around 15 x 10 cm | Front sheet and any applied silver corners | Roughly 40 to 90g | Wooden back, glass, velvet, easel |
| Large frame, aperture 20 x 25 cm and above | Front sheet | Roughly 80 to 180g | Wooden back, glass, backing board |
| Frame marked EPNS, EP or “silver plated” | Nothing | No meaningful melt value | The whole frame |
Those ranges are deliberately wide, because gauge varies enormously: a heavy Edwardian frame and a light 1970s one of the same size can differ several times over in silver. Thin modern frames are the usual source of disappointment here, and we would rather set that expectation now than after your parcel has arrived. They are indicative only and not an offer. Please also do not prise the back off yourself. The tabs tear the sheet when they are worked loose cold, and a damaged frame is worth less if it turns out to be one worth keeping whole. We separate it here and show the recovered silver weight in the breakdown, with the wood, glass and strut listed at nil.
Some frames beat their metal comfortably. Art Nouveau fronts with flowing whiplash decoration, heart and shaped forms, pierced designs with cherub or scroll work, and frames by makers such as William Comyns, Synyer & Beddoes or Deakin & Francis are collected, and a good example can be worth several times its silver content. Those are flagged in writing before anything is treated as scrap, on exactly the same basis as a novelty vesta or a castle-top card case.
Why do weighted candlesticks hold so little silver?
Are weighted silver candlesticks worth their weight?No, and the gap is large. A loaded candlestick is a thin sterling shell filled with pitch, plaster or resin around a steel rod, which is what stops it toppling over. Only the shell is silver, and it is a small fraction of what your kitchen scales show. The exact fraction cannot be settled until the base is opened and the filler taken out. We weigh the shell alone, show the gross weight and the recovered silver weight as separate lines in the written offer, and say all of this before you post rather than afterwards.
Turn a candlestick over. A disc of green baize, felt or thin metal across the underside means there is filler behind it, and a dead thud rather than a ring when you tap the column points the same way. English candlesticks were die-stamped from sheet and loaded from the late eighteenth century onwards, which is why Victorian and Edwardian Corinthian columns are so common and so light on actual silver. Earlier Georgian sticks were cast, genuinely solid and much heavier in metal, so age works in your favour in this one category rather than against it.
| Candlestick type | How it is made | What is weighable |
|---|---|---|
| Georgian cast, roughly 1720 to 1770 | Cast solid in sections and seamed together | The whole piece, less any later base-metal repairs |
| Victorian or Edwardian loaded column | Stamped sterling shell, pitch or plaster filling, steel rod | The shell only, once the filler is removed |
| Twentieth-century loaded | Thin stamped shell, plaster or resin filling | The shell only, usually the thinnest gauge of the three |
| Removable nozzle or sconce | Made and assayed as an article in its own right | Solid silver, weighed separately from the column |
| EPNS or plated column | Plated shell over base metal, loaded base | Nothing of melt value |
Marks sit on the silver, usually on the outer rim of the foot, sometimes stamped into the base sheet, and separately on the nozzle where there is one, because a nozzle was assayed as its own article. On a loaded piece the mark is often faint, since a thin stamped shell takes a punch badly. Photograph the foot rim and the nozzle and send both before you pack anything.
One point worth stating plainly, because it is often misread. Current UK practice is that a hollow article filled with a non-metallic substance must be marked FILLED before it is hallmarked, set out in the assay offices’ guidance under the Hallmarking Act 1973 and summarised in the gov.uk hallmarking guidance. That convention post-dates almost every antique candlestick in a British sideboard, so the absence of the word FILLED tells you nothing at all about a Victorian or Edwardian stick. The baize disc, the sound and the weight tell you more.
Please do not try to dig the filler out yourself. It releases cleanly only with heat and the right handling, the shell crushes under very little pressure, and a pair damaged at the kitchen table is worth less whether it ends up sold as silver or sold as a pair. Pairs and sets of four are also worth more together than apart, so send them together and let the offer treat them as a set. Named makers, unusual forms and complete sets are checked against the collector market before anything is valued as metal, and where a specialist auction would serve you better the written offer says so.
