Selling antique gold in the UK

The first question to ask

Is this piece interesting as a piece, or only as the metal it is made of? An ornate Georgian ring, a Victorian mourning brooch with a portrait miniature, an Art Deco signed bracelet, these may be worth a multiple of their scrap gold value. A snapped 9ct chain or a single bent earring is almost always best sold for its metal weight.

Signals that point to antique value

Look for: pre-1900 hallmarks, named maker punches, complete sets in original boxes, intact enamelling, hand-engraving rather than machine work, hand-set stones with an identifiable jeweller’s signature, and unusual subjects (mourning rings, military rings, regimental pieces). The four UK assay offices and their date letters help establish age; named-maker punches are the real value lift.

Signals that point to scrap

Mass-produced 1980s and later chains, broken links, single earrings, dental gold from old restorations (which is legal to sell and rarely sentimental), plain unbroken wedding bands without ornament, machined identical-pattern jewellery and damaged Victorian pieces with missing parts are usually worth more melted than auctioned. There is no shame in this. Most of what people inherit is exactly this kind of piece, and the right route is a clean, fair scrap sale.

When to choose auction over scrap

A specialist jewellery auction makes sense when the piece is intact, identifiable, and has reasonable collector interest. The trade-off is time (often two to four months to sell) and seller commission (typically 15-25% all-in). The arithmetic is simple: after commission and the wait, an auction only pays when the hammer price clears the metal value comfortably. A piece that would fetch little more than its metal at auction, then lose a fifth of that to commission and take months to settle, is better sold by weight. A distinctive, named or period piece that collectors compete for can clear its scrap value many times over, and there the wait is worth it. For pieces likely to clear scrap comfortably, the auction route is worth it. For pieces that would only just exceed scrap after commission, a postal scrap buyer is the simpler choice.

Our position

GoldPaid is a postal precious-metal buyer, not an antique dealer. If you send us a parcel and there is a piece in it that is plainly worth more at auction, we tell you. We will not melt down a named Cartier brooch because the metal weight looked tempting. That is the basic deal: a fair, informed reading of what you have, then a route that suits the piece.

Common questions