How can I tell if my brooch is 9ct, 15ct or 18ct gold?Look for a stamp on the back of the brooch or on the pin: 375 (9ct), 625 or 15 (15ct, pre-1932 only), 585 (14ct), 750 (18ct). If the stamp is unclear, send a photo on WhatsApp and we can usually identify it.
Gold brooches
Sell gold brooches by post: Victorian to contemporary
Rated Excellent, 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 40 reviews, checked 4 October 2026.
No obligation. Free tracked return if you decline. We aim to pay within one working hour of acceptance.
GoldPaid buys gold brooches by post from anywhere in the UK, from Victorian mourning brooches and Edwardian bar brooches to mid-century novelty pieces and modern designs. Each brooch is XRF-tested and weighed, and any stones are shown on their own line of the written offer. A bent or missing pin makes no difference to the gold, and if a brooch looks worth more to a collector than for its gold, the offer says so.
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
- Read our reviews on Trustpilot
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.
Short answer
Brooches turn up in every era of UK jewellery, from Victorian mourning pieces and Edwardian bar brooches to mid-century novelty designs. Each brooch is XRF-tested and weighed, and any stones are shown as separate lines on the written offer. Brooches are one part of selling gold jewellery by post, and nothing needs a shop visit. A free prepaid Royal Mail label brings the brooch to us, the written offer usually follows on the working day it arrives, and you are paid by bank transfer if you accept or sent the piece back free if you do not.
Why brooches sit in drawers for so long
Brooches went out of everyday fashion in the late twentieth century and have not returned. The result is that a significant share of British gold-brooch inventory has been sitting in drawers for thirty or more years without being worn. None of that affects the metal value; gold does not degrade in a drawer.
Brooch styles are identified before anything is priced. A Victorian or Edwardian bar brooch in 9ct or 15ct gold, a mid-twentieth-century novelty piece in 9ct or 18ct gold, and a brooch carrying a documented maker mark are each read differently: seed pearls, turquoise and marcasite are noted on their own line, and any piece worth more as a designed object than as metal is flagged as such rather than priced as scrap.
The 15ct gold question
15ct gold was a UK hallmark standard from 1854 to 1932. It is 62.5% gold, sitting between 14ct (58.5%) and 18ct (75%). It appears on a meaningful share of Victorian and Edwardian brooches and is worth knowing about because 15ct holds materially more fine gold than 9ct and slightly more than 14ct, so it is worth more by weight.
Pieces stamped ".625" or "15" with an associated assay-office mark are 15ct. The XRF reading on arrival confirms the purity, and the offer is built from the measured 62.5% content. Many sellers do not realise 15ct is not 9ct and are pleasantly surprised when a brooch they assumed was the lower carat assays to the higher one.
Pins, catches and the metal under the gold
The pin and the catch on a brooch are sometimes the same metal as the brooch and sometimes a separate harder alloy (gold-plated steel for strength, or a higher-carat gold for the pin and a lower-carat gold for the body). The XRF reading separates the two; the pin and catch are valued at their own measured metal.
On older brooches the catch is occasionally a base-metal replacement (the original gold catch having worn through and been replaced by a watchmaker in the 1950s). That is normal and the affected metal is simply excluded from the precious-metal weight.
Mourning brooches and antique resale value
Victorian mourning brooches (typically gold and jet, or gold and woven hair under glass) sit in a specialist antique-market category where the designed-piece value can exceed the scrap-metal value by a wide margin. A jet mourning brooch with hair-work behind glass and a clear maker stamp can be worth ten or twenty times the scrap value of the gold mount alone.
Where we believe a brooch is in that category, the written offer flags it explicitly. The metal valuation is shown for transparency, and a note is added explaining that the piece is likely worth more through a specialist antique dealer or auction route. We do not pressure on scrap when the antique market is the better route.
The process, step by step
- Get in touch and show us. A WhatsApp photo of your gold brooches 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.
Cover in transit
The prepaid label is Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed: full tracking and a signature on delivery. 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. For higher-value items, please message us first so the parcel can be split across more than one prepaid label before it travels. Postage and cover explains it fully. 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.
Changing your mind is free
Declining costs you nothing. If the written offer does not suit you, say so, and your items come straight back by tracked, signed-for Royal Mail Special Delivery at our expense. No fee, no questions, no chasing. See what happens if I decline the offer for the step by step.
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.
Payment, once you accept
When you say yes to the written offer, GoldPaid aims to pay by Faster Payments bank transfer within one working hour of your acceptance, to your nominated account. You give those details only at the point you accept, never as a condition of getting an offer.
Why sell by post with GoldPaid
Three differences from 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 signed for, so obtaining the valuation costs you nothing.
What decides your offer
Every parcel is opened at our Bristol office and each piece is handled on its own. Nothing is averaged across the parcel.
- Weight. Each item is weighed on calibrated scales. Stones, steel springs, non-gold clasps and cores are separated first, so you are paid on metal, not on what the piece looks like on the scales.
- Purity. Each item is tested with an XRF analyser, which reads the alloy without marking or damaging it. The hallmark tells us what the maker claimed; the XRF tells us what is actually there. We pay on the test.
- The market on the day. Gold and silver are priced against the live precious-metal market at the time your parcel is assessed, not at the time you posted.
- Condition and intact value. Broken is fine and does not reduce a metal offer. Where a piece is worth more intact (a named maker, a collectable coin, a locket with provenance) we tell you before testing, so you can choose.
- Anything that is not gold or silver. Plated, rolled-gold and base-metal items are listed on the offer at nothing and returned to you free. We never quietly keep them.
Why we do not publish a per-gram price list. A single printed rate hides the things that change the figure: hollow versus solid, stones, mixed carats in one bag, a mark that does not match the metal. We would rather show you the weight, the tested purity and the figure for each item, in writing, and let you decide. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
What you see before you decide. A written, itemised offer by WhatsApp or email: every item, its weight, its tested purity, and its figure. Accept and we aim to pay by bank transfer within one working hour. Decline and the whole parcel comes back by Royal Mail Special Delivery at our cost. No fee, no deduction, no questions.
Common questions
Are mourning brooches worth more than the gold?
Often yes, particularly Victorian jet-and-gold or hair-work pieces with clear maker marks. We flag any piece likely to be worth more on the antique market on the written offer rather than processing it as scrap.
Do you buy brooches with damaged pins?
Yes. A bent or missing pin does not change the metal weight or the precious-metal value. We pay for the gold present, regardless of the brooch’s functional condition.
Can you tell the era of a brooch from a photograph?
Often yes. Hallmark date letters, style cues, fittings and stone setting all help identify the era. A clear photo of the back of the brooch (where most marks live) plus the front is usually enough.
What if my brooch has small turquoise or seed pearls?
Both are common on Victorian and Edwardian brooches. We note them on the written offer; their market value is usually low compared with the gold, but where a piece is unusually fine we will tell you.
Are mid-century novelty brooches worth selling at scrap?
It depends on the maker and the design. Some twentieth-century designer brooches have collector value above scrap; others are worth their gold weight. We assess each piece individually and tell you which is which.
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
Send a photo first. Decide later.
Message us with a clear photo of your items on WhatsApp, or call. There is no obligation at any stage and the only commitment is your decision to accept a written offer once you have seen it.
No obligation. Free tracked return if you decline. We aim to pay within one working hour of acceptance.