How many small silver items make a parcel worth sending?
Is a single silver thimble worth posting?On its own, no. A sterling thimble weighs roughly 3 to 6g, so its silver content comes to small change once valued on the live precious-metal market, with our margin already inside the figure. Thimbles, buttons, hatpins and napkin rings are worth sending as part of a parcel with other silver or gold, not as a parcel of their own. There is no minimum here and the label costs you nothing, but we would rather tell you the figure will be small than let you find out after the trip to the Post Office.
There is a legal wrinkle that helps small items. Schedule 1 to the Hallmarking Act 1973 exempts silver articles below 7.78g from compulsory hallmarking, which is why a great many genuine sterling thimbles carry a maker’s mark and nothing else, or no mark at all. At this size, unmarked does not mean not silver. The XRF assay settles it without marking the piece.
Thimbles also have a collector market of their own, which can be worth more than the metal. Charles Horner of Halifax, usually assayed at Chester, is the name to know. Horner also patented the Dorcas thimble, which has a steel core between silver layers, carries no hallmark and is not solid silver, though collectors still want it. James Swann & Son, Henry Griffith & Sons, commemorative thimbles and advertising thimbles are collected too. Anything that looks like more than plain sewing kit is checked before it is weighed.
| Small item | Indicative sterling weight each | Roughly how many before a parcel of these alone makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| Thimble | 3 to 6g | Twenty or more |
| Button from a set | 2 to 5g, and the shank is often filled | A full carded set |
| Hatpin | 3 to 10g of silver, steel pin excluded | Ten or more |
| Napkin ring | 15 to 35g | Four to six |
| Teaspoon or coffee spoon | 12 to 30g | A set of six, better a set of twelve |
| Propelling pencil, sterling-cased | 10 to 25g of silver, mechanism excluded | Several, or send with other silver |
| Pill box or patch box | 10 to 30g | Several |
| Menu or place-card holder | 8 to 20g, and many are loaded | A set of four or more |
The pattern behind that is straightforward. Sterling is 92.5% silver and is valued on that content and the live precious-metal market, with our margin already inside the figure, and silver is worth a small fraction of gold per gram, so a silver parcel needs weight before the figure becomes interesting. As a rough working line, around a hundred grams of confirmed sterling is where a standalone silver parcel starts to feel worth the effort; below that, add the small pieces to a parcel that already holds gold, coins or larger silver. For a figure on your own pieces, send a photo on WhatsApp.
Two honest cautions on the small things. Plenty of them are loaded in the same way as candlesticks: button shanks, most hatpin heads and many menu holders are filled or built around steel, so gross weight overstates the silver again. And EPNS thimbles, plated napkin rings and nickel-silver spoons are not worth the postage at any quantity. If you are unsure which you have, photograph the marks and ask before you pack anything, which costs nothing and takes a few minutes.
The process, step by step
- Get in touch and show us. A WhatsApp photo of your antique silver smalls is all we need to give you a quick indicative figure before anything is posted.
- Get your free label. We send a prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label, fully tracked. If you have no printer, a QR code for the counter does the same job.
- Send it at your own pace. Wrap it in any padded envelope and hand it in at a Post Office whenever it suits you.
- See the written offer. Everything is weighed, metal is XRF-assayed and any stones are assessed separately, usually on the working day your parcel arrives. You then get an itemised breakdown showing exactly how the figure was reached.
- Decide. Say yes and the money is sent by Faster Payments. Say no and your items come straight back, free and tracked.
Your parcel is signed for on arrival and opened at our Bristol office, where each item is weighed and XRF-tested before the written offer is prepared.
How the offer is worked out
The offer is measured rather than assumed: confirmed purity, accurate weight, and the live precious-metal market on the day we test, with our margin already inside the figure. You read every figure in a written, itemised breakdown before you commit to anything. See how we value gold for the detail.
Plain, worn cases with no collector interest are XRF-assayed to confirm sterling rather than plate, weighed, and valued on their confirmed silver content and the live precious-metal market on the day. Anything with a named maker, novelty form, enamel or castle-top decoration is researched against the collector market first, and the written offer tells you which basis was used for each piece. Glass-bodied flasks and any non-silver parts are set out openly in the breakdown.
Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market. Your written offer applies the weight and purity we measure to the live precious-metal market, with our margin already inside the figure.
One parcel gets one written figure, itemised piece by piece. Your offer reflects the weight and purity we measure and the live precious-metal market on the day, with our margin already inside the figure, so nothing further is taken off. For coins, watches and signed or collectable pieces, send a photo on WhatsApp first and we will tell you how we would value them before you post anything.
Getting it here safely
We email you a Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed label, usually within 30 minutes between 8am and 9pm: tracked end to end and signed for. 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. Print the label at home, or ask for a QR code and the Post Office counter prints it for you. If your items are worth more, message us before posting and we split them across more than one prepaid label. There is more on postage and cover. If a parcel is lost on its way to us, the compensation claim goes to Royal Mail from you, the sender, using your Post Office receipt, and we give you our tracking records and help you make it. Lost parcels, step by step.
No obligation, ever
You are free to walk away at any point before you accept. Decline the offer and everything is repacked and returned to you free of charge, fully tracked and signed for. There is no assessment fee and no sales pressure afterwards. The detail is on what happens if I decline the offer.
The written offer is dated and holds for a limited time, because metal prices move. If it lapses before you decide, we re-run it against the live precious-metal market on the day, at no charge. You can also accept part of a parcel and decline the rest, with no minimum and no penalty for splitting it.
Who this helps
This page is for a drawer in a parent’s or grandparent’s house, the sort that holds small silver alongside a pocket watch and its chain. Small pieces are weighed and assayed individually, and the written offer lists each one rather than giving a single figure for the lot. If that is your situation, clearing a parent’s house is written for it. If the same house has produced trays, cutlery or a tea service, sell silverware covers the larger pieces, and it usually pays to send everything together under one label.
How payment reaches you
Accept the offer and we aim to send the money by Faster Payments within one working hour of your acceptance, straight to the bank account you provide. There are no cheques and no strings.
What you see before you decide
GoldPaid makes no price-beating claims. You get the XRF reading, the weight and the figure for every piece in writing, and you decide at home.
Common questions
Is a silver cigarette case worth anything?
Usually yes, because of sheer weight: a full-size sterling case commonly runs 80 to 200g, which is more silver than most single items of flatware. A plain engine-turned case with a worn monogram is normally a weight-based sale. Enamelled cases, Art Deco designs and pieces with military or motoring crests can carry a premium above melt, and we flag those before you decide.
How do I know if my hip flask is solid silver or plated?
Look for a lion passant with a town mark and date letter near the lip, on the base, and on the cup if there is one. EPNS, EP or A1 means plate, with no meaningful melt value. Many flasks are glass-bodied with silver mounts only, so the weight on your kitchen scales is not the silver weight. Send a photo of the marks on WhatsApp and we will tell you what you have before you post anything.
Will you just melt my antique snuff box?
Not without checking it first. Georgian and Victorian snuff boxes, especially castle-tops and pieces by named Birmingham makers such as Nathaniel Mills, are researched before anything is valued as scrap. If the collector value looks higher than the metal value, the written offer says so plainly, and you can decline and take it to a specialist auction at no cost, with free tracked return.
Does an engraved inscription reduce the value?
It depends. A later monogram tends to reduce collector appeal but makes no difference to melt value. A period presentation inscription with a date and name can add interest. Please do not have engraving polished out, and do not polish the piece at all: polishing removes silver, cannot improve the assay, and strips the patina collectors pay for.
How much is a silver photo frame worth?
Less than its size suggests, because only the front sheet is silver. Indicatively, a small easel frame holds roughly 20 to 45g of sterling, a mid-size one roughly 40 to 90g and a large one roughly 80 to 180g, with wide variation by gauge. The wooden back, glass, mount and easel strut are not silver and are not paid for. Sterling is valued on its silver content and the live precious-metal market, with our margin already inside the figure. Art Nouveau, pierced and named-maker frames are flagged as worth more than melt before anything is decided. Your figure depends on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Should I take the wooden back out of my silver frame before posting?
No, please send it whole. The tabs and pins holding the back in tear the silver sheet when they are worked loose cold, and a torn frame is worth less if it turns out to be one worth keeping intact. We separate it here, weigh the silver that is recovered and show that weight as its own line in the written offer, with the wood, glass and strut listed at nil.
Are weighted silver candlesticks worth anything?
Yes, but far less than the scales suggest. A loaded candlestick is a thin sterling shell filled with pitch or plaster around a steel rod, and the recoverable silver is commonly somewhere between a tenth and a third of the gross weight, which cannot be narrowed down until the base is opened. Cast Georgian candlesticks are the exception: they are solid and hold real weight in silver. Removable nozzles are separately hallmarked and weighed on their own. Pairs and sets are checked against the collector market before anything is valued as metal.
My candlestick does not say FILLED. Does that mean it is solid silver?
No. The requirement to mark a filled hollow article FILLED before hallmarking is modern UK practice under the Hallmarking Act 1973, and almost every Victorian and Edwardian candlestick predates it, so its absence proves nothing. Better checks at home: a baize or felt disc across the underside, a dead thud rather than a ring when you tap the column, and a weight that feels wrong for a thin stamped shell. The assay and the opened base settle it here.
How much is a silver thimble worth?
As metal, very little. Most sterling thimbles weigh 3 to 6g, so the melt figure is small change. As a collectable it can be a different story, particularly for Charles Horner pieces assayed at Chester, and for commemorative, advertising and unusual-maker thimbles. Horner’s Dorcas thimble has a steel core and is not solid silver, though it is still collected. Silver articles under 7.78g are exempt from compulsory hallmarking under the Hallmarking Act 1973, so an unmarked thimble may well be sterling; the XRF assay confirms it.
Is it worth posting only a few small silver items?
We will not turn a small parcel away and the label costs you nothing, but honesty serves you better than encouragement here. Silver is worth a small fraction of gold per gram, so a handful of thimbles, buttons or napkin rings produces a modest figure. As a rough line, around a hundred grams of confirmed sterling is where a standalone silver parcel starts to feel worthwhile; below that, send the small pieces alongside gold, coins or larger silver in one parcel. Send a photo on WhatsApp first and we will tell you honestly which side of that line you are on.
What if I think the offer is too low?
Decline it and everything comes back free of charge by tracked, signed-for Royal Mail Special Delivery, with no fee and no follow-up pressure. Before you do, check the sum: each piece is listed with its weight, its XRF purity and whether it was priced as silver or as a collector piece, so you can compare it with another buyer’s written figure.
Not the question you had? The full GoldPaid FAQ covers the rest, from postal cover and ID checks to what happens if you decline the offer.
Get a free Royal Mail label by email
Free, and it commits you to nothing. We test your items when they arrive and send a written offer; anything you decline comes back free.
Rather ask a question or send a photo first? Message us on WhatsApp.
GOLDPAID LTD · 07944 014111
Prepaid label, free tracked return
Sell your antique silver smalls by post
Photograph the marks inside the lid and send them on WhatsApp. We will tell you whether it is sterling or plate, and whether it looks like one for the collector market, before anything is posted. No obligation, free tracked return.
Free prepaid label, usually sent within 30 minutes during working hours. Free tracked return if you decline. We aim to pay by Faster Payments within one working hour of acceptance